India wins 1st T20 in Harare – new, promising faces of Indian cricket emerge

#INDvsZIM #AxarPatel #AjinkyaRahane #Zimbabwe #HarbhajanSingh After the brilliant whitewash in ODI meted out to Zimbabwe at Harare, India has shown its mettle in T20 as well by beating the hosts by 54 runs as reported in zeenews.india.com dated 18 July 2015.

This Zimbabwe series has thrown up many exciting new talents and the emergence of such players mean a lot for India where the players are gradually aging and there is a need to inject new fresh blood.
In this T20 match, India won the toss, opted to bat first and put up an impressive score of 178 for 5 and, with an asking rate of around 9 runs per over from the word go, it was a tough ask for Zimbabwe.
Captain Ajinkya Rahane (33), Murali Vijay (34) and Robin Uthappa (39 not out) helped the visiting side to post 178 for 5 after electing to bat and the Zimbabweans conceded 25 runs as extras to boost the Indian total.
Young 21-year-old Axar Patel with 3 for 17 was the pick of the bowlers – this left-arm spinner was one of five Indians who made T20 International debut today. Experienced Harbhajan Singh with 2 for 39 gave him able support and Zimbabwe batting order slumped to 124/7 while chasing the target and India the match.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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India outplay Zimbabwe in 2nd ODI in Harare and seal series

#INDvsZIM #AjinkyaRahane #Zimbabwe #BhuvaneshwarKumar It was an all-round performance of confidence that helped India win the 2nd ODI at Harare and beat the home team to seal the series 2-0 as reported in dnaindia.com dated 11 July 2015.
Once again Zimbabwe won the toss and sent the visitors in to bat but, this time, the openers played to their potentials and put on a century partnership before being separated. Murali Vijay put on 72 runs while skipper Ajinkya Rahane added 63 runs. The Indians put up a score of 271 for 8 in the allotted 50 overs.

In reply, Zimbabwe could score 209 in 49 overs and India won the match.
The Indian bowlers maintained their stranglehold on the opposition throughout and Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4 for 33 in 10 overs. Others chipped in with their contributions. Dhawal Kulkarni (1/39 in 9 overs) provided initial breakthroughs while spinners Harbhajan Singh (1/29 in 10 overs) and Axar Patel (1/40 in 10 overs) succeeded in keeping the home team a tight leash.
For Zimbabwe, Chamu Chibhabha (72, 100 balls) was the top-scorer.
(Image source wikimediacommons.org)

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It was the only one test match scheduled between India and Bangladesh scheduled in Fatullah, Dhaka, and it was disturbed by the rains and finally ended in a draw.
This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 14 June 2015.

India won the toss, elected to bat first and managed to put up a formidable score of 462 for the loss of 6 wickets. All the top order batsmen scored runs – Shikhar Dhawan had 173 to his credit while Murali Vijay added 150 and Ajinkya Rahane, missed out on a century – he scored 98 runs.
In reply, Bangladesh could manage to score only 256 with Ravichandra Ashwin picking up five wickets. India sked hem to follow-on and the game was declared a draw with Bangladesh scoring only 23 for no loss were stumps were drawn.
Harbhajan Singh picked up only one Test wicket – it was after 2 years and 102 days since he was on a comeback mission - the rain gods were not kind to him.
All eyes will now be on the ODI series – there will be three of them and M S Dhoni would captain the ODI series. (Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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IPL8 – Chennai Super Kings register convincing win against Kings XI Punjab

#IPL8 #CSKvKXIP #BrendonMccullum #RavindraJadeja It was a Saturday evening when spectators had turned up at the MA Chidambaram Stadium to watch and enjoy a game of absorbing T20 cricket but, the lackluster performance of the Kings XI Punjab left the spectators disappointed. This has been reported in cricbuzz.com dated 26 April 2015.

It was the 5th win in six matches by Chennai Super Kings and the Kings XI Punjab had no answer to the strategies of CSK that kept paying rich dividends while their own strategies fell flat.
Once again, the CSK openers Brendon McCullum (44 ball 66) and Dwayne Smith (26) set the run plundering fest by amassing and a couple of dropped catches by KXIP fielders ultimately saw CSK set a formidable score of 192 for 3 – and KXIP need 193 to win.
But, with the failure of the likes of Virendra Sehwag, KXIP could post only 95/9 and out of this, Murali Vijay contributed 34 runs – the main wreckers of KXIP were Ravindra Jadeja 3/22, Nehra 2/16 and Ashwin 2/14. Brendon McCullum was declared Man of the Match.

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IPL8 – KKR once again gets the better of KXIP at Pune

#IPL8 #KXIPvsKKR #andrerussell #sandeepsharma In this match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab at Pune, the KXIP was put in to bat by Gautam Gambhir and they did not have a good start and ended with 155 for 9. This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 19 April 2015.

The openers Murali Vijay (0) and Virendra Sehwag (11) left cheaply. And, at one point of time, 155 looked to be a defendable score when the KKR was down to a score at 60 for 5 in 8 overs.
It was then that Andre Russell came on the scene and disturbed all equations. While bowling, he had taken 2 wickets for 39 runs and had picked up a couple of fantastic catches. And, with the bat, he showed his skills as an all-rounder.
He scored his 50 off just 28 balls with nine boundaries and two sixes and added 95 runs in 9.2 overs for the sixth wicket with Yusuf Pathan (28 no) to take his team home. This had appeared to be a distant dream after the first eight overs when half of the team was back in the dug-out.
Sandeep Sharma was the pick of the KXIP bowlers with figures of 4/25.

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IPL8 – KXIP beat MI by 18 runs in Wankhede Stadium

#IPL8 #MIvsKXIP #HarbhajanSingh #GeorgeBailey #Bhajji The heroics of Harbhajan Singh with his 24 ball 64 runs went in vain and failed to give the Mumbai Indians a much desired win at their home grounds in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The MI team ultimately lost to KXIP by 18 runs in their IPL8 encounter.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 13 April 2015.

Bhajji, as he is better known, came out in the 14th over with MI down to 59 for six and staring down the barrel at a miserable outing in front of the home crowd. But, Harbhajan managed to infuse some life and, even of hopes of a win towards the end – it was too late in the day. He had smashed five fours and six sixes in his knock.
Earlier, KXIP batting first put up 177 for five. Captain George Bailey remained unbeaten with 61 from 32 balls while there were useful contributions from openers Murali Vijay (35), Virender Sehwag (36) and David Miller (24).
Such below-par showing on the Mumbai Indians was most unexpected and, with two losses in two games, Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting, the mentor and coach respectively, need to do some serious soul searching.

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IPL8 – Virendra Sehwag fails to fire, KXIP lose to RR in Pune

#IPL8 #KXIPvRR #JamesFaulkner #VirendraSehwag Kings XI Punjab were the runner up in the last edition of IPL but, this time around, they lost their first match to Rajasthan Royals by 26 runs at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 11 April 2015.

This was mainly due to the innings of James Faulkner when he piled up the runs and miseries on KXIP by smashing their bowlers to all corners of the ground in the onslaught of the last two overs. The final target of 163 was a massive one and would not have been difficult if Virendra Sehwag had not gone out for a first ball duck.
Similarly, Glenn Maxwell also did not click – he went out for only 7 runs. And, to confound problems, Murali Vijay (37) and Wriddhiman Shaha (7) ran themselves out. KXIP finally folded up for 136/8 in 20 overs, falling short by 26 runs.
Incidentally, Rajasthan managed to score 163 due to the aggressive batting of Faulkner – he came on when the score was 75 for 5 and hit 46 runs which included two fours and three sixes. He was adjudged Man of the Match.

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