Where is NewZealand Cricket heading towards.

Bad Hair season(day) for Vettori

Newzealand has just finished it’s series against India and does not have any fond memories to bring back home. The whole season has been very much disappointing for the kiwis as they could not bring back home a single victory back home including the Bangladesh series . The worst news for the kiwis is that ,looking back @ the stats they have lost 10 consecutive matches and all in the sub-continent and no prizes for guesses as the world cup is going to be played in the Sub-Continent and the distinctly different selection committee of the kiwis which includes The coach and the Captain of the the team as prominent members and sometimes on away tours the vice-captain also has a vote in the selection . The selection worries for the kiwis is adding up pressure on vettori’s captaincy and it also shows on his performance this series where he took just 2 wickets in four matches and scored just 80 runs of that many matches.
The Kiwis with the exception of J.Franklin could not show any character in the series and also does not look fit enough for the world cup squad. Especially Ross Taylor, what happened to the extravagant stroke maker in him? no body could understand.

Definitely, New Zealand does not seem as the unit to look out for in the upcoming world cup . Practically speaking, They are now less favored than Bangladesh in the world cup tournment.

The bottom line is “The cricket in any part down under does not seem good”

Yet Another White wash for Black caps

Going... going ...Gone!

Chennai,5th ODI ,India Vs New Zealand

First of all i am disgusted . I live in Chennai and because of work i could not see the match in the stadium and courtesy Newzealand I even missed the Live match in Television . The match was already over even before i started from office. me and my fellow colleagues were shell shocked as we were witnessing the fall of the wickets of the kiwis like 9 pins. Ok, lets get down to the game now.

The Kiwi’s at least won the toss! today and that’s all they can manage out of this series .The match was usual like the other matches of the series new zealand came into bat lost some early wickets and this time they lost pretty early and this time around their was no resistance to follow and kiwi batsmen were not walking but were running back to the pavilion as fast as they can and Franklin was their this time too but even he cannot save the kiwis from the ruins.the fell like nine pins with spinners in ashwin yuvi,& yusuf bagged 7 wickets between them with ashwin finishing with his career best figures of 3/24 in his home ground.This time around Kiwis can be so sure that nobody from men in blue would go on to hit a century.

Then came India to bat and Gambhir who had an memorable tournament as captain and as batsmen with two tons finished the series witha first over duck and another success story of the series Kohli fell cheaply with Parthiv and yuvi were taking the responsibility of taking India home to their whitewash on the black caps.Parthiv scored his second consecutive half century of the series in that many matches.

I dont even want to think how Vettori is feeling right now.
Let them atleast perform @ par with the Pakistanis.
Actually, 5-0 scoreline reminds me of a Manchester United match

Yusuf wins it for India in style

Winning the yusuf way

Bengaluru,India Vs New Zealand , 4th Odi

This was not any consequential match of the series nor its result any important.India has won the series hands down and got nothing to lose and Nz who have lost 7 matches in a row and lost the series and to win this match would help them restore some pride.but, Boy!what a match it turned out to be especially for Monstrous Yusuf Pathan .

Gambhir won yet another toss and decided to bowl and the decision immediately backfired as guptill and McCullum fired their way through by scoring quick runs and then came Nehra to bowl his spell and immediately got two wickets bringing Nz to the mat and the kiwis were losing wickets @ frequent intervals and then came Franklin holding the kiwi innings and @ the finishing overs sent the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground scoring a very brisk 97 and boosting the kiwi score to 317 to every body’s surprise.Nobody expected the kiwis to score past 300 but Franklin single-handedly took kiwi to a match winning score.

Then came Indian innings ,this time with different openers in Parthiv Patel and Skipper Gambhir and they gave a good start especially Parthiv who was dominating rather than Gambhir and gambhir departed and another star of the series Kohli stepped in and went out for a duck then came yuvi had a decent time with the bat. Parthiv went on to make his first 50 then he departed. Pathan and rohit shared a match saving partnership but rohit departed to poise the match evenly and to the regret of everyone rain interrupted the proceedings and India was in a spot of Bother courtesy D/L method and to everyone’s delight and match resumed without any adjustments in numbers and Pathan came back witha motive and bolstered the first delivery after rain for a six and S.Tiwary gave him a much needed partner to take India home and kiwi bowlers bowled beautifully in the batting powerplay with only 16 runs coming from 3 of the overs but mills one decisive over went on for 21 courtesy Pathan to swing the match in India’s favor and then a periodical six and four made the path easier for India and S.Tiwary scored a six to finish the victory in style .

This is India’s 5th consecutive Victory in recent times and Nz’s 8th consecutive loss.

Yet another easy victory – India seals series

Vadodra,3rd odi,India Vs New Zealand

The Vadodra odi was one more dead rubber in the India Vs Nz series. the summary is simple. Zaheer returns to the team takes a wicket in the very first over ,rest of the batsmen could not do much ,there was late resistance from lower order and Nz end with 224/9 from 50 overs, Gambhir & vijay give a solid start ,Vijay departs, Kohli comes in and scores yet another 50 and Gambhir scores 2nd consecutive ton and India finishes comfortably.

The first session of play when India won the toss and chose to bowl , the bowling was too impressive and proved too hot for kiwi batsmen to handle.Zaheer and Nehra were swinging both ways and was constantly troubling the umpires The fielding of the Indians were also surprisingly good and other bowlers chipped in and Franklin and Nathan Mccullum played an innings to restore some pride and it was not enough and they finished witha score of 224/9. Then came their bowling which was wayward and totally flat and even Vettori did not impress. Gambhir was fluent in his strokes and Vijay was pushing for singles and doubles and vijay went back after yet another good start then came Kohli and continued his form scoring yet another 50 and accompanied Gambhir through to the victory with Ga\mbhir scoring another Captains knock, his 2nd ton in a row and India won the match with 63 balls and 9 wickets to spare

Its’ Formalities For India

Jaipur, 2nd odi,India Vs New Zealand
This Series of India Vs New Zealand even though was not expected to be a thriller but still the series is too very one-sided and India has posted dominance in both the games .Today’s match was way one-sided.

India at last won a toss in the series and immediately put the kiwis to bat with the pitch being said bowler friendly for the first hour and the Indian seamer’s were ready to pounce on the kiwi openers .Sreesanth and munaf were spot on but the kiwi’s provided some resistance with styris and vettori was looking to posta total above 275 but then came Sree and his fierce spell which immediately spelled disaster for kiwi’s taking two wickets in two balls and leaving the kiwi’s in tatters . then the innings eventually finished for 258/8 and sree finishing with figures of 4/47.

India then came into Bat the solidity of Vijay and the aggressiveness of gambhir did the trick for India leaving NZ chasing leather then vettori troubled Vijay and he did not hold long and vettori packed him up. Again, Vijay after a good start could not capitalize Then came rising star Kohli and scored a brisk 64 and lets not forget Gambhir who scored a more than a run a ball 132 from 116 balls and quite correctly adjudged MoM for a fabulous century . Kohli even though went out for 64 he surely cemented his place for World Cup. After KOhli went it was formalities for Yuvi And Gauti. The game was eventually finished thanks to a Wide ball .

Late Surge By Kiwi’s does not dampen India

Guwahati 1st odi,India Vs New zealand
It isn’t the most awaited Odi series or one of the closely contested series or does not have any impact on rankings or Big players playing but still it is an series involving India which is one of the strongest team in the world and NZ coming to the series with 4 consecutive loses against Bangladesh.Whoever the captain of India , losing the toss is almost inevitable,but India was put into bat by Taylor and the Indian openers immediately made Taylor to regret his decision. Vijay was it his best but his inexperience cost his wicket then came the Hero of the Day Virat Kohli .It was a well constructed innings with controlled aggression,his innings did not have too many boundaries but a lot of singles & doubles.After his fall then came the downfall, The other batsmen fell like domino’s with a light dazzle from Yusuf Pathan.Then came Nz to start it’s innings and the Bench strength of India showed it’s prowess with Nehra, ashwin and sreesanth firing at right time with part timer yuvraj performing above par. The performance of Yuvraj was exceptional as he performed with both bat and ball.then Indian bowlers ran through the Nz batting order until Nathan McCullum and Kyle mills springed surprise and nearly took the game away from India but Sreesanth came back and took 2 wickets of 2 balls to finish the match in style.India overall out played Nz in all departments.
“The six saved by Guptill needs a special mention here”

INDIA WRAPS UP KIWIS & SERIES

Nagpur,3rd Test ,IndiaVsNew Zealand

India the No.1 test team entered the series as the overall favorites. The Indian team steamrolled the Aussies and kiwis got steamrolled by Bangladesh.So the series wasn’t one of the most expected of the season .

The 1st test was a grueling draw making the kiwis intentions clear that they are here not to win but to battle a draw and buy back some respect home.

The 2nd test was again a dull draw much helped by the curator who laid a perfect highways instead of a  test pitch.Even the century maker Harbhajan was not  happy about the pitch (after all he’s a bowler).

The 3rd and Final test of the series and a draw again here would mean kiwis  topped India . the test had an usual start with Dhoni failing the toss and had to face the evil  stare from his bowlers. The bowling also did not have the spearhead Zaheer but less did deter the confidence of Ishant and Rock star Sreesanth , The ball was moving haywire mercilessly . sreesanth with his upright seem was un-battable and ishant with his venomous delivery stride was punishing the batsmen and the scoreboard soon showed 70-5. that’s it the session was conquered by India and moreover India was in the driver’s seat. Nobody in NZ could answer to the bowling of India and failed for 194. then came India’s most famed Batting line up and it lived up to it’s  fame with the top 3 of the 4 batsmen scoring fifties and one came close to a double century. Dhoni rose to the expectation and produced an glimpse of his past scoring a 98 and India piled up a huge innings lead and India were calling the shots in the match.With 2 days to go to save the match NZ was not expected to do so but NZ failed miserably by not even putting a fight  bundled out for 175. Mark Greatbatch the coach before the match said he has achieved what he wanted .I think he was a bit earlier to say something like that.

Newzealand , i also accept is not a great side but their intentions of buying a draw does not do justice for their talents . they did whatsoever did not perform up to the mark and deserved the series loss very much. after the loss in srilanka in 2008 India is yet to loss a series. That is the sole reason they are No.1 and they will continue to do so.

South african tour is around the corner and this would be the series of the season “N0.1 Vs No.2”

Let’s hope the Indians conquer South Africa and keep the No.1 ranking Intact.

INDIA ON TOP(even sreesanth bowled well!!!)

Nagpur, The 3rd test New zealand Vs India.
two days back, the city of nagpur started to greet the teams with heavy showers and helped all the players of both the teams get a break from the practice sessions and even expected that it would extend the rest for the players . But, the weather god was in good mood to watch cricket today as the showers stopped. but bended the backs of ground staff who were very busy drying the outfield. lots and lots of saw dust was used to keep it dry. the saw mills around nagpur would have run out of it,that much was what was needed to dry the outfield and their was a good amount of delay which also gave the players some more time to make up for the empty days and also gave vettori a headache as Brendon McCullum injured his hip and their was confusion in the NZ camp but later they decided that McCullum would play and vettori prayed to god he should win the toss ,and help McCullum get more time to frisk away the injury and his prayer were answered.NZ won the toss and opted to Bat.Eventhough god answered the call of Vettori ,the Indian bowlers were not in good mood for Vettori’s plans to go good.Remember, Zaheer is missing from the squad. The bowling dept. was headed by “two comeback guyz ” Rock star sreesanth & tormetor of Australia last series Ishanth Sharma. The opening pair of NZ could not fair well against the swing bowling of the new ball bowlers. Particularly, Sreesanth with his upright seem troubled the likes of the NZ.The Top order had no answers for the fast bowlers they were skittled out for very meager runs the last piece of resistance came in the form of Ryder who is in a come-back mode and the thing Vettori never wanted to happen, happened! McCullum was needed too early for Nz’s liking . Then RYder and McCullum provided little resistance but Raina’s beauty of a catch sent back ryder and McCullum is still their ,but for how long?. The Indian’s made up for the time took by the rain and the Indian juggernaut is rolling in smooth water’s as of now.It is not necessary that India would definitely hold because”That’s the beauty of the game” one session is enough for anybody to come on top
Hopes are ” India will win the final match and the series”
LET’S SEE!!!!

CENTURIES GALORE 100!200!300!

Today,the world of Cricket witnessed three amazing innings by three batsmen from various parts of the world

A match saving Hundred from Pakistan’s Younis khan was quite an innings,before his entry the openers gave a consolidated and conscious start but could not hold long and the south african’s broke the shackles sending both the openers back.But, being in the Pak team for so long ,Younis was once again needed to save the Team and he found a partner in Misbah-ul-haq who is slowly getting used to the saviors role.The innings of Younis not only helped Pak managed a draw but also spoiled the great efforts of south Africa in the previous 4 days.
Next,another match saving double hundred by the dashing stroke maker Brendon McCullum , he started the innings after an efficient century by an energetic Harbajan which should have motivated him,Mccullum who completed his century yesterday had the responsibility of taking NZ through the 5th day to save his team from spoils and as expected he played a stroke filled innings dashing 24 boundries and found a partner in young williamson who is touted as the next martin crowe.the innings of Mccullum won him much needed confidence and a Man of the Match.
last but not Least,The triple ton from the ever valiant Chris Gayle.Wow! what an absorbing innings it was srilankan bowlers were tormented to all parts of the ground by the big man from Caribbean. He did not find any particular partner to carry his innings but no body was needed for him to carry on. all he needed was the bowler to bowl and a fielder to throw the ball back to the bowler. the lankan’s had no plans for this man and all efforts went to vein and at last a sluggish short and a short miss of concentration ave mendis a wicket.if it was not for the sluggish shot. Lara would have become number 2 in the list of highest score in an innings. but fell 1run short of matching the Don.
100!200!300! test matches Rocks