India opens 2015 Cricket World Cup journey with a win over arch rivals Pakistan

#2015cricketworldcup #IndVsPak #adelaideoval It was a memorable Sunday in Adelaide when India opened its 2015 Cricket World Cup journey with an emphatic win over arch rivals Pakistan. It was the 6th time that the two had met in World Cup matches and Pakistan lost all six times as reported in ibnlive.in.com dated 15 February 2015.
From the word go, the Indians showed that in spite of recent failures with the bat and the ball, they had brushed all past failures and emerged with more determination to do better and prove their worth.
After all, India are the defending champions and played like champions in spite of not having among them stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. This was a match in which the top order fired and helped India put up a score of 300 which turned out to be a tough one for Pakistan who lost by 76 runs.
The plus point of the match was the 107 scored by Virat Kohli who was adjudged Man of the Match – in doing so, he beat the record set by Sachin Tendulkar of the highest number of runs posted by an Indian against Pakistan in the World Cup. India will now take on South Africa next Sunday and let us hope that also turns out to be another memorable match.

India lose in Brisbane – beaten hollow by England in Carlton Mid tri-series ODI

#INDvsENG #carltonmidtriseries #gabba #2015CricketWorldCup It was yet another collapse of India at the Gabba in Brisbane when England beat them hollow by 9 wickets to earn a bonus point in the Carlton Mid tri-series. It was England’s biggest win against India. One wonders why the captain opted to go in for batting after winning the toss when it is a fact that Indians are good at chasing targets instead of setting targets.
The poor form at the top order continued with Shikhar Dhawan raising doubts of whether he would find a place in the playing eleven of the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Virat Kohli, India’s test captain failed yet again and this was strange.
As to Suresh Raina, he wanted to blast off from the word go to prove a point that he had arrived but was stumped – he had gone way outside his crease and committed suicide.
Captain M S Dhoni with Stuart Binny tried to mend the innings but could not and India crumbled to end at 153 runs – it was at least 100 runs short – and could not even complete the quota of 50 overs and finished in 39.3 overs. This score of 153 was their lowest ever ODI score against England – the previous low was 158 at Headingley in 1996.
Such display of attitude and irresponsible play is not what India would have wanted as the World Cup draws near and it would require complete attention of the captain, the team manager as well as the director to work out better strategies.

Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli fail - India lose the Melbourne ODI against Australia

#IndiaVsAus #MitchellStarc #RohitSharma #carltonmidtriseries #2015cricketworldcup In spite of the hype surrounding the Indian ODI team, it turned out to be a forgettable Sunday when the Indians could not put up a sufficiently big score to overawe the Aussies. With the fabled batting lineup that India boasts of, a total of over 300 was on the cards but, they struggled to post 267 for the loss of 8 wickets – and it was chickenfeed for the home team.
The devastating spell of Mitchell Starc who bagged 6 of the wickets for 43 runs allowed Australia to win by 4 wickets with six balls left.
Rohit Sharna did score a century and Raina chipped in with another 50 plus, but the failures of Shikhar Dhawan (who perished in his famous chasing the balls outside the off stump) and that of Virat Kohli plus that of captain M S Dhoni added to India’s batting woes.
And – to cap the miseries, the Indian pace battery failed to make any impression – neither did the spinners. All in all, Indians were outplayed in all departments and Australia won its match with ease at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the Carlton-Mid triseries.
Let us hope the Indians regain their form and, with hardly one month for the 2015 Cricket World Cup to begin, the captain should try to ensure that only the best payers get selected. Past performances are no guarantee of future glories.

Sachin Tendulkar is Brand Ambassador for 2015 cricket world cup

#sachintendulkar #2015cricketworldcup The International Cricket Council has announced that former Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar will be the ambassador for the upcoming 2015 Cricket World Cup in February. It may be recalled that in 2011 also, Sachin was the Brand Ambassador for the prestigious tournament. That time the matches ere hosted by Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.
The ICC has indicated that as Brand Ambassador, Sachin’s role would be to promote and support a variety of the international board's initiatives to enhance the profile of the tournament because this is the third biggest sporting event in the world.
Speaking on the occasion, Sachin has remarked that after playing in the last six editions, the 2015 cricket World Cup would be a different experience since he would be in the sidelines – he has added that it could be compared to the ICC Cricket World Cup 1987 where he was a ball boy.
This time the World Cup would be held in Australia and New Zealand and would begin on February 14 when New Zealand would take on former champion Sri Lanka.