Sachin Retires from ODI

Sachin Tendulkar announces his retirement from One Day Internationals today 23-12-2012..

Alastair Cook A Great Batsman In The Make

Cook has now made centuries in his first 5 Tests as England captain! He is showing great signs of becoming the greatest ever English cricketer!!

Champions League T20 Final

The finals Highveld Lions vs. Sydney Sixers is on Sunday, Oct. 28, 11:30 a.m. ET. at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg

The finals match of the Champions League T20 league is now set, and it will feature the Highveld Lions taking on the Sydney Sixers for the title at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.

Sydney Sixers are unbeaten in the tournament , having won all five of their matches entering the finals, including all four of their group stage games.

Highveld also enters the finals on a roll. They've won four out of their five tournament matches, with their only loss coming to the Sixers, in group stage.

West Indies crush Australia in the Semi finals

West Indies defeated Australia by 74 runs in the second semi-final of the ICC World T20.



Thanks to a great knock by Chris Gayle who scored 75no off 41 balls, and Pollard 38 of 15.

It was a treat for the fans of West Indies when Gayle  and Pollard were hitting massive sixes with ease.



Score Board:

West Indies 

			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Charles	c Wade	b Starc	10	13	2	0
Gayle	not out		75	41	5	6
Samuels		b Cummins	26	20	2	2
Dwayne Bravo	c Bailey	b Cummins	37	31	1	3
Pollard	c Warner	b Doherty	38	15	3	3
Extras		8w 6b 5lb	19
Total		for 4	205	(20.0 ovs)

Australia 

			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Warner		b Badree	1	3	0	0
Watson		b Badree	7	9	1	0
M Hussey	c and b	Samuels	18	12	3	0
White	c Ramdin	b Rampaul	5	6	0	0
Bailey	c Russell	b Pollard	63	29	6	4
D Hussey	c and b	Rampaul	0	2	0	0
Wade	c Badree	b Narine	1	5	0	0
Cummins	c Charles	b Pollard	13	15	1	0
Starc		b Rampaul	2	5	0	0
Hogg	st Ramdin	b Narine	7	7	0	0
Doherty	not out		9	7	1	0
Extras		2w 3lb	5
Total		all out	131	(16.4 ovs)

West Indies would face Sri Lanka in the finals on sunday. Having lost to the Sri Lankans in the group stages, Sammy and his men would have lot to work on before the finals.

India loose badly to Australia

MS Dhoni and his ‘Men in Blue’ were caught in a whirlpool of boundaries and sixes as Shane Watson and David Warner made a light affair of chasing 141 runs to hammer their opponents by nine wickets on Friday.

 Australian pacers, led by Watson (3/34) and Pat Cummins (2/16) knocked the stuffing out of the Indian batsmen by restricting them to 140 for seven after being asked to bowl.

The highly successful openers -- Watson (72) and David Warner (63 not out) then sent the bowlers on a leatherhunt as they finished the match with 5.1 overs to spare.

All-rounder Watson again did everything right as he first grabbed three wickets and then decimated the Indian attack as he hit as many seven huge sixes in his superb knock off 41 balls, fetching him his third man-of-the match award in a row.

With the able support from Warner who also took Indian bowlers to the cleaners with an unbeaten knock, the two openers literally bulldozed the Indian spin trio.
 

On a pitch that was supposed to assist spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla were punished mercilessly by the Aussie openers who added 133 for the first wicket.

Watson who completed his 50 off 28 balls first hit Ashwin for a couple of sixes and then one by one launched into Harbhajan, Chawla and Irfan Pathan.

After the batsmen flopped, the Indian bowlers needed to bowl in good areas but did exactly opposite as they gifted one half tracker after another.

While Zaheer Khan could feel unlucky not getting a close leg-before shout against Watson, no one can take anything away from the performance of one of world`s premier all-rounders.

The demoralizing manner of defeat will also affect the net run-rate of the Indian team in case the qualifications for semi-final become close.

Rahul Dravid's Final ODI moments !!!

India vs New Zealand 2012

New Zealand tour to India this August 2012.

The series will begin on Thursday, August 23, 2012 in India. India vs New Zealand 2012 is an international bilateral series to be organized by India.

New Zealand in India 2012 will consist of 2 Test and 2 T20I matches to be hosted by India in Aug-Sep 2012. 

Schedule of Matches By Craze For Cricket

Date and Time	Match Details and Series
Thu Aug 23 - Mon Aug 27 09:30 local | 04:00 GMT	1st Test - India vs New Zealand Rajiv Gandhi Int. Stadium, Hyderabad
Fri Aug 31 - Tue Sep 4 09:30 local | 04:00 GMT	2nd Test - India vs New Zealand M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Sat Sep 8 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT D/N	1st T20 - India vs New Zealand Indira Priyadarshini Stadium, Visakhapatnam
Tue Sep 11 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT D/N	2nd T20 - India vs New Zealand MA Chidambaram Stadium - Chepauk, Chennai

Kevin Pietersen's Saga Unfolded

2012 has been the year of controversy for Kevin Pietersen which has eventually found him out of the England cricket team in spite of being England's greatest cricketer of this generation.

May 23
Pietersen is fined an undisclosed sum by the ECB for criticising Sky commentator Nick Knight. A week later he announces his retirement from one-day and Twenty20 cricket, which he offers to reverse a month later if he can play the whole of the IPL.
-----
August 4
He makes a brilliant 149 against South Africa in the second Test. But Pietersen’s relationship with England fractures when he says "It’s tough being me in this dressing room", and admits he is considering retiring from Test cricket after the third Test.
-----
August 10
Strauss and Pietersen meet after newspaper revelations that he sent text messages making derogatory comments, allegedly about Strauss, to South Africa players during the second Test. A peace deal is attempted in a call to Matt Prior.
-----
August 11
Pietersen posts a video on YouTube through his PR company in which he claims he wants to play for England in all forms of international cricket, without conditions. "I’ve had a change of heart because I love playing cricket for England."
-----
August 12
Pietersen is dropped by England for the third Test against South Africa at Lord’s. Hugh Morris says: "A fundamental item was to confirm publicly that no derogatory texts had been sent to the South African team. This has not been forthcoming."
-----
August 13
Former newspaper editor Piers Morgan, a friend of Pietersen’s, escalates row by claiming two England players, Stuart Broad (right) and Graeme Swann (left), have links to the originator of a parody Twitter account. He tweets: "Over to you Mr Flower."
-----
August 14
Broad is interviewed by the ECB but denies involvement in the KP Genius Twitter account. Broad says: "I did not play any role in the creation of this account or provide any information regarding Kevin Pietersen or the England team."
-----
August 15
Pietersen issues an apology, admitting he sent "provocative" text messages to members of the South Africa team at Headingley. Strauss is unconvinced. "To resolve those issues we need to do it face to face, away from the media."

India vs Sri lanka T20 2012

India beat Sri Lanka in the T20 match by 39 runs. 

Virat Kholi played yet another fabulous innings with the bat and also proved a point with the ball bowling 3 overs for just 13 runs which proved very handy. 

Bringing Irfan Pathan's  back to the Indian team has proved to be a very good decision. Although brought in as a replacement to injured Vinay Kumar , Irfan Pathan has done a great deal with the ball in the entire series winning two man of the match awards.

Irfan bowled 4 overs for 27 runs and picked up 3 crucial wickets which paved way to Indias victory in the T20 match.

Toss Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field

Result India won by 39 runs

Player of the match Irfan Pathan (India)

Player of the series Virat Kohli (India)

India (20 overs maximum)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
G Gambhir	b Eranga	6	7	8	1	0	75.00
AM Rahane	c & b Mendis	21	46	25	0	1	84.00
V Kohli	c Thirimanne b Eranga	68	65	48	11	1	141.66
SK Raina	not out	34	43	25	3	1	136.00
MS Dhoni*†	not out	16	13	14	2	0	114.28
Extras	(lb 7, w 3)	10
Total	(3 wickets; 20 overs; 90 mins)	155	(7.75 runs per over)

Did not bat RG Sharma, MK Tiwary, IK Pathan, R Ashwin, UT Yadav, AB Dinda

Fall of wickets 1-7 (Gambhir, 1.4 ov), 2-81 (Rahane, 11.3 ov), 3-129 (Kohli, 16.3 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
AD Mathews	3	0	23	0	7.66
RMS Eranga	4	0	30	2	7.50	(2w)
SL Malinga	4	0	31	0	7.75	(1w)
NLTC Perera	4	0	34	0	8.50
HMRKB Herath	3	0	17	0	5.66
BMAJ Mendis	2	0	13	1	6.50

Sri Lanka (target: 156 runs from 20 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
DPMD Jayawardene*	lbw b Pathan	26	22	19	5	0	136.84
TM Dilshan	b Pathan	0	4	1	0	0	0.00
WU Tharanga	c Raina b Pathan	5	7	4	0	0	125.00
HDRL Thirimanne	b Ashwin	20	30	15	2	0	133.33
AD Mathews	c †Dhoni b Dinda	31	37	29	3	0	106.89
BMAJ Mendis	c Rahane b Yadav	11	22	15	0	0	73.33
LD Chandimal†	c Kohli b Dinda	7	20	11	1	0	63.63
NLTC Perera	run out (Tiwary)	1	4	5	0	0	20.00
RMS Eranga	c Ashwin b Dinda	6	11	7	1	0	85.71
SL Malinga	c †Dhoni b Dinda	0	3	2	0	0	0.00
HMRKB Herath	not out	0	1	0	0	0	-
Extras	(lb 2, w 7)	9
Total	(all out; 18 overs; 85 mins)	116	(6.44 runs per over)

Fall of wickets 1-7 (Dilshan, 0.5 ov), 2-14 (Tharanga, 2.1 ov), 3-35 (Jayawardene, 4.2 ov), 4-68 (Thirimanne, 9.1 ov), 5-96 (Mathews, 12.6 ov), 6-100 (Mendis, 14.3 ov), 7-102 (Perera, 15.2 ov), 8-116 (Chandimal, 17.2 ov), 9-116 (Eranga, 17.4 ov), 10-116 (Malinga, 17.6 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
IK Pathan	4	0	27	3	6.75	(3w)
UT Yadav	3	0	24	1	8.00	(2w)
AB Dinda	3	1	19	4	6.33
V Kohli	3	0	13	0	4.33
RG Sharma	1	0	9	0	9.00	(1w)
R Ashwin	4	0	22	1	5.50	(1w)

Michael Phelps Wallpapers

Michael Phelps Creates New World Record

As expected, Michael Phelps kicked off winning a gold and silver in two races at the London Olympics 2012. There’s no doubt that Michael Phelps continues to surprise the world with his outstanding performance. This famed American swimmer has yet again proved his calibre in winning medals for his country.

After bagging gold and a silver medal at the Aquatics Centre in London Olympics 2012, Michael Phelps has become one of the greatest Olympians of all times. 

In the 200m Butterfly Event at the London Olympics, Michael Phelps completed second just behind Chad Le Clos of South Africa. While in the 4x200m Freestyle relay event at the London Olympics, Michael almost cruised to victory. 

With this achievement of Phelps now surpassed the record of eighteen Olympic medals as set by a Soviet gymnast, Larisa Latynina in the year 1964.

His overall tally now stands at 19 (15 gold, two silver and two bronze), surpassing the 18 that Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina achieved between 1956 and 1964.

Usain Bolt Wins Gold

Jamaica's Usain Bolt wins men's 100-metre race in London Olympics in 9.63 seconds creating new Olympic record. 

Racing against a star-studded field in which every qualifier ran faster than 10 seconds in the semifinal, Bolt successfully defended his 2008 gold medal in the 100 meters by setting a new Olympic record of 9.63 seconds.

"I executed, and that's the key," Bolt told reporters after celebrating his fourth career gold medal with a victory lap. "I stopped worrying about the start. The end is what's important."

Yohan Blake of Jamaica took silver in 9.75 seconds, with Justin Gatlin of the United States capturing bronze in 9.79 seconds. A training partner of Bolt, Blake equalled a personal best with his runner-up time. Also setting or equalling personal best times were Gatlin and Ryan Bailey of the United States, who finished fifth. Of course, with a who's who of international track stars -- largely hailing from the United States and Jamaica -- it was no surprise to see the scoreboard light up with such stellar times.

 

"It will take a 9.7 to even get a medal. It's mind blowing," Tyson Gay of the United States told the Daily Mail shortly before the Games. Gay burned to a personal season's best 9.80 to finish fourth. True to his prediction, all top three finishers crossed the line under 9.8 seconds.

While the 25-year-old Bolt did not better the world record mark of 9.58 seconds that he established in Berlin in 2009, he did best the 9.69 time he posted in the event at the 2008 Olympics. Despite noticeably slowing up to celebrate before even reaching the finish line during the 100-meter dash in Beijing, Bolt's time was then a world record. While that mark didn't stand very long, rumors of Bolt's lack of fitness lingered for months leading up to the games. He was defeated by Blake in the 100-meter and 200-meter races at the Jamaican Olympic Trials and revealed just days before the Olympics that he had been dealing with a back problem that had created hamstring issues. By the time that Bolt reached the track for his first 100-meter heat on Saturday morning, there were more questions swirling around him than answers.