Stuart Binny has done enough to seal his place in the starting XI for the world cup

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels Stuart Binny has done enough to seal his place in the starting XI for the world cup

"He (Binny) has done enough to earn his place in the team. Only thing is that while batting, he can perhaps apply his mind a bit. If you go for the lofted hits in these big Australian grounds, you will have an odd connection for a six but 9 out of 10 times, you will be caught in the deep. 
In Australia, you need to play the cut and pull, the horizontal bat shots," Gavaskar told NDTV after India’s loss to England on Friday.

ICC launches official ‪‎ World Cup 2015 App

The International Cricket Ccouncil (ICC), in partnership with Reliance Communications, today launched the official ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 app.

The app is now available for free download from the App Store and Google Play.

Sunil Narine pulls out of West Indies World Cup squad

A statement from the West Indies Cricket Board said: "Narine has undergone intense remedial work on his bowling action and preliminary tests have shown him bowling all his deliveries under the 15 degrees flexion allowance. However he requires more time to be able to confidently bowl for a sustained period in international cricket with his new action

Ian Chappel suggests Stuart Binny should open in World Cup -2015

Ian Chappel suggests "Stuart Binny should open and Kolhi should bat at No.3 in World Cup"

India should replace struggling Shikhar Dhawan by Stuart Binny to open their innings with Rohit Sharma as this will also give them more bowling options.

“As Shikhar Dhawan continues to struggle under Australian conditions, perhaps the time is right to open the batting with Binny. He looks technically capable and this would give Dhoni another bowling option, which appears to be a priority.

Australia tri-series 2014-15 Update-7

Tri-Series, 5th Match: Australia v India at Sydney, Jan 26, 2015

India 69/2 (16/44 ov) Vs Australia

No result

The Match has been Abandoned kiki emoticon

Now India have to beat England to Enter the Final.

The washout is official. Australia and India will take two points each from this game. Australia were already through to the final, and India are now trailing England by three points. If England beat India in Perth, they are through. If India beat England, India are through. If points are shared, England are through. Simple.

Cricket Worldcup Facts -3

Bishan Singh Bedi bowled his 12 overs to give away just 6 runs against East Africa in the first edition of the World Cup -1975, he might have created a record that will stand forever, 40 years and running. Richard Hadlee came close in the same World Cup giving away 10 runs.

CM Old for England in 1979 and the great Curtly Ambrose for West Indies in 1999 came really close, giving away 8 runs in their stipulated 10 overs. Considering the way ODIs are played these days, powerful batsmen armed with big bats, it is hard to see how any bowler could bowl 10 full overs giving away less than 6 runs.

Since 2000, the most economical full spell has been bowled by Jason Gillespie in the 2003 edition, against India. Gillespie had match figures of 3/13 in his 10 overs, a mark hard to breach against a Test playing nation for sure.

Australia tri-series 2014-15 Update-6

Team News - MS Dhoni Indian captain says Ishant Sharma,  Ravindra Jadeja fit for Sydney:
 Rohit Sharma is still recovering from a hamstring niggle and will be rested

5th Match - Mon Jan 26 (8:50 IST) Australia v India AT Sydney Cricket Ground

Cricket Worldcup Facts -2

Virender Sehwag got off the mark with a first-ball-four in each of India's first four matches of the group stages in the 2011 World Cup.
1st Run, 1st Four, 1st Six &1st Century of the 2011 #Cricket #Worldcup comes from Viru

India's review against Ian Bell in the 2011 World Cup forced the International Cricket Council (ICC) to change the DRS rule. Although Hawk-Eye showed the ball hitting a good part of the stumps, Bell was not given out as he was struck outside 2.5 metres from the stumps. The ICC then changed the rule by saying a batsman can be ruled out, if the Hawk-Eye shows the ball hitting the stumps, by a considerable margin, irrespective of the distance between the point of impact and the stumps.

 

Worldcup Toss controversy

On April 2, 2011, when MS Dhoni flipped the coin in front of a raucous Wankhede crowd in Mumbai, nobody was sure about the pandemonium that it might result in. It's still unclear as to what Kumar Sangakkara, the rival skipper, called. In the midst of the entire din, his answer went unheard, by Dhoni, match referee Jeff Crowe and Ravi Shastri - the toss presenter.

There has been two tales to the controversy Former England captain, Michael Vaughan , tweeted almost immediately and was pretty convinced that Dhoni had won the toss. In an apparent reference to Sangakkara, he went on to claim that the Sri Lankan captain had called wrongly and there was a bit of skullduggery involved. On the other hand, a leading cricket website claimed that the television producers clearly heard Sangakkara calling correctly, only for Dhoni and Crowe to miss it completely.

In the eventuality, the toss was replayed and Sangakkara called it correctly the second time around, beaming as he elected to bat first, much to the dismay of the Indian captain and hordes of partisan supporters. But as fate willed, that was the only thing Dhoni did wrong on that day. Chasing 275, he promoted himself ahead of Man of the Series, Yuvraj Singh, and went on to play a spell-binding unbeaten knock of 91. 

With the Indians emerging victorious, the controversy surrounding the toss fiasco was soon forgotten. In hindsight, one captain knew that something was amiss. Would the issue have died down completely had India lost the final? Thats a question to which we do not know the answer even today.

Cricket Worldcup Facts -1

Interesting incident during India vs Australia match in 1987 World Cup :-

When Dean Jones lofted Maninder Singh over mid-off during a 1987 World Cup match in Madras, the umpire, who was unsure if the ball had crossed the boundary, took Ravi Shastri's word and signalled four. However, Jones walked up to umpire Dickie Bird and suggested that it was a six.

Dickie then said that the issue would be discussed after Australia's innings. During the innings break, Australian team manager Alan Crompton spoke to the umpires, who then approached India's captain, Kapil Dev. A generous Kapil agreed to change that four to six, which meant India's new target would be 271. Interestingly, India went on to lose the match by 1 run!

David Lloyd's Greatest WORLD CUP team.

David Lloyd's  pick his Greatest WORLD CUP team Here:

2 from Australia 
2 from India
3 from Pakistan 
4 from West Indies

Australia tri-series 2014-15 Update-5

Team India back to practice

The first to use the batting nets were Stuart Binny, Axar Patel and Suresh Raina. Binny started off by facing Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami and looked to middle the ball well. Axar was up against the slower bowlers – including MS Dhoni who sent down some leggies. Raina batted for about an hour, first taking throwdowns from the support staff members before facing the spinners. He looked aggressive against the faster balls, practicing his on-side play with precision.

Ravindra Jadeja, who is recovering from his shoulder injury, rolled his arm over in the spinners’ net while Ishant Sharma looked very comfortable as he sent down some quick deliveries along with Dhawal Kulkarni.

Shikhar Dhawan, who has been short of runs of late, batted under the close watch of Duncan Fletcher against the fast bowlers. Fletcher observed Dhawan’s feet movement from the short-leg position as the video analyst recorded his time in the nets. After facing the quickies, Dhawan moved to the adjacent net where the slower bowlers operated.

Dhoni gave up the ball after an hour or so and took stance to face the throwdowns. He then made his way where Ishant and Kulkarni were operating. Ajinkya Rahane and Ambati Rayudu too had a long stint with the bat against all kind of bowling.

After finishing his long spell with the ball, Bhuvi made way to the main field to do various fitness drills with the trainer. While bowling, he seemed to work up quite a good pace. He kept to back of a length mostly and bowled a couple of really good bouncers.

Except Rohit, who opted out of the session after missing the MCG ODI due to a sore hamstring, all the players known to carry little niggles seemed to have recuperated quite well.

Australia tri-series 2014-15 Update-4

This is how India can Qualify for the Finals:-

1.If Australia beat England (the easiest one)
In this case, Australia will move to either 13 or 14 points depending on the bonus point. It will guarantee themselves a spot in the final. In this scenario, two wins for India will knock England out of contention. If India lose to Australia next Monday, the final group-stage fixture between India and England will become a virtual semi-final and India need to clinch a bonus point and make sure they edge past England on NRR.

2.If England beat Australia with bonus point
A win with a bonus point will take England above Australia on the points table (10 points). The win will also boost England's Net Run Rate, which is already more than the Aussies.
In this scenario, India will go to the finals if they win both their games with bonus point. If India wins two matches and just one game with a bonus point, then they will be tied (9 points) with Australia and NRR will determine the finalist.

3. If England beat Australia without bonus point
If this happens, both England and Australia will be tied on points (9). If India wins both their remaining fixtures with bonus point, they will go through with 10 points and NRR will determine the second finalist. If India manage just one bonus point, then all three teams will be tied on 9 points, bringing NRR into the picture again.
Aus beating England seems the easiest one with a clear target of winning next two games for India

Hundred in his first match as Captain in Test & ODI Cricket

Steven Smith became the first ever Cricketer to score a Century in his first match as Captain in both Test & ODI formats !

6th wicket Prtnership Record in ODI's

5th ODI: New Zealand v Sri Lanka at Dunedin, Jan 23, 2015 

New Zealand 267-run stand Record partnership  in ODI cricket history for the 6th wicket between Ronchi and Elliot

It has been a special innings from both Elliott and Ronchi. At the end of 20 overs, they were 93/5 and since then, it was all New Zealand.
 

Ronchi 170* (99) 14 fours,9 sixes

Elliot 104* (96) 7 fours,2 sixes.

New Zealand From 93-5 to 360-5 Unbelievable

World Cup warm-up matches

World Cup-2015  warm-up matches to begin on February 8

A total of 14 non-ODI warm-up matches will be played across Adelaide, Christchurch, Melbourne and Sydney from 8 to 13 February

Schedule of warm-up matches:

Feb 8: Australia vs India, Adelaide Oval. (9:00 AM IST)

Feb 9: South Africa vs Sri Lanka, Hagley Oval. (3:30 AM)

Feb 9: New Zealand vs Zimbabwe, Lincoln Oval.(3:30 AM)

Feb 9: England vs West Indies, Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).(9:00 AM IST)

Feb 9: Pakistan vs Bangladesh, Blacktown.(9:00 AM IST)

Feb 10: India vs Afghanistan, Adelaide Oval.(9:00 AM IST)

Feb 10: Ireland vs Scotland, Blacktown.(9:00 AM IST)

Feb 11: South Africa vs New Zealand, Hagley Oval.(3:30 AM)

Feb 11: Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe, Lincoln Oval.(3:30 AM)

Feb 11: Australia vs United Arab Emirates, MCG.(9:00 AM IST)

Feb 11: England vs Pakistan, SCG.(9:00 AM IST)

Feb 12: West Indies vs Scotland, SCG. (3:30 AM)

Feb 12: Bangladesh vs Ireland, Blacktown. (3:30 AM)

Feb 13: Afghanistan vs United Arab Emirates, Junction Oval. (3:30 AM)

 

Most dismissals (Wicket Keeper) in ODI Cricket

Kumar Sangakkara has 469 dismissals and needs another 4 to surpass Adam Gilchrist's record of 472 dismissals.

And in ODI's he has scored 92 half centuries and needs five more to surpass Sachin Tendulkar's record of 96 half centuries.

Greatness of Rahul Dravid

Here is a beautiful story to all Rahul Dravid fans.

Days after Rahul Dravid's retirement, he arrived at Bangalore ( Dravid's Home). His childhood club was in a bad situation and needed a victory in order to not get relegated to a lower division. Head coach of the team requested RD to play for them and guess what, he accepted the offer, played the match, the club got the required points to remain in the same division. I am not sure of the exact figure, but RD scored a century. The venue was HAL sports club. He never made any fuss about playing for a team that is so out of his league, he never dragged media attention, he never complained about anything not just during this game, but in his entire career. This is what he truly is, an humble soul who never played the game for money, fame, position or anything else, but for just pure love for the game.
I wrote this story not to contradict the greatness of any other player but to inspire you.

Unbreakable Records in Cricket

25 Unbreakable Records: that is almost impossible for the future generation to be broken in the future Cricket

1    Don Bradman’s Test Average of 99.94

2    Sachin Tendulkar’s 100 hundreds

3    Muttiah Muralitharan’s  800 Test wickets

4    Jim Laker’s 19 wickets in a Test match

5    J Kallis’ record as an All-Rounder (25534 runs and 577 wickets in 519 matches across all formats)

6    Yuvraj Singh’s 12 ball 50 in a T20 International

7    Sachin Tendulkar’s Most runs of 15921 in Test Cricket and 18426 Runs in ODI’s and 2278 Runs in Worldcup

8    Mark Boucher’s 999 dismissals in his career

9    Rahul Dravid’s 210 Test Catches

10    Muttiah Muralitharan’s 534 ODI wickets

11    Sachin Tendulkar’s 200 Test Matches and 463 ODIs

12    Graeme Smith’s 109 matches as a Test skipper

13    Ricky Ponting’s 108 wins as a Test player

14    Australia’s 16 consecutive wins in Test matches

15    Sachin Tendulkar’s Most 100’s of 51 in Test Cricket

16    Sachin Tendulkar’s Most 100’s of 49 in ODI’s

17    Rohit Sharma’s highest ODI score of 264

18    AB de Villiers’ 31 ball 100, the fastest ODI hundred

19    Shahid Afridi’s Most Sixes in ODI’s – 342 (Not retired)

20    Sri Lanka’s 952-7, the highest total by a team in Tests

21    Australia’s Hat-Trick of World Cup wins

22    Australia’s 33 match unbeaten streak in World Cups

23    Sachin Tendulkar and Javed Miandad’s record of playing in six World Cups

24    Adam Gilchrist has played in three World Cups and won all three (1999, 2003 and 2007).

25    Most consecutive matches for a team :   AR Border’s  153 in Tests   & Sachin ‘s -185 in ODI’s
 

Pakistan Never Beat India in Worldcup

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq express We want to change history and beat India in a World Cup: 

India maintain 100 percent winning record against Pakistan in World Cups

India have beaten Pakistan in four out of four clashes in Twenty20 World Cups (Twice in 2007, 2012 and 2014) and are also unbeaten in five meetings in ODI World Cups - 1992, 1996,1999,2003 and 2011.