Cricket Rules - dimensions of ground

Tweet

Highest individual scores in ODIs

Above list of 13 highest top scorers in ODI format is quite interesting one. It has great batsmen, tremendous strike rates, involvement of test playing nations (well, almost). And now, gradually, shift your attention to the right most column-‘Ground’. What do you see? 9 out of 13 scores are in Indian subcontinent - 5 out of those 9 are in India itself! Now, what does that mean? What triggers batsmen so much that they love to score such big scores in Indian subcontinent?

Few reasons:-

• Subcontinent pitches are flat – batsman friendly
• No much movement either through seam or swing for fast bowlers
• List includes majority of players playing in known home conditions
• Batsmen are just too great – it’s obvious they scored these big scorers

All the above points can be arguably agreed upon. Thought, there is one more point which I want to discuss is size of ‘Grounds’. As you know, most of subcontinent grounds are smaller as compared to the grounds in England, South Africa. Grounds in Australia, I believe, are largest. Now this certainly brings one question in my mind. Why there is difference in dimensions of cricket grounds across the world? And what guideline has ICC/ MCC set for dimensions of cricket ground?

Virender Sehwag Double Century

Tweet

Ever since Sehwag stared opening the innings in ODI matches, we looked at him as potentially the only Indian to score double ton in ODI for India. He did it. But it wasn't as much a surprise for me that Sehwag did it, the only surprise was that he was the second Indian (and in World too) to do it! In a way this was a much expected record from him.

Though I was lucky enough to view 'the shot' that made Sehwag's score read 201*, I was not fortunate enough to see the entire innings. Hence followed the score on the internet. There were few instances when I did not look the score for 8- 12 minutes and suddenly, Sehwag had added 15- 20 runs to his account. Such was the pace and strike rate of his innings that it was just impossible to stop him.

Below is the interesting stats of the highest individual score in an ODI innings broken and held so far.

Player	Runs	Mins	Balls	4s	6s		Team	Opposition	Ground	Match Date	ODI #
JH Edrich	82	150	119	4	0		England	v Australia	Melbourne	5 Jan 1971	ODI # 1
DL Amiss	103	161	134	9	0		England	v Australia	Manchester	24 Aug 1972	ODI # 2
RC Fredericks	105	-	122	10	1		West Indies	v England	The Oval	7 Sep 1973	ODI # 9
D Lloyd	116*	-	159	8	1		England	v Pakistan	Nottingham	31 Aug 1974	ODI # 14
GM Turner	171*	190	201	16	2		New Zealand	v East Africa	Birmingham	7 Jun 1975	ODI # 20
N Kapil Dev	175*	-	138	16	6		India	v Zimbabwe	Tunbridge Wells	18 Jun 1983	ODI # 216
IVA Richards	189*	-	170	21	5		West Indies	v England	Manchester	31 May 1984	ODI # 264
Saeed Anwar	194	206	146	22	5		Pakistan	v India	Chennai	21 May 1997	ODI # 1209
CK Coventry	194*	191	156	16	7		Zimbabwe	v Bangladesh	Bulawayo	16 Aug 2009	ODI # 2873
SR Tendulkar	200*	226	147	25	3		India	v South Africa	Gwalior	24 Feb 2010	ODI # 2962
V Sehwag	219	-	149	25	7		India	v West Indies	Indore	8 Dec 2011	ODI # 3223

__________________________________________________________________________

The biggest threat to the record of Sehwag is from Sehwag, himself!

And The Empire India begins...

Tweet

Cometh the hour, cometh the Champion!

Mission Accomplished

Rome wasn't built in a day, neither was Team India. The process that was started around 10 years back, under Captaincy of Sourav Ganguly, has reached its peak under the Leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The process saw its lowest point at 2007 world cup when Team India thrashed out in league matches. Come 2011 and I can say with very much pride that INDIA IS WORLD CHAMPION after 28 years! The warriors of team India who Changed the game and made India proud:





MS Dhoni: Emperor of World

Leading from the front

Midas Singh Dhoni touches and converts in Gold- 24 carat. He is in true sense the greatest leader(!) India has ever produced. Picture this: 114 for 3, India need another 160 odd runs with 6 runs per over. MS Dhoni with poor run with bat throughout WC. And boy, he promotes himself up to carry on left- right batting combination against wild Malinga and unplayable Murali.

How many people would come at that situation when your team is under huge pressure to rebuild innings that too in Big World Cup Final, your own form is the worst in career and people are talking about your position in the side, opponents are high on confidence (and perhaps skills), 121 crore fans expecting you to Win from  bottom of their heart  and none another than Yuvraj the best player in the tournament is waiting in dressing room!
In fact, if Dhoni had not come, it would have been a safe game for Dhoni himself. But a real warrior Dhoni is, did it, not to prove anything to anyone but to prove himself. This was the occasion, this was the challenge, his team required him the most, but nobody expecting him to confront this situation as Yuvraj was the option available, but Dhoni had different plans, he decided to took all the responsibility on his shoulders and finished the mission with unbeaten 91, smashing winning six.. This event separates him from a good captain  to the greatest leader. Now, he has gone beyond captaincy. He is being a captain with great success in the past as he has won Twenty-20 World Cup, 1st Ranking in Test Cricket, IPL Championship, Champions League Trophy and remember he is yet to loose a series in Test cricket. But, I think this is not just a captaincy, he is a great borne leader and he built a team knowing strengths and weaknesses of his team and opponents. He took bold decisions through out the World cup too. Many a times he was criticized  for his experiments when few went wrong, but he is great person to admit his mistakes. In fact he learned from his mistakes every now and then. But the best thing is that he never frightened to commit a mistake. People call Dhoni is Lucky, I don't think so. Dhoni writes his own luck  and that is what he has done in last 4 years for India!
Dhoni- the Emperor in India Cricket.

Yuvraj Singh:

Yuvi gives Indian team the aggression- I say arrogance- that a World Champion team needs to carry with them. Not to show off, but to lift the spirit of their own team! And don't forget, arrogance is acceptable when you are MoM for 4 matches and Player of tournament in World Cup! It suits you only when you score 362 runs with a massive average of 90.50 and claim 15 wickets in World cup tournament!
This is Yuvraj for you, 'Yuvraj' of Empire India!

Youngistaan:

Dream come true!

The brilliance of Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohali, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin was shown whenever required. Who can forget Gambhir's 97 runs- chasing 275- in WC final- when Sehwag and Sachin got out within first 6 overs? Probably Gambhir has played greatest inning of his life.
Virat, to whom India looks as future captain is good batter, athletic fielder. And Suresh Raina- my favorite- is superb finisher the best fielder and partnership breaking bowler.
You can invest your hopes in Generation next of Indian Empire!




Zaheer Khan:

To build an empire, you should be the best in all departments. Exception is Indian bowling, which is faaaar away from tag of best bowling unit. But standing out tall is Zaheer. He claimed 21 wickets- sharing top wicket taker spot in WC with Shahid Afridi. He led the attack from front and produced match wining performances- produced crucial wickets just when needed. All other bowling is still a big concern- though empire is built!

And...

Sachin Tendulkar:

India beat Pakistan, yet again..!

Tweet

Let's go to Mumbai..!

Nothing satisfies Indians more than beating their old rivals Pakistan. Add to it the situation- World Cup semifinal, presence of the top political leaders from both countries, business tycoons, bollywood starts and the most important entire subcontinent which counts more than 140 crore population expecting only their team to win..! Mohali was turned into battle field with thousands of army personnel, special commandos, surface to air missiles around the stadium. But in the end 11 Blue Commandos won the war for country without a single drop of blood..! This can go in history as one of the biggest wins of Indian Cricket Team, no doubt.

While India started their world cup campaign with favorite's tag, Pakistan, it seemed at that point, was just to show presence. But during the course of tournament, India could not find it as smooth as they would have expected. On the other hand, Pakistan played with aggression complemented superbly by bowling, led by inspiring captain Shahid Afridi, outplayed teams like Sri Lanka, Australia with ease. That is why, at the time of semifinal, it was going to be a crunch game- and it proved to be!

I know there is no need of post match explanation. I am sure, each and every Cricket Lover in this entire universe would have watched it ball-by-ball. I also heard Government declared half-working day in Pakistan..! Only 3 points I would like to raise here for Pakistani think tank:

• When India were on 141 for 4, Tendulkar playing tentative, why didn't they attack in field with more men saving singles and catching? (and please, you cannot drop Sachin Tendulkar 4 times and still hope he should not make runs..)
• Why Misbah played at 5th and out of form Younis played up the order? (was Misbah too late to attack Indian bowling?)
• Timing of batting power play was utterly wrong, or the think tank simply forgot to have it?

These are the questions which they need to answer to Pakistani fans. But having said everything, I must agree, Pakistani players showed tremendous courage to fight against Indians. Indians played their natural game according to situation. Tendulkar played such an innings which he himself would NOT be proud for. But runs count, and his knock of 85 stood out as others failed to occupy crease.

MS Dhoni must be on cloud nine after this win. His heartbeats must have returned to normal by now. Dhoni, smart Dhoni accepted it was mistake not to play R Ashwin, rather he failed to read wicket. India can party for a while. But with the Final on 2nd April, they cannot simply sit and relax.

"We will do the job in Mumbai" are the words of Sachin in post match presentation..! Imagine, Tendulkar- (almost) 38 years of age- playing his last world cup match (?) in career- a final- that too in Mumbai- his home town- and scores a 100th international 100, wins the match- Cup for country... and

Quarter to Semifinals

Tweet

5 days or merely over 100 hours from now and we will be discussing about semifinals. But in those 100-plus-hours, action we are going to encounter is enormous. No team can afford to put a foot wrong. If they do- simply put- their world-cup 2011 will be over. That is why Yuvraj said ‘this is what you play for- your moment of life!’

As imagined, before the start of world cup, all small teams are out of quarterfinals. Though team like Ireland, Bangladesh created some excitement in group of death- B. But that was not enough to qualify themselves for quarter finals. So, expected 8 teams will be fighting for place in semifinals. Take my words; this is going to be super week for all of us.

Now, I thought why shouldn't I put my feet in Paul- the octopus’s shoes and start predicting the results. Yes, yes, I know Paul was god-gifted. But nothing wrong in guessing- using brain (and heart- when it comes to India..!)

Let’s start:

Pak vs WI:

Pak team is on song… Momentum is with them, high on confidence after beating Aussies. They have passion do to the best for their country this time, even more than anytime in past. And versus West Indies- rather dull performed, low on moral, but talented and unpredictable side. My guess: Pak wins. Cheer up Pakistani fans…!

Aus vs India:

Cricket Lovers’ turns 1…!

Tweet

Hurrayyyhhh…!!! What a hot and happening past one year for Cricket Lovers it’s been! It saw 200 being made in an ODI innings, IPL and Champion League entertaining cricketing communities like never before, Australia loosing to England in precious Ashes series and then counter attacking England to win ODI series, India squaring Test series against South Africans and fighting hard for the most closely contested ODI series. Pakistan rising like a phoenix to beat New Zealand just before the World Cup and now the Cup that counts- World Cup 2011..! The year saw players turning into Gods, youngsters becoming heroes, match winners getting paid like anything in IPL auctions. Well, well, well… lots of excitement. This truly is a special year for any Cricket fan. That’s why we call it Cricket Lovers’ year..!

While all those events were unfolding and getting the highest TRP rating on TV, your blog, Cricket Lovers’, was following and updating it for you on internet. To be honest, it was our first attempt of blogging. We, therefore, learnt a lot of things during last year or so. We understood the taste of readers, what they want, when they want, how they want. Started on 14^th March 2010, graph of viewers visiting blog is gradually increasing day by day.

As we write this post to Celebrate 1^st Anniversary of blog, we would like to highlight some major facts with you all.

• Total visits to blog are 4829 (See on top right corner of blog). With Indian viewers topping list with 2342 visits, No. 2 being US with 673 visits and other countries from where viewers accessed blog are-UK, Pakistan, Australia, UAE, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka Canada etc.
• For first few months, blog was limited only to specific group of people. But now blog has reached a stage where it top-lists certain Google Search queries. That is why Google provided various Ads of following companies on blog:
  Club Mahindra, Nokia, Quatar Airways, Tata Sky, Airtel, LG, Vodafone, Lays, American Express, HeroHonda, Mentos, cleartrip.com, hindustantimes.com etc., to name a few,
  which you can click to know more about interesting offers they make.

• One website approached us to have our writings on their website. We are in discussion with them.

Wish us Happy Anniversary...!

This wouldn't have happened unless You, had show such an intensity to visit, revisit and again revisit blog..! Rest assured for the content in blog as we will get up with something interesting every time we post to make it an enjoyable place for both readers and us. At the same time, we’re curious to know what you want to read, your feedback, suggestions, criticism related to blog, anything… well almost..! And, not to forget, encouragement also..! We will indeed give a thought to whatever you write us back.

Our goal for next year will be to continue posting quality material on blog, with consistency, to reach up to maximum new viewers keeping current viewers intact. Let’s again make the coming year of Cricket Lovers’..!

Do Visit again- Simplify- Add to bookmarks…NOW! 

Thank you,

Cricket Lovers’

Feedback page:    Feedback ( http://blogcricketlovers.blogspot.com/p/me-and-you.html )

Facebook page:    Cricket Lovers' FB Page ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cricket-Lovers-Share-Anything-Everything-About-Cricket/126616544026113 )

Email Feedback:    cricketlovers2010@gmail.com

To help our blog grow bigger and faster, invite more cricket lovers to this blog, simply by mailing articles, sharing on facebook, twitter [these options are provided below each post]. Also, by commenting, giving feedback, voting on poll involve yourself actively.

Cricket World Cup 2011 Updates: Tie, Upsets, Hat-trick, Records.

Tweet

We are now towards the end of the First round of the World Cup and already we have seen many exciting games of cricket, few upsets and crowed and cricketing fans are really enjoying the tournament. Every team is trying their best to reach at the quarter finals and that too grab the top two positions in the group. The reason being, if you are in top two, then in the quarter finals, you are playing with bottom two in the other group.  In this article let us see major highlights of the World Cup 2011 so far:

Major highlights of the World Cup so far:


9. England Survived against West Indies:


It was a great game of cricket, in fact it was do or die for England and again England fought a closed game and they managed to Win it by 18 runs. Batting first, England managed to score moderate 243. West Indies started their inning with very attacking manner, as if they wanted to finish the game in just 35-40 overs. But, when spinners came, suddenly WI started loosing wickets and game shifted in England's way. But, again 7th wicket partnership brought WI into the game, but England spinners did well towards end and claimed 7 wickets between Swann and Tredwell and won a close match for England. This win has survived England's hope for the quarter final berth.

Group 'B' has very interesting results in this World cup. SA beat Ind, Ind beat Bangladesh, Bangladesh beat Eng, Eng beat WI, WI beat Ireland, Ireland beat England and England beat SA. It means all teams are unpredictable, they can beat any team and they can loose against any team. Is this group become a 'Choker's Group'?   

8. India - South Africa Close contest:

It was bound to be the best contest in the tournament as it was not India Vs SA, but it was World's best batting attack Vs World's best bowling attack!
India started this game with immense determination and Indian openers dominated  World's best bowling attack for almost 41 overs of an inning. Thanks to Virendra Sehwag and none other than Great Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar was in supreme form and he took attack to the opposition since the beginning. His hook shot to Steyn  was superb, it reminded me the similar shot he had played to Caddik in the past. Now a days he plays this shot very rarely, but this time playing against World's best fast bowler was something special and treat to watch. His straight drive to Morkal was again the trade mark shot from he master. It was an awesome inning I guess, where he made 111, completing his 99th international century and 48th ODI century.
But, when he departed, India collapsed and lost 9 wickets for just 29 runs! Can you imagine? and India could set a target of only (?) 297. (At one time, it looked like India were targeting 360-370 at least.)
Thanks, to the 'Power Play' which happened to be the best bowling spell. But, it was just a poor performance from Indian batters who were attacking each and every ball in the power play and that too against Steyn and Morkal. Result was simple, the great collapse!

When Pro teas chased, it was also not a convincing chase. They also struggled a lot and at one point of time, it looked like that, the match was escaped from their hands, but Pieterson did it well and scored 13 runs in the last over of the match against Nehara and won the match for South Africa.
One should not blame Indian bowlers, as average score on that track was 316 and India managed to score 20 runs short from the average and that too when they were in a position to score, 40-50 runs more than the average score.

A great lesson to Dhoni and Co and there must be special preparation going on on how to play in Power plays, especially batting power plays. At the time of post match presentation, Dhoni said a right thing, " In Power plays Players should play for their country and not for the crowed'" Brilliant statement ! but, the timing was little late, if he could have said it when he was batting on the other end and watching how everyone got out, then result could have been different. Anyways, ifs and buts have no meaning and post match analysis, was on right track i guess.

7. England Beats SA:

Who says low scoring games are boring? This was a really nail bitting low scoring game and ultimately England held their nerves and Won it by just 6 runs. England batting first managed to score only 171, thanks to Ravi Bopara for his 60. After a flying start 63-0, at one stage it looked like South Africa will steal the game in no time.  But, from 124- 3, SA collapsed to 127-7. What a turn around by England. Towards end Steyn batted beautifully but was not enough to win the game and SA again showed their weakness of loosing games in pressured situation. I think, this upset has kept Group B table wide open for top two spots. India would like to claim either of the top two spots so that they will have to play against slightly less powerful opponents in the quarterfinals.

6. Ireland fought well against India:

India beat Ireland by 5 wickets but this was not a comprehensive win at all. Indians were obvious favorites for this match but team having the strongest batting line up were required to use their all 7 batsmen to chase 207. Credit goes to Irish bowlers and their wonderful fielding who saved at least 30-40 runs in the game. 

Game Changer Rules like Power Play, UDRS, Free hit in ODI Cricket!

Tweet

This is the time when Test cricket is played like One day cricket and One day cricket is immensely  influenced by Twenty 20 cricket. With the incredible popularity of the Twenty 20 format of the game, it was a great need to make changes in the format of ODI cricket too. The aim before ICC was to make ODI games more exciting and attract more audience towards game. Keeping this in mind, few rules have been modified and introduced in the ODI cricket. Lets see what are the Game Changer Rules in ODI cricket.

1.Power Play:

Earlier there used to be fielding restrictions for the first fifteen overs in an inning, where only 2 fielders could  be outside the 30 yard circle and compulsorily 2 fielders had to be in close catching position. This rule is now modified and it is replaced with Power Plays. Every team is keen to take an advantage of the power plays, where mostly attacking batsmen try to play aggressive shots and score quick runs at lower risk of getting caught out due to the field restrictions. The aim of the fielding side captain is to restrict batting side from scoring quick runs in power play overs. Therefore, fielding captains use their best bowlers in this period. Fielding side has one advantage of getting quick wickets in power plays as batsmen are in attacking mood and while doing so they may loose wickets in this period. For the overs when power play is not opted, maximum five fielders can be outside the 30 yard circle.

Now, there are three types of power plays.

World Cup - the Number Game.

Tweet

Hello Friends,

It's a World Cup euphoria every where among cricketing fans and every one is busy in predicting their favorite teams to Win the World Cup 2011. I thought, it will be helpful for you, if you just go through what happened in the past 9 World Cups; and therefore in this article, i am presenting important achievements and statistics related to past World Cups. 

World Cup tournament is the most important cricketing event and it is world's 4th largest and most viewed sporting event. The teams and players who have performed their best in this prestigious tournament are really special ones. Team like Australia who have won the Championship four times, which is an incredible  achievement. Players like Sachin Tendulkar, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Pointing have consistently played their best cricket in this tournament which makes them greatest players of the game.

The table below provided an overview of the performances of teams over last 9 World Cups.

World Cup 2011 Favorites!

Tweet

Hello Friends,

World Cup 2011 - This is 10th World Cup Cricket Tournament in the history of ODI cricket and 14 teams are participating in this event; which comes only ones in Four years. This time, the tournament is been hosted by sub-continent countries viz. India, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh.

Sub-continent batting pitches are very Flat where batsmen can score lots of runs and you will find good teams scoring near about 300 runs in many matches. Credit goes to Twenty Twenty Cricket as well, as it has improved  pace and style of One day cricket too. Traditionally sub-continent pitches help Spin bowlers rather than pacers. We have already seen that, quality spinners are making a big difference in this tournament.

Now, lets come to the favorites of the tournament to win the World Cup 2011. If you believe in statistics then in the last 5 consecutive  World Cups, a sub-continent team has reached in the World Cup Finals. ( 1992- Pak, 1996- Sri Lanka, 1999- Pak, 2003- India, 2007- Sri Lanka) and out of those 5 finals 2 have been won by a sub-continent country. (1992- Pak, 1996- Sri Lanka), but on the other hand in those 5 World cups, Australians have reached in the finals 4 times (except 1992, all) and have won 3 World cup finals, that too consecutively. Isn't it interesting? Is it something Australians Vs Sub-continent Countries going on for last 2 decades?

As this World Cup is being played on the sub-continent pitches, definitely home teams are having advantage. They are getting utmost Crowd support as well. In such conditions, I guess Australia, South Africa, India and Sri Lanka are the favorites to win World Cup 2011. Lets see why?

IPL - 4 Teams After Auction

Tweet

Hi Guys,
I think IPL season 4 is going to be very exciting as two new teams have joined the event from this season, viz. Pune Warriors and Kochi. Now there will be 10 teams playing IPL season 4. Recently Auctions for IPL - 4 are over and most of the players will be playing for a different franchise as compared to last three seasons. Few franchises have retained their best players, like Sachin Tendulkar will play for Mumbai Indians only.

Just to become familiar with the new teams and the amount paid to each player do refer the following info: