The first match between India and Australia was a damper ,with rain gods having the last laugh .
The Australian innings was resurrected by the partnership of Clarke and Haddin and they did take the game away from the Indians with that 144 runs partnership for the fifth wicket .Haddin also grabbed the opportunity with both hands , and once Gilchrist decides to hang his boots from ODI , we would see more of Haddin.

India was dictating terms to the opposition , with the Aussies reeling at90/4 .
Time and again , India have shown that they can let slip the match away easily and today it again came to the fore .
Having said that Clarke applied himself brilliantly and milked the bowl around ,capitalizing on the loose deliveries .He got an able partner in Haddin .I also think there were too many boundary balls bowled .Indian should not be carried away with their World Cup T 20 triumph . The 100 overs game is a different affair altogether. The game comes to you and slips from you at various points in time .

Clarke scored a superb century ,with his side in real spot of bother and he has definitely grown as a batsman in the last eighteen months or so .This stems from the fact that he had a good Ashes series aggregating 389 runs which included two tons and a World Cup kitty of 439 runs .He is one of the rare cricketers to have scored test centuries on both the home and away debuts.What has changed is he is more selective in the shot making and has learned to pace his innings .The development of "pup" would be closely watched though.

India were patchy and they will have to get their act together .What was suprising to see Romesh Powar was taken off with 4 overs still his sleeves.
He is wicket taker and was getting good purchase from the wicket too. Dhoni would definately be tested here, as he is now leading a mixed side with three ex skippers.

Moreover, the opening combination of Ganguly and Tendulkar should be persisted with .That would definitely help the Indian side .Kochi is lot humid and the track remains a batsman's paradise.We should see a high scoring game there .

For the time being ,the Indian think tank should be praying that Ganguly comes through the fitness test for the next game.

India are the T20 champions .Nobody gave them the a chance to win the first edition of the shortest form of the cricket . And the fragrance and exuberance of youth have done the trick

One could not have asked for a better finale .
This game had everything ,where the fortunes were fluctuating like a see- saw .
and it was India who held their nerves to win a nail biter .

I mentioned in my last blog that it was always going to be a contest between Pakistan's bowling versus the Indian batting prowess and thats what it turned out to be !

Dhoni again won the toss and did what he believes his team's strength,batting first .Moreover its always better to put runs on the board in a high voltage final .

India reached 157 ,thanks to a strokeful 75 from Gautam Gambhir .What was plesant to see in this innings was his footwork against the spinners and the placement .Yuvraj couldnot carry on from where he left amidst a smart move from Shoib Malik to bring the spinners on ,when Yuvraj came to the center. The result ,he struggled to time the ball and perished soon... and immediately Dhoni too was castled by Umar Gul 140.1 kph thunderbolt.
and India suudenly had four of their top batsman back in the pavilion .The late assault by Rohit Sharma ensured India geting past 150.

The Pakistan bowlers were brilliant and they kept picking up wickets ,not allowing the Indian batsman to get the partnership going .Gul , in particular bowled with a lot of fire and pace and got three wickets.

After the half way one just got the feeling that India fell short by 25 ---30 runs on a good batting strip.The arch rivals got off to sensational start ,with Imran Nazir taking full advantage of width on offer from Sreesanth.The best of the lot was the pull shot, landing into the crowd .Just when
Imran was taking the match away ,Uttappa produced a direct hit to get rid of Nazir.
Younus soon offered a dolly to Yusuf off Joginder Sharma .
Pakistan were reeling at 65 for 4 .Before that RP Singh got a big in swinger to uproot the off stump of Kamran Akmal.

From there on ,Pathan took over the reins and got the wickets of Afridi and Malik .Consequently ,the runs got dried up and the equation became 54 required of 24 balls .

Then came the important stage ,where Harbhajan was clobbered by some intellegent and calculative hitting by Misbah ,who has emerged as an excellent finisher till now.That big over yielded 19 with ,Pakistan making a strong statement if intent.The method was simple target the shorter boundary.India were letting the game drift at this point.
To add insult to the injury, Tanvir smacked two sixes off Shreesahth ,before he had the last laugh .
The last two overs , twenty still required

RP cleaned up Gul ,before giving away a boundary off the last delivery to make it ,13 required off 6 balls

and as if people sitting in theatre are awaiting the final plot to unravel in a tense murder mystery ,Joginder is on his way for the final over .He had done that before in the game against the aussies . Can he once again keep his nerves ????


First ball , a wide,with the tension getting better of joginder

that makes it 12 off 6

Second ball a full toss to which Misbah swings and pounds it striaght over the bowler's head for asix ,

Misbah looks relaxed and composed
with Pakistan's one hand firmly on the trophy

Now 6 required off 4 ,with one wicket in hand
Misbah ,the messiah on strike
Joginder bowls a full length bowl on the off stick
to which Misbah attempts a scoop shot

Alas! the only grave and fatal mistake that Misbah made in the tournament

Shreesanth completes a regulation catch gleefully and INDIA HAS WON THE FIRST EDITION OF T 20 WORLD CUP in style .

What a finish ,an absolute treat for cricket lovers ,the match going right down to the wire.


Dhoni's young , exuberant side has delivered .... and here comes DHONI the captain! Kudos for making India and Indians proud.

Now ,it will definately go into the memory lane for a long long time .

So, finally against all odds India has reached the finals of the first edition of T20 World Championship.All credit to Indians the way the played under a new captain.


What a tournament Dhoni and Yuvraj have had so far! And to me thats the differentiating factor
I just get the feeling that Dhoni is relishing the additional responsibilty and looks relaxed even when the pressure starts to mount .There is a fearlessness in his approach. He always had cool head on his shoulders and this should augur well for the upcoming series against the Australians.
Not only has he rotated his bowlers well but also scored runs coming in at crucial time.
At times he was imaginative with his field placements.Plus he knows his side's strength well.
India always had a strength in putting runs on the board and the skipper has stuck to this strength.
The idea is to be circumspect for the intial 4 - 5 overs when the new ball does a bit and then once the batsman has got his eye in, go after the bowlling with wickets in hand
and This plan has certainly worked for the Indians .

Now the big Question is can India do it once again on monday .
Tipped to be a contest of Indian Batting Vs Pakistan's talented pace attack,it has all the making of a tight match .

From india's perspective ,there top order is giving them starts for the middle order to capitalise .But they will have lift their bowling and fielding ,bowling in particular.

Pakistan have been riding on their pace attack and Umar Gul is delivering the goods and Afridi chipping in with wickets in the middle overs,not to mention the unusual Tanvir. As far as the batting is concerned barring the last game, the openers have failed and the experience of Misbah ,Yunus and Shoaib Malik rescuing them .

The key men for tom big one would be

Virender Sehwag(is middling the ball well ,a quick fire 40 -50 can put the oppostion on the backfoot)

Yuvraj Singh( has hit a purple patch , can dominate the attack which is predominantly pace oriented)

MS Dhoni( can give the final boost with his ability to clear the ground)


Mis Bah Haq(dosenot loose his cool under trying circumstances, a good finisher)

Umar Gul(Can be skiddy and yet extract discerning bounce )


Shoib Malik(has got a great record against India )

May the best team win !
But I get the feeling it is India who will call the shots tomorrow as they have a psychological advantage of the win in the league match!

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is crowned as the indian skipper for the upcoming seven one dayers against the aussies.
What a moment ! life is sometimes very strange ,even in the wildest of dreams would have thought of captaining India so soon.
But as luck would have had it ,Dravid relinquished the throne and the job came to young Dhoni.

Its a tough assignment and he should not expect any favours from the kangaroos .
Shot into limelight with a match winnning 148 against Srilanka in Jaipur ,he has not looked back since then .

he has a cool head on his shoulders and scores runs when the teams needs it the most
Also ,capable of playing according to the situation ,he looks set for a long innings at the helm .

What would be interesting to see how Dhoni responds to the new responsibility and yet keep scoring runs down the order.As they say "it can mentally be very exhausting "
But to Dhoni's advantage he will have three ex skippers to look for inputs and ideas and also a lot of time to groom.He should look forward to learn ...


Interesting times ahead for Indian cricket.

Watching Viru bat today was a refreshing change ....the lofted six over mid on ... the inside out six off patel and the trademark sqaure cut ....all so good to watch
I think what made virender sehwag successful was that he used to play in V and its still remains his strength ,before being sorted out with a short delivery.Virender should focuss his energies on capitalising on his starts ,which has been problem in the past .

The indipper has always been a achilles heel for him because of the gap between bat and pad .
Having said that he has a good hand eye coordination and experience under his belt to adjust to the changing demands of international cricket

Making a comeback is not easy .In that ,he should take a leaf out of Ganguly's book ,who amidst being rumours of retirement, made a strong comeback
What was witnessed today were signs of old sehwag ....

And,it would be interesting to see if gets picked for the series against the Aussies
Sehwag still is a dangerous batsman in any form of cricket and he now needs to be handled by selectors with care.
When he should have been dropped they persisted with him .In addition to this ,Virender in tests has still a great record and his first innings average of 72 is extraordinary.Thats the reason why he should have been picked up for tests.


The T20 is great way to attract the attention of selectors and if Sehwag can score some runs here... he can be in reckoning once again