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In the first one-day international (ODI) of the three-match Series played in Pune India have beaten England by 66 runs yesterday, taking a 1-0 lead in the series. Like the last few matches this game too was played to empty stadiums due to the second wave of COVID-19 virus in India. India’s captain Virat Kohli lost the toss yet again, for the third time in a row taking into account the last two T20 internationals, and it proved to be a good toss to lose, yet again. It was heartening to see India’s regular opening pair, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, coming in to open the innings. Perhaps this being the first match of the series India started very cautiously to avoid the oft-repeated first-match blues, and concentrated on doing the groundwork for a good total. However, they did not get into a shell which also proves to be India’s undoing on many occasions. In the power-play overs they managed to put up 64 runs when Rohit departed for 28 off 42 balls.        The first hundred-run pa

Thanks to India’s non-stop experimentation we got to see a brand new opening partner, none other than India captain Virat Kohli, with Rohit Sharma, and the duo treated us to one of the most exhilarating batting displays in recent times. Rohit was the dominant partner hitting the ball all around the park in his cracker of an innings of 64 runs off 34 balls with 5 sixes and 4 fours while Kohli played the sheet anchor role perfectly, allowing Rohit go berserk. They piled up 94 runs in just the ninth over, and the momentum thus built never slowed down as Suryakumar Yadav, the sensation of the 4 th T20I match, came in at no.3 and made a quickfire 32 in 17 balls. And then, the run-feast was left open to Kohli and Hardik Pandya both of whom played some incredible hits over the fence to post India’s highest ever T20 total against England, 225 runs to win for the demoralized visitors.   The match was almost sealed in favour of India, although England did try putting up a brave front with J

At the start of the five-match T20I Series at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad from 12 th March 2021 between England and India, the former was the No.1 team in ICC T20I rankings while the latter was in the second position, and a tough contest was very much in the offing. Interestingly too, both the teams won 7 matches each out of the 14 T20Is played so far between them. But somehow, the win-toss-win-match syndrome has been interfering with the proceedings so far. Thanks to the factors like knowing exactly what total to chase and the night dew the obvious decision on winning the toss has been to bowl first. In the first T20I Eoin Morgan's England won the toss and decided to bowl; the visitors won the match by eight wickets leading the series 1-0. In the second Virat Kohli's India won the toss and as usual decided to bowl; the hosts won the match by 7 wickets, leveling the series at 1-1. And, in the third T20I played on 16 th March 2021 England won the toss again and deci

Photo: espncricinfo.com A new World Champions emerges tomorrow at Lord’s in the ICC Cricket World Cup-2019 Final match to be played between England and New Zealand. Neither England nor NZ ever became Champions before, although both coming close several times. England had been playing semi finals in the first five versions of the World Cup since 1975, and they had been runners-ups three times of those five occasions, never able to win the final. They played a semi final last in 1992 and lost it, never able to make to the last four stage since then.  On the other hand New Zealand played 7 semi finals including the present one and the first two in 1975 and 1979, and had been runners-up only once in the 2015 version when they lost to their big brother Australia. They had been playing good cricket in several world cups, but mostly they had been facing an inconsistent run of wins/losses. In this version they looked the dominant team, but eventually lost badly to Pakistan, Australia

England have entered the final of Carlton Mid Triangular Cricket Series played in Australia beating a listless India by 3 wickets with 19 balls to spare in the 4 th ODI of the Series in Perth today. England now face unbeaten Australia in the Final to be played in same city on Sunday, the 1 st of February 2015. For a change a better performance by Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan (38) and a half century by Ajinkya Rahane (73) gave India a good start and with Virat Kohli coming at No.3 for the first time in this Series India looked to be in a sound position to push for a formidable total. But, the ‘Calypso’ collapses that seem to have become a part of Team India reduced the team to 136 for 5 from 102 for 1 and then 165 for 9. Mohammed Shami, the last man standing, hit a lusty 25 to make India reach 200 at least; else India would have done exactly the same as they did last time against England. This is despite the presence of two confirmed all-rounders in the team. The famed batting

Team India suffered the worst defeat under the so-called aggressive captain M S Dhoni, beaten by England at Trent Bridge today, the 1 st of August. The second defeat of the ongoing test series with a margin of 319 runs, the first test margin being 195. Team India has almost lost the series and gave away the No.1 position in test cricket after just about two years. But, did they at all deserve to be the No.1? Team India and the Indian cricket Board are more comfortable with limited overs games, immense money, absolute power and an overwhelming dose of generosity to get more mileage. What they do in real cricket is hardly of interest. Now, if you compare them with Australia the following scenario will emerge: Would Australia have:     Done the same thing as Dhoni did to an admittedly naive Ian Bell given rightfully out by the umpire?    Given away the advantage after putting England at 124 for 8?    Allowed England to gleefully score their highest ever 417 runs in a single day’s