Friday, February 27, 2009

BRANDON McCULLUM STEERS NEW ZEALAND TO VICTORY IN THE THRILLER

Once again Dhoni and his men failed to deliver with the bat and they have to face second consecutive defeats by the hands of kiwis by five wickets in the 2nd twenty20 played at Westpac Stadium, Wellington.

Brendon McCullum played the role of match-winner for the second consecutive game. He secured a last-ball victory for New Zealand in their Twenty20 international against India in Wellington.
McCullum had steered the Black Caps to a win in the opening game and ensured they swept the series 2-0 by guiding them to a win in the 2nd game.
B.McCullum for the second time became hero for New Zealand by scoring 69 runs.
 
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and chose to bowl.
India opener Virender Sehwag again began in blistering fashion. He scored 11-ball 24.He got out when Vettori caught him off Iain O'Brien.

Ian Butler then removed left-handers Suresh Raina and Gautam Gambhir in quick time.But a missed run out and a Neil Broom dropped chance in the same over,gave Yuvraj an opportunity to play a good inning.

Yuvraj Singh made the excellant 50 off 34 balls.Yuvraj made his fifty with four huge sixes and three fours before he was caught on the boundary by Jacob Oram off O'Brien.

Dhoni was struggling to make runs.He made 28 from 30 balls. Yusuf pathan got out cheaply.
Vettori played a captain's role very well by taking one for 21 while Ryder gave just 18 runs from his four overs.
The Indians managed to reach the total of 149 for six.

In reply to India's total of 149 for six,New Zealand's chase was set up by a 53-run stand between Ryder and McCullum,that gave the home side a flying start.
Ryder was bowled by Zaheer Khan for 26 off 22 balls.

Fou overs later,H.Singh removed M.Guptill to provide India second breakthrough. R.Jadeja and H.Singh manages to put breaks on scoring and did put India on winning position.
The Kiwis lost wickets regularly after that but with McCullum at the crease they stayed in the game.

B.McCullum scored 69 runs of just 55 balls with eight fours and one huge six.
Needing 23 runs of last two overs McCullum held his nerve. 19th over bowled by Y.Singh who conceded 11 runs of that over but did manage to remove N.Broom in the same over.

In the last over New Zealand needed another 12 runs to win the twenty20 series. The wicketkeeper-batsman was joined by his older brother Nathan for the final over.

Final over bowled by I.Pathan who held his nerves for first three balls and given just three runs including a wide. New Zealand's chances of winning looked slim when they needed nine runs off the last three balls but McCullum kept his cool, smacking two successive boundaries to level the scores before chipping the final delivery over the infield for the winning single to seal the win.

B.McCullum is declared Man of the Match for his blistering knock of 69 runs of 55 balls to guide his team home by five wickets.

Earlier on, as in the opening Twenty20 encounter in Christchurch, which New Zealand won by seven wickets.So, with this win,New Zealand won the series by 2-0.

Match Summary
India – 149/6 in 20 Overs
Y.Singh- 50 M.S.Dhoni –28*
I.O’Brien- 4-0-30-2 I.Butler- 4-0-42-2
New Zealand – 150/5 in 20 Overs
B.McCullum-69* R.Taylor- 27
I.Pathan- 4-0-41-2 H.Singh-4-0-15-1

Result:
New Zealand won the match by 5 wickets.
New Zealand won the series by 2-0
 

WATCH VIDEO:2ND 20-20 BETWEEN INDIA-NEW ZEALAND

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ1dXkyyBPU

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

New Zealand beat India by 7 wickets in the 1st 20-20

Brandon McCullum and Jacob Oram led New Zealand to an emphatic seven-wicket victory in the first Twenty20 international against India at the AMI Park in Christchurch on Wednesday.

With the help of the unbeaten knocks of McCullum (56) and Oram (29), the Kiwis achieved the victory target of 163 runs with 7 balls to spare.

Earlier,Vettori won the toss and elected to bowl.
Virender Sehwag smashed consecutive sixes off the first three balls he faced. At that time,it looked like it would be a tough night in the field for New Zealand as Tim Southee conceded 19 runs off the first over.
But then Gambhir (6) was clean bowled by O'Brien. Sehwag was going all guns blazing at the other end.
Sehwag hit four sixes in his blitzkrieg knock of 26 runs that came off 10 balls. He too was clean bowled by O'Brien while going for another big hit.

India had 32 for two which quickly became 61 for five as Rohit Sharma (seven), Yuvraj Singh (one) and captain MS Dhoni (two) fell in quick succession.
Dhoni (2) was clean bowled by Ian Butler by a superb ball that came back in sharply.Before that,New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori trapped Yuvraj plumb in front of the wicket.
Rohit Sharma (7) was caught by Brendon McCullum off Butler. Rohit hit one six in his knock.

After that Suresh Raina had held the Indians' innings together as wickets fell at regular intervals, particularly through the middle of the order.
Raina's scored unbeaten 61 in 43 balls,including five sixes and a four.

Yusuf Pathan smashed three successive sixes off Nathan McCullum.
An outstanding piece of fielding by Oram ended Yusuf Pathan's innings,over long-on where Oram caught the ball, realized he would run over the boundary, threw the ball back in the air, and came back in to complete the catch.

Irfan Pathan was next to go, caught by Nathan McCullum off the bowling of Ryder.
India were struggling at 101 for seven in the 14th over.

But Harbhajan and Raina showed plenty of calmness and composure.
Raina built a vital partnership of 61 runs with Harbhajan at the end of the innings,that helped the visitors to post a reasonable total.

Harbhajan then showed some nice touches with the bat to score successive boundaries in the final over. He was bowled by Southee for 21 with the last ball of the match.

Suresh Raina (61) and Harbhajan Singh (21) guided India to a fighting total of 162/8.

In reply,New Zealand had a bad start ,as Jesse Ryder was trapped leg before by Ishant Sharma in just the second over.
Martin Guptill was lucky not to be given out lbw first ball.He made partnership with Ross Taylor and finally Oram.
After his lucky escape, Guptill started smashing the ball hard towards the boundary line,especially scoring consecutive sixes in Irfan Pathan's over.
But just nine runs short of his half-century, he was trapped leg before by Harbhajan Singh. At that time New Zealand were 56 for two.

But Taylor and McCullum took the match away from the Indians with a 50-run partnership as they worked the singles and punished the bad balls.
Taylor eventually was bowled by Zaheer Khan at the score of 31 off 20 balls.

After that, Oram and McCullum guided New Zealand to complete a successful run chase.
McCullum brought up his half-century in the 19th over with a six off Yusuf Pathan and Oram wrapped up the innings with his second six four balls later.
McCullum hit 3 sixes and 2 fours in his knock of 56, while Oram hit 2 sixes and 3 fours in his knock.

McCullum was declared 'The Man of the Match' for his match winning performance.

Match Summary:
India – 162/8 in 20 Overs
SK Raina- 61 V.Sehwag –26
IE O'Brien– 4-0-36-2 IG Butler– 49-0-29-2
New Zealand – 166/3 in 181.5 Overs
BB McCullum- 56 MJ Guptill– 41
Z Khan– 4-0-20-1 I Sharma– 4-0-35-1
 
 

Monday, February 23, 2009

CHANGE IN INDIAN DRESS CODES,BUT WILL THE HISTORY BE CHANGED IN NEW ZEALAND?

Indian cricket team got brand new kit in striking deep blue dress codes for the two tenty20 interntional and one day international. All the players were gatherd in function at Mumbai before departure with new dress code.

Indian team after better performance in the recent series leaves for New Zealand for their tough assignment in the recent times. Their past record in New Zealand is very dismal and Dhoni and his men would be keen to improve their past performance this time.

Indian team will arrive in New Zealnd on 20th of February and would open their tour with two twenty20 International to be played on 25th February and 27th February. 

Indian team last tour to New Zealand were more than worse as they have lost both test series as well as ODI series by 2-0 and 5-2 respectively. Last test series win for India came way back in 1967-68 under the captaincy of M.Pataudi, so it has been long 41 years for men in blue to win the test series on New Zealand soil.

So far India has travel seven times to New Zealand and manages just one test series win while loosing four test series and drawing two. In the current Indian squad only five players played at New Zealnd soil- Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag, V.V.S Laxman, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh.

Past record may be against the Indians at New Zeland soil but the current form of men in blue will be very helpful and will help Dhoni and his men to perform better this time. Last two ODI series against England and Sri Lanka, Indian team looked completely dominant over the opponents by winning the series by 5-0 and 4-1