Tag: Cricket

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Rohit Sharma opened the batting for the Mumbai Indians

Rohit Sharma opened the batting for the Mumbai Indians in the first game versus the Kolkata Knight Riders and scored 98 fabulous runs and then, for some reason, he demoted himself in the batting order and started coming at 3 or 4.

And, since the time he has done that, Mumbai’s overall batting has been all over the place.

Rohit is the most important batsman for the Mumbai Indians in the subcontinent conditions and that’s because he is a fine player of the spinners.

He can milk the spinners which the overseas batsmen or even some of the other Indian batsmen can’t do effectively.

In the limited over formats of the game, you want your best player to play the maximum no. of deliveries and in Mumbai’s case; it can happen only if Rohit opens the innings.

Also, Mumbai’s problem in the recent games has been that they have not been able to build a platform.

With Rohit opening, they might be able to do that and then, their big hitters can take over in the death.

And, Rohit opens for India as well quite regularly in the One day Internationals and the T20s.

Mumbai has lost 4 out of their 4 games and to have any chance of reaching the playoffs now, they need to win at least 7 out of their remaining 10. Continue reading “Rohit Sharma opened the batting for the Mumbai Indians”

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Sri Lanka vs New Zealand – First Match in World Cup

The runners up of the previous World Cup, Sri Lanka, will play against the New Zealand in the first match of the World Cup 2015 this Saturday.

However, for the England viewers, the match will be starting on Friday night itself at 11 PM.

Sri Lanka might be above the Black Caps in the team rankings of the International Cricket Council at the moment, but, given the conditions that will be there in Christchurch, it’s New Zealand which is the favourite.

The Sri Lankan bowling attack is more about spin. On the small ground there, using too much of spin can be dangerous as the ball would not turn at all and thus, playing lofted shots would be too easy. Continue reading “Sri Lanka vs New Zealand – First Match in World Cup”

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Suresh Raina played Test Cricket after long Gap

Suresh Raina got the opportunity to play a test match after a long gap and guess what he did? The first ball that he faced, he was dismissed. Yes, the classical left hander bagged a golden duck.

Raina could not have hoped for a better wicket to bat on in his comeback game. The pitch at the Sydney Cricket Ground was a complete highway. The ball was not moving an inch when he arrived to the scene.

He could easily have scored some runs there on that track and who knows a good knock might have helped him seal his place in the team for the home tests coming up later this year. Continue reading “Suresh Raina played Test Cricket after long Gap”

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Virat Kohli – New Cricket God

Virat Kohli again batted at no. 4 versus the Sri Lankan team in Ahmadabad. He had done the same in Cuttack where the opening match of the 5-match ODI series was played. However, his decision to demote himself there was understandable as the first wicket had fallen quite late and the team needed some quick runs at that point of time. So, to accelerate straightaway, he sent Suresh Raina in ahead of him.

But, in Ahmadabad, the scenario was different. India had lost Ajinkya Rahane inside the first 10 overs and the stability was needed. So, everybody thought Kohli would come at his usual position and control the game, but, that wasn’t the case to be. It’s Rayudu who walked in and ended up scoring a century.

As far as Kohli’s form is concerned, it’s alright now. He got a half century and then, a century against West Indies and his feet seem to be moving nicely on these Indian pitches. Then, why is he batting at 4? Is this the way the Indian team management wants the batting line up to be leading into the World Cup? Do they think that Kohli is better off batting at 4 in the Australian conditions?

On the last tour of Australia in 2012, Kohli had batted 3 in most of the One- dayers and had played some breathtaking innings. He had faced the new ball many a time during that series and there were no signs that he was impotent against new ball. Suddenly, by pushing him down the order just to protect him from the new ball, is the team management doing any good to his confidence?  Remember, we are talking about a man who has 26 international hundreds under his belt.