FUTURE CUP WIN & Signs of Future Team India

We are getting back in shape, a Sign of Relief and Excitement shows in the faces of all Indian Cricket Fans!! We are trying to forget the world cup misery and let go of it with the new wins from India Team.

India won the Future Cup Series 2-1 against South Africa by thrashing them in the final match by 6 wkts. Yet another superb finish by Yuvi steered Team India to win the 2nd match in 3 ODI match series. It was India's first one-day series triumph outside the subcontinent since their memorable Natwest Series win in 2002.

Flashback - Revenge against Bangla Tigers

After coming out of great failure in Worldcup, Team India played some good cricket against Bangla Tigers in their own territory. The series was really well planned to take the revenge against Bangla for their win against India in Worldcup paving way for India early exit. We won both the one day and Test Series. With both wins, Team India reviving back the image they lost against Bangla Tigers. But that still doesn't pure anything to show the world that we are way better team.

Tour in England & Ireland

After a short break, Team India is touring England and Ireland. Its a outing after 5 years since 2002. This tour has its own importance of being played on the foreign land against top teams after their exile from Worldcup. Its expected to be a real test for Dravid and team especially young guys to showcase their performance to bring their talents on the table which will eventually help to build a strong side for future Team India.

Somethings to be noted. India Team is going on to this tour without the star opener Sehwag failing to get selected and favorite spinner Harbajhan. Another special note, the team will be traveling without a full time coach after Graham Ford refusing to take up the position.

Match with Host(Ireland)

They started off the tour against the host Ireland in Belfast. We played with 5 bowlers Agarkar, RP Sing, Sreeshanth, Piyush and Ganguly. We were able to restrict Irish for a total of mere 193/all out and chasing them brilliantly to win by 9 wkts. Sachin showed good signs of his great form returning back with excellent knock partnering with Gautam Gambhir. We won this match with great ease.

Future Cup

With the good start and a win under the belt with loads of confidence, Team India came on board to play 3 match One day series against South Africans for the Future Cup. Team India jumped to 3 match series against South Africans. This tour is somewhat different comparing to others. Its hosted by England and Ireland but we get to play different teams like South Africans and Pak's otherthan the host.

Ist Match Vs S.A

Toss - SA won the toss and elected field first.

India Batting - Sachin played yet another excellent innings to score 99 missing a hundred. His partnership with Dravid took the team to a reasonable score added with last min run from Yuvi and Karthik to put up a score of 242/7.

S.A Batting - Started off with ease and able to reach the target with some great batting by Kallis putting Sachin's effort to vain. They won the match by 4 wickets to lead the series to 1-0.

Points to be noted - We went with few new faces like Chawla and RP Sharma hoping them to shine and gave yet another chance to show their tricks. We also played only with 4 full time bowlers in a hard bowling pitch which might have been on more reason for losing this one. Chawla showed some signs of being a good bowling hand for the team.

IInd Match Vs S.A

Learning few things from the previous match, Dravid choose to enter this 2nd one with 5 full time bowlers.

Toss - India won the toss and elected to field first. Its a good toss to win on yet another pitch which favored bowling.

SA Batting - With 5 full time bowlers and few part time bowlers in hand, dravid played it well to restrict South Africans to 226/6 in 50 overs. Zaheer and RP Singh came out with some good spell taking 1 wkt each supported by a very good bowling by Yuvi. He was able to contain as well take 3 wkts in his 9 over for just 36 runs.

India Batting - Following the same techique, Sachin and Ganguly started off well to put a good opening partnership. 17th 100 run partnership by this pair which is the highest in record. Ganguly supporting Sachin's know like good old days able to take the team half way to the win. Sachin missing again his hundred with just 7 runs. At one stage, we were all set to win by flash suddenly 4 wickets fall in just 8 runs. Yuvi and Karthik join hands at the last min to take us to the finish line with some great batting. India won by 6 wkts.

Points to be noted: 5 bowler technique worked. Sachin setting yet another milestone to reach 15,000 runs first ever by batsmen to mark the history. Yuvi and Karthik sensible batting to finish the match with great win.

IIIrd Match Vs S.A

Leveling the series, both teams want to win this match to take the series home. It became a crucial and series decider. Rain interrupted and shortened the match to just 31 overs.

Toss: India won the toss again and elected to field first.

SA Batting - Dravid boys came back with same vigor from the previous game to reduce the Africans to 29/4 at time but failing to stop them. A great partnership from Kemp and Gibbs allowed them to put 148/7 in 31 overs. Excellent bowling by veteran Agarkar with 2 wkts, RP Singh, Zaheer, Ganguly (2wkts) and part timer Sachin.

India Batting - Sachin and Ganguly partnership couldn't able to serve long enough. Dravid and Yuvi tried stick on the grease for long time to take the team to good score. Then Yuvi joined by Dhoni putting their head on the ground to show their a sensible and responsible partnership steering us to taste the win of the 2nd match to take the series home. India won by 6 wkts, 5 balls remaining.

Points to be noted: Yuvi seems to show great confidence and composure in the tense situation. Dravid as a WALL played important role to build a good score. Dhoni tried to make an impact with the last min runs to help reach the finish line.

Man of the Series - Shared by Sachin and Yuvraj

Sachin's, the great shared his Man of the Series with Yuvi praising him for his batting which took us to series win.

Future of Team India

Just 3 match wins aren't enough to say that Team India is all shinning and glowing. But we can confidently commend on the team's performance and great come back against the strongest team in the world. We are surely heading on the right path for building a strong side.

We got some good young players, trying to mix-n-match them to suit the pitch and day of the match to make them shine and show their talents will help to find a right choice.

Dravid, as a captain still need to work on lot of things. He needs to brainstorm on bowling logics to finish a team after a some incredible bowling attack. Seniors Sachin and Ganguly showing their compassion and getting back to their form is refreshing to watch. Zaheer and Agarkar both coming back with great rhythm with good line and length is surely a plus for our bowling arsenal. This all will really help to boost the moral of the team.

Yuvi, a well suited candidate to do the job of savior and way better than Sehwag is growing confidence on his every match. Its real good progress of the team. Gambhir proved that he is still a batting material for the team. Chawla so young to the team has lot more to work at but really showed some good bowling. Karthik also came back with great knocks and making use of his chance on 2nd match. Dhoni not doing so well, needs to continue to strive at his batting. Powar, yet another bowler who is making some good impression in his contained bowling attack. Last but not least, RP Singh is gaining moment with his bowling attack will be a good support for Zaheer.

All in all, these matches really showed lots of good signs for a well balanced India for the future to hold. Team effort never fails and these matches proved exactly that truth.

We have a great match coming up with Pak's tomorrow. Don't miss out!!!

JUDGMENT DAY - MACHINES WON AGAIN

The final showdown which had the fiarce ending we never seen before finally decided the winner of this fierce battle. Aussies came out as never defeated unstoppable WINNERS of all time.

They proved themselves yet again, that they are the TRUE DEMIGODS of Cricket by taking away the world cup one more time and making the marks in the history book of cricket for the 3rd time continously.

Bravo to their excellent and untarnished effort.. They have demontrated one of world class true team work putting total dedication on every match by sticking to their game plan and vesting their confidence in this final game to win this World cup tournament 2007. They deserve this one 110% and they outclassed every team which played this tournament.

SL's did give a good fight. At one point of time they had the leading edge to win the game but somehow lost because of incublent weather which didn't support their effort. Better luck next time guys..

Miracle never happened as I learned the lesson. Miracle only happens when we aren't expecting it. As the Judgment Day of Terminator I(movie) ended with MACHINES winning the MEN. his Tournament also ended with a big note of AUSSIES MACHINES WINNING this WC 2007.

We have to wait for another 4 more years to see who is going to win fight against this MACHINES.. I had a good time with varied collection of thoughts in this worldcup. So long to all the cricket fans..

************************************************

Judgement Day or D-Day, whatever you want to call it. Tomorrow is a big and important day in the history of One Day Cricket. Its the finale of Worldcup 2007. In this 9th world cup final, Aussies and Lankans will be facing each other to decide their fate of their dreams to take away the prestigious cup.

After more than a month long deliberation and more than 50 matches, we are finally going to witness the battle field filled with men from two different teams with varied temperament and great aggression, capable enough to threaten each others and spoil one of their lifetime dreams. At the end of day, its the fight between Men(SL) and Machine(Aus).

Aussies, the 11alien players from outerspace who played like programmed machines in every matches with a mindset of no tomorrow. Its palpable from their win of every match, they been waiting for this day. They are so determined to destroy the Lankan's 11men army into pieces to with ascertain mentality to put hattrick on winning the cup 3rd time. They want to send a message to the world by putting a unimaginable showcase, to prove the fact they are the true DEMIGODS of Cricket..

Lankans, on the other end who are coming from the small island, reaching this battle field second time, thrashing their hurdles with varied powerful arsneal and great will power. They totaly believe in the 11men true dedicated army to fight against these machines. They had faced only one failure but poped back up with great vigor to avoid any insipid moments which other teams faced. They are now well oiled army men who are just waiting to unlease their power to show that MEN can beat the machines.

Quick Flashback: The past World Cup final winners are,

1975 - West Indians

1979 - West Indians

1983 - India

1987 - Australia

1992 - Pakistan

1996 - SriLanka

1999 - Australia

2003 - Australia

2007 - Aus or SL ?!

Who is going to take away this Presitigious cup? We will find out tomorrow. I am going to put all my bets on Lankans(especialy they are neighbors) who have the capability and will power to surprise Aussies to make the Miracle happen. Otherwise, it will endup as a one sided show down.

All in all, I am hoping for a very good match which should be a feast for the eyes to watch. Who you are going betting MAN or MACHINES ?!

Judgement Day - 2007

Judgement Day or D-Day, whatever you want to call it. Tomorrow is a big and important day in the history of One Day Cricket. Its the finale of Worldcup 2007. In this 9th world cup final, Aussies and Lankans will be facing each other to decide their fate of their dreams to take away the prestigious cup.

After more than a month long deliberation and more than 50 matches, we are finally going to witness the battle field filled with men from two different teams with varied temperament and great aggression, capable enough to threaten each others and spoil one of their lifetime dreams. At the end of day, its the fight between Men(SL) and Machine(Aus).

Aussies, the 11alien players from outerspace who played like programmed machines in every matches with a mindset of no tomorrow. Its palpable from their win of every match, they been waiting for this day. They are so determined to destroy the Lankan's 11men army into pieces to with ascertain mentality to put hattrick on winning the cup 3rd time. They want to send a message to the world by putting a unimaginable showcase, to prove the fact they are the true DEMIGODS of Cricket..

Lankans, on the other end who are coming from the small island, reaching this battle field second time, thrashing their hurdles with varied powerful arsneal and great will power. They totaly believe in the 11men true dedicated army to fight against these machines. They had faced only one failure but poped back up with great vigor to avoid any insipid moments which other teams faced. They are now well oiled army men who are just waiting to unlease their power to show that MEN can beat the machines.

Quick Flashback: The past World Cup final winners are,

1975 - West Indians

1979 - West Indians

1983 - India

1987 - Australia

1992 - Pakistan

1996 - SriLanka

1999 - Australia

2003 - Australia

2007 - Aus or SL ?!

Who is going to take away this Presitigious cup? We will find out tomorrow. I am going to put all my bets on Lankans(especialy they are neighbors) who have the capability and will power to surprise Aussies to make the Miracle happen. Otherwise, it will endup as a one sided show down.

All in all, I am hoping for a very good match which should be a feast for the eyes to watch. Who you are going betting MAN or MACHINES ?!

MIRACLE YET TO HAPPEN...

Worldcup is in the last leg of its season before we get to the D-Day for the final game. We have seen enough matches already including some good numbers of fight backs and revealing revenges. We also happen to witness few nail biting finishes and countable number of cricket hero's coming on top to make their marks in the worldcup history book.

The group league started with a big bang showcasing some big scoring matches by the top teams. Everybody started whining about the minnow teams added to the worldcup. But some of these mediocre teams did prove their prediction was wrong and never failed to surprise us with their astonishing and intangible performances beating and eliminating some worldcup favorites.

Including few top teams, most of the minnow teams are thrown out of the league with sand griping defeat and got eliminated badly. The Top 4 teams which made to the next level of Super 8 showed some appealing performance. Other 2 teams were able to make it to the stage by past experience.Lastly 2 minnow teams which happen to make to the Super 8 with their great effort.

In the Super 8, these teams are striped off naked to show their real skill with no excuses. Their lavish luxury of beating minnow teams were no longer counted enough to make their step forward. Out of these, only one team came out never losing their stripe with few others got beaten atleast once and remaining others ended bowing down and giving the final salute for their dreams to take on the cup.

The one team which stands out till now like a pinnacle, invincible and unbeaten is the forever Australian DEMIGODS of Cricket. They were never beaten once in this worldcup. They showed their great temperament towards each game and ascertain on winning every match by never losing control in any of them.

I was expecting for the kiwis and Srilankans to come close to give them a fight in the Super 8. But it didn't happen. In their match with S.L, they won convincingly by 7 wkts. Next comes the Kiwis, they couldn't even start thinking about their strategies and they were all out for 133 losing by big margin of 215 wins..

I believe anything is possible and especially in this one day cricket it is very much possible. Tomorrow starts the real battle which we all been waiting so long to choose the first team between Kiwi's and Lankans which will face the mutual other on the D-Day.

We need a miracle which is yet to happen. A miracle that can only be made possible by a planned strategy using the right arsenal on right time to shake Aussies top order with a continued momentum to break their mid order to finally get to the final ones.

Without a master plan, its really tough to break their strong 11 men cricket army fighting for their world cup dream. Do you have a strategy for the miracle?!

Can they be STOPPED?!

I keep asking this questions to many of my cricket friends from the day one world cup started. Its not just because I don't want to see them winning their 3rd continuous world cup. Its just a question which comes out with great fury and furious as a cricket fan like anybody who like to see a new winner on the stage now. Its time for a change of face.

As you guessed, I am talking about the unstoppable Aussies. At this point of time, they have played 6 matches and salvaged each opponent in all corners with their all round capability. They are invincible and keep proving that every other match.

But any champion has to go thru a tough time once or while. They been thru theirs by getting their fingers burnt well enough, losing the series to kiwis before entering the world cup.They faced their demons and now they are playing like cricket DEMIGODS. Somebody is yet to give them a good fight. We are still yet to see a team in this world cup who will make them pay their dues and run for their money atleast once.

From their first game on, whether they are batted first or made to chase they never showed one bit sight of weakness in any of the matches. S.A tried their best to test them a bit but didn't go close to the extent to squeeze them out. That's kinda of unfortunate from S.A side being a world number one rated team and couldn't able to give a tough fight.

Lets quickly browse thru their performa in world cup past matches..

Group Matches

Ist - 334/6 - Won by 231 runs thrashing Scots to 131/10

IInd - 358/5 - Won by 229 runs folding Holland to 129/10

3rd - 377/6 - Won by 84 runs bowling out S.A to 294/10

Super 8 Matches

Ist - 322/6 - Won by 103 runs beating W.I to 219/10

IInd - 106/0 - Won by 10 wkts reducing Bangla to 104/6

3rd - 248/3 - Won by 7 wkts taking revenge with Eng - 247/10

I wanted to summarize for the very purpose to show how they outplayed every team they played against so far. It clearly shows their vigorous game plan. They never scored anything less than 320 in the matches they batted first and when they were asked to chase, they always won very comfortably.

They have 10 men batting lineup with 5 full time bowling bulldozers(no Bratt Lee). Each and every one in the team is playing like its the end of the world, showing they are the best in the world starting from the captain till the tail enders.

At this moment, only 3 teams are capable of atleast coming close to giving them a good fight. But we already saw S.A failing to do their job by getting beaten badly. So I have my eyes out for the other 2 teams, Kiwis and Lankans.

If these 2 teams can keep their arsenal well oiled and ready before meeting Aussies. I can assure either of these teams would give a tough time for this unstoppable Demigods. At the same time, Aussies as we have seen before will try to maintain their stand in this worldcup yet another time to be unbeatable.

Is it going to be Kiwis or Lankans who is going to give us the feast we all been waiting to watch in this worldcup? I am going to bet on both, hoping for a miracle to happen. Until that time, we have some more exciting matches to come..

I am hungry for yet another thrilling clincher, thanks to Lankans & Bangla Tigers feeding my worldcup fire..

World Cup is finally heating up..

Cricket is always been a game of uncertainty and shocking moments. It never fails to surprise us especially in times when we aren't expecting the most.

Its has been proven once again from the past few days with back to back thrilling matches.

Srilanka won against England in a nail bitting thriller of the last over. An amazing defence against England with their fielding and bowling attack paved an unexpected win. It shows an uplifting fact that Srilanka's continues to gain strength to find their place in the Semi's.

Today another unexpected upsetter by Bangladesh beating the TOP ranked ODI team in the world by 67 runs with their excellent fielding and energized bowling attack..

I been asking people in the cricket forum whether we will have an upsetter in the Super 8 matches. Most of them played it safe and shared their views that its not actually Super 8, its merely Super 6 as Ireland and Bangla are just happen to get here..

I strongly predicted that Bangla will try to upset and give atleast one match winning performance. I predicted them to take a toll against W.I as we all know they are one of weak team and to claim a good win over them. But they showed that they are far better than once again by taking on an unimaginable win against S.Africans..

This shows their aggressiveness, confidence and unbeatable, unstoppable urge to win the matches. They don't have anything to lose but played a determined innings. With their good young batting lineup (which sometimes fallen of the ground by good bowling) especially Ashraful and Ahmed showed once again, they can shine on hard times.. A good knock by Ashraful really helped to get a good score for Bangla.

We all knew that 25o won't be an hard target for S.Africans. Then comes the bowling attack with three left arm spinners who had a huge role to play and they did exactly that with some perfection. Razzak and Sakib were the key men who brought about the collapse in the South African batting.

The Bangla tiger are delighted and they have proved a point once again today. "If there is a WILL, there is always a WAY". This victory by Bangladesh sends a strong signal to W.I and England that they shouldn't take them for granted. It also opens up chances for the Windies and England to fight hard for a spot in the Semis.

Well played Bangla Tigers.. Way to go !! Hats off to the great effort..

With these last 2 matches being a real entertainer, finally World cup is getting the heat of its own and seeks attention from the cricket fans for some more good ones to come.. Now I can surely bet on Bangladesh beating W.I with yet another performance.. Are you with me?

W.I: Does they still have a tiny bit of chance?!

We all been watching the West Indians getting beaten up by high calibre teams like Aus, NZ and S.L. left and right. They couldn't able to even score a mere score of 200 either by batting first or chasing. I know they are weak but they put a good fight in the league matches. I was hoping for them to win alteast one match against the big teams. But it didn't happen till date.

Their bowling is not the very best and batting depends on ly on 2-3 players like gayle, Sarwan, Chandrapaul & not to forget Lara whose performances can't be counted on everytime and not really consistent.

In the current points table below,



They stand-in just ahead of the minnow teams with Net R.R of -1.177.

We all know at the end of the Super 8 matches. Four team needs to be packed up and sent back.. We are sure that the minnow teams who made to Super 8 by their good effort in league matches won't have very good chances making it further.. So counting them 2 in the packup list, we are looking for the 2 more teams from the unknows of 4 teams as we all know Aussies and Africans will make it easily. Its going to tough fight between Kiwis, Brits & Lanks with W.I being the wild card on the bunch.

W.I already played 3 matches and lost of all of them real bad. They still have 3 more matches to go.. Next match is another tough one with S.Africans. If they win last 2 matches, they will be still out taking into consideration the way Brits and Lankans are playing.. Its a tough deal for the Host team and also Lara's last chance to raise the cup.

I am sure they don't have the capability to fight Aussies so no way they can go to finals.. But I am rooting for N.Z/S.A to go to finals.. If they need to go, then we need a weaker team to go to semi's.

I still miss the W.I team in 1990's. Where is the W.I team we all used to watch out as a big threat with good arsonels on both departments with Peterson bowling and Greenidge batting? I don't it thing we will ever get to watch that kind of team again..

Anyways, If they have a dream to go forward to catch the cup with an upset, they need to start shaking something now and try to think about staying in the grease much longer.. Do you think they will pull pack together?