Cricket Fan

Gibbs finds form but England in command

Herschelle Gibbs returned to form with a hard-hitting 74 from 75 balls, and Hashim Amla scored one of the most fluent 34s you could ever hope to see, but England were once again able to exploit the soft underbelly of South Africa's batting, thanks to a three-wicket haul from Andrew Flintoff and a lacklustre display from an inexperienced lower-order.

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ODI2: Indian Pacers Bowls Fire, Zaheer Khan sizzles with 4 wickets

Welcome to 2nd ODI between India and Sri Lanka, played in Sri Lanka at  Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium. 

Indian captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl. India was compel to replace stiff necked Gambhir, an specialist opener and Ozha, a spinner. Badrinath debuts due to the changes.

India started on an excellent note with CK Kapugedera falling in the very second over claimed by Zaheer Khan and two maiden overs in the begining itself. It did not stop there, Zaheer Khan went on to claim Jayawardene and Kapugedera in his third over and then Pravin Kumar claiming LPC Silva. Sri Lanka threw away there batsmen one after the other in the first seven overs itself. At the end of sevent over Sri Lanka were had scored pitiable 11 after loosing four quick wickets.

Khan has been sizzling with his pace, claiming quick three wickets in three overs. He claimed prize wicket of ST Jayasuriya star of 1st ODI.

SL had scored a paltry score of 38 after loosing 5 precious wickets after 15 overs.

The ODIs at SL are becoming boring. SL lost another wicket for just 45 / 6 after 18 overs. I am wonderingif they would be able to score 100 or may be 75. I think, there is something the wicket that favors the fielding team first. Exactly this is what happened in first ODI, where the victim was Indian team.

I wondering, at this pace, if SL would be able to last 30 overs.

India 146/10, Sri Lankan Bowlers in control

Indian batsmen once again failed to resist Lankan attack and were bowled out for 146 in 46 overs during the first ODI in Dambulla. The last wicket partnership between Ozha and Patel added much needed 29 runs off 23 balls. Patel got out at 15 with a SIX and a FOUR. Mendis and Murali grabbed three wicket each to end slumping Indian innings.

Bhajji, who could drag the Indian innings thus far(117/8) got out to a ball from Murali for a score of 12 off 28 balls. Bhajji was Murali's third wicket of the match.

Murali grabbed one more easy wicket by grabbing tail ender Zahir Khan on the last ball of 37th over. Zahir scored 12 off 38 balls and partnership of 20 runs with Bhajji. India was 107/8

Bhajji and Zahir Khan were able to drag Indian Innings to 100/7 during 35th over. I just wonder how far they will be able to drag it. Soon they should be joining ranks with their team mates.

The way things have been progressing, Indian side should collapse in less than 125.

Wow! What a change. After four consecutive maidens, India managed an LB in the 29th over. Yes, that does mean that Indian did not score a run from their bats for 5 overs.

Indian players are like ants. They have been following each other towards the pavilion.  Murali got his first wicket of the ODI with Pathan falling in the 29th over. Indians have wowed not to play more than a couple of overs, loosing wickets at regular and short intervals. Between Murali and Mendis, they have bowled four consecutive maiden overs - never heard of in ODIs.

Indian woes continued. Dhoni lost his wicket to Mendis in the 28 th over, just to add a little more to the Indian slumping innings. 87/6 @ the end of 28 overs.

Kudos to Sri Lankan spinners. Mendis(26th) and Murali (27th) delivered a maiden over each in an ODI. Skipper Dhoni could score no runs in the 26 th over, facing Mendis. India is literally reeling under Sri Lankan pressure.

At a rate of 3.5/over, India could barely manage to score 87/5 half way through their innings, with skipper Dhoni at 6 and Pathan at 7.

India managed to score a paltry 73/4 at the end of 20 overs. But that was not enough. India soon lost Sharma to  Thushara for 19 off 31 balls. At this rate, India would be lucky to stay on course for full 50 overs and score 150. Unless the Indian bowlers show a charisma, India is bound to repeat the Test performance they had in Test 1 & 3.

Yuvi and Sharma had just started to open up. Each of them hit a SIX each to accelerate the  the slow moving score a bit when India lost Yuvi to Mendis. Yuvi was @ 23 off 30 balls.

India continued to flounder.  At the end of 15th over India had lost Kohli and Raina to Kulasekara for a score of just and just 42/3, with Yuvi @ 8 and Sharam @ 4.

India continues with its slow start. India got its first  Four in the seventh over from Kohali. India was 18/1 after 6.3 overs.

India lost Gautam Gambhir on second ball, bowled out by Vass. Vaas pitched the ball on a good length around off stump and angled it into the left-hander, Gambhir played all around the line of the ball and it went though the gap between his bat and pad to hit off stump. India had scored ZERO runs

Earlier, MS Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat first against Sri Lanka in the first ODI at Dambulla. India ruled out Virendra Sehwag due to sprained ankle during practice. Virat Kohli replaces injured Virender Sehwag.

India Looses Shamelessly. Period

Sri Lanka 600 for 6 dec (Jayawardene 136, Dilshan 125*, Warnapura 115, Samaraweera 127) beat India 223 (Laxman 56, Murali 5-84, Mendis 4-72) and 138 (Gambhir 43, Murali 6-26, Mendis 4-60) by an innings and 239 runs

It took two spin wizards for Sri Lanka to completely destroyed the Indian batting line-up not once but twice over to script their best ever win at home. India started the fourth day needing 242 runs to avoid the follow-on but, with 77 minutes to go to stumps, they had slumped to their third-worst Test defeat ever with an abject collapse against Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis.

When I was sharing my CrickOpinion India Set to follow on Sri Lanka I had not imagined that  the India would collapse so quickly and so easily. It took India overnite to follow-on but it took them just a few hours to throw the second innings.

Is this the same team that had toured Australia some time ago? Doesn't seem to bbe the same. Indian players should die off shame with this kind of performance. Why do we need such a team that can't keep up with its performance. It is not at all a reliable team!

India set to follow on Sri Lanka

India 159 for 6 (Gambhir 39, Murali 4-38) trail Sri Lanka 600 for 6 dec (Dilshan 127*) by 441 runs

Trailing by 441 runs, India is all set to follow on Sri Lanka. Only miracles can save India from a big defeat in the very first test of the Indian-Sri Lankan Test Series.

Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan snared four critical wickets to leave India struggling on 159 for six when bad light ended play early on the third day of the first Test on Friday.

Earlier, Sri Lanka, resuming the day on 422-4, added 130 runs during an extended morning and a further 48 after lunch before declaring their innings for 600/6. Indian bowlers could never ever get in control of the Sri Lankan innings, letting four of their batsmen score centuries.

 At the end of the third day, VVS Laxman and Captain Kumble were on the crease.

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