India have recorded a historic series win over the world champions as they beat Australia by 172 runs in the Nagpur Test to clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. They won a Test series 2-0 against Australia after 28 years. After Ishant Sharma built early inroads in the Australian batting, Indian spinners triggered the collapse, as the visitors were bundled for runs in reply to India’s 382 runs. Leg-spinner Amit Mishra picked 3 wickets while Harbhajan Singh took four wickets. Mishra first struck with his top-spinner and dismissed Michael Hussey for 19 runs. Brad Haddin was his second victim. Haddin lofted one from Mishra but perished to Sachin Tendulkar at mid-on as his 100th Test catch. He soon dismissed Jason Krejza as the eighth wicket. Harbhajan Singh, from the other end, tightened the noose and was rewarded with the wickets of Matthew Hayden and Shane Watson. Hayden, who struggled throughout the series for a big knock, finally fired and kept the hopes floating for Australia but Harbhajan caught him plumb for 77 runs. Watson was next to depart. He went on his back-foot and tried to cut but was beaten by the bounce. The ball took an edge and Dhoni collected it safely. Earlier, Ishant picked two crucial wickets to put India in command. Batsmen to depart were Simon Katich and Michael Clarke. In reply to India’s 382 runs, Australia resumed batting with their overnight score of 13/0 on Monday. Katich and Hayden started of aggressively. Katich tried to pull a swinging delivery from Ishant, going outside the off-stump, but the bat took a top edge and India skipper MS Dhoni took a well-judged high catch to send the first man back for 16 runs. Ponting, who came next, soon joined Katich in the dressing room as Mishra’s charging from mid-off, collected the ball swiftly and dived to knock the stumps on the non-striker’s end. Ponting could contribute just 8 runs. Clarke, Ponting’s deputy, had a dismissal similar to the first innings. He nudged a short-ball angling away from him and Dhoni happily took an easy catch behind the wicket. Clarke made 22 runs and 45 runs with Hayden for the third wicket.
Posts Tagged ‘ms dhoni’
Historic defeat of Australia, lead India to win series
Monday, November 10th, 2008Nagpur Test: Dhoni, Ganguly look to consolidate on Tendulkar`s good work
Thursday, November 6th, 2008Zeenews Bureau
Nagpur, Nov 06: India would look forward to amass a big total on the second day of the final Test match against Australia as the good work done by centurion Sachin Tendulkar and half-centurions VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag placed the hosts in a commanding position despite losing five wickets. with the combo of Sourav Ganguly and skipper MS Dhoni unbeaten at the crease, the stage was set for a showdown on the second day’s morning.
The hosts were 311/5, with Sourav Ganguly (unbeaten 27), playing his last Test, and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni holding forte when bad light forced an early end to Day One’s play with 3 overs from the stipulated quota still to spare.
The Dada-Dhoni combo would be looking to build on the day’s performances on day 2 and take India past the 400 run-mark. The visitors on the other-hand would be looking for the crucial breakthrough that will expose India’s tail.
The opening day was dominated by two individuals, as stark in contrast as chalk and cheese. While India had Sachin Tendulkar to thank for notching up 300 plus score on day 1, Aussies found an unlikely hero in off-spinner Jason Kreiza.
Tendulkar had slammed his 40th Test century to give India a solid platform and bat Australia out of the match. The effort was marked with some exceptional shot-making and sharp running between the wickets as the Mumbai Maestro seemed to have turned back the clock on his glory years. He was eventually dismissed by Mitchell Johnson, adjudged LBW to a back of a length spot delivery. He departed for a majestic 109 off 188 balls, in a knock laced with 12 hits to the fence. He however, had his share of luck, as he was dropped twice- by Johnson on 85 and by Brett Lee on 96.
Meanwhile, continuing on his rich vein of form which he seems to reserve for the Aussies, VVS Laxman marked his 100th Test appearance with yet another half-century against the world champions, his 37th in his illustrious career. But just as he looked set for a big knock, he succumbed to the Australian wrecker-in-chief of the day, Jason Krejza.
Earlier in the day, the morning session came with a mixed bag of goodies for both the teams as India started off well with Sehwag’s pyrotechnics with Ponting’s men turning the tables towards the end of the session with three quick wickets.
After Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat, Sehwag had got the proceedings off to a flier with his brilliant stroke-making and slammed a quick fire fifty.
Debutant M Vijay played perfect foil to him as the duo rotated the strike effectively and got the boundaries with ease, creating problems for the Aussie bowlers.
With run-rate plummeting at 5 an over, Australia had got their first breakthrough of the morning in the form of Vijay wicket. The 24 year old, who struck 33, showing great promise and poise in the middle until he was caught behind the wicket by Brad Haddin off Shane Watson’s short of a length delivery. With the much needed breakthrough in the bag, Aussies step up the pressure as Krejza got his first Test wicket in the form of Rahul Dravid for a duck.
However, Krejza actually announced his arrival on the world stage when he claimed the prized scalp of Virender Sehwag with a beauty. Just when the Delhi dasher seemed to become unstoppable, bludgeoning the bowlers into submission, Kreiza bowled a well disguised turner that was dragged onto the stumps by Sehwag in an attempt to run it to third man. The ‘Sehwag show’ that lasted just 69 balls, yielded 66 runs. He struck 9 fours and a mighty six over long on of Kreiza.
With India placed at a shaky 116/3, it was left to old hands Tendulkar and Laxman to revive fortunes.
Australia (Playing XI): Matthew Hayden, Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting(c), Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Shane Watson, Cameron White, Brad Haddin(w), Brett Lee, Jason Krejza, Mitchell Johnson
India (Playing XI): Murali Vijay, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Saurav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(w/c), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma
Sachin belongs only to Marathi and we should allow him to play outside Maharashtra. Marathis should be oonfined to Maharashtra only. BJP MP Shanawaz Hussain said in Parliament last week that “Hindi Speaking People has been meted out inhuman treatment by Marathis in Maharashtra worse than Pakistan gives to Hindus there”.
Marathis have started propaganda war on various forums against Hindi speaking people saying non-Marathis are taking their jobs.
unfortunate thing is that even educated Marathis (Doctors, Engineers,Journalists, Advocates are working for Shiv Sena, MNS and have launched false propaganda war on differnt social networking forums against their own hindu brethren. All our PMs invested in southern states fearing Pakistani and Chinese attacks in northern states as they are closer to borders. That is the reason north India lacks industries. Indians tax payers money has been invested in building Bombay and no community can claim that being marathis they should be given all jobs without merit.
Today Marathi criminals are asking names of Hindi speaking poeple in different places in Maharashtra and are beating and killing them on hearing that they belongs to hindi cow belt. Police, law and order has been hijacked by regionalistic and linguistic terrorists Marathis.
The bottomline is “Bombay should be declared separate state”.
abe CHOOTIYEE Rohan ,,,saale likanhne se pehle soch to le ki kyaa likh rahaa hae…
I am proud that a Hindu icon from Bharat makes such things in the world cricket. My salute to Sachin, ram naresh Sarwa, Shive narin chadrapal,A. kalicharan, Rohan Kanhai.We love Sachin.Vande mataram,Bharat mata ki jai.
M S Dhoni awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna
Monday, August 4th, 2008New Delhi: India’s One-day and Twenty20 cricket captain MS Dhoni will be awarded the country’s highest sporting honour — the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
Dhoni becomes only the second cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar to be given the honour. Tendulkar won the award in 1997-98.
Dhoni led India’s Twenty20 team to a memorable win at the World Cup in South Africa, and followed it up by leading a young team to victory in the One-day tri-series in Australia.
There had been speculation that the BCCI hadn’t sent Dhoni’s form in time but that issue was resolved.
Twenty-seven-year-old Dhoni took over as India’s One-day captain after Rahul Dravid resigned in 2007.
Among other prominent sportspersons to have won the honour are Vishwanathan Anand (chess), Leander Paes (tennis), Geet Sethi (billiards), Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (shooting) and Dhanraj Pillay (hockey).
Rajasthan IPL champions
Sunday, June 1st, 2008Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings in a last-ball thriller to win the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday.Set 164 to win, Rajasthan overcame the target in the last ball of their innings. The foundation for the victory was laid by allrounder Yosuf Pathan, who took 3-22 and returned to score 39-ball 56.Man of the match Pathan’s innings included three fours and four sixes. Shane Watson and Swapnil Asnodkar also chipped in valuable 28 runs each.Earlier, Suresh Raina scored 43 off 30 deliveries while Parthiv Patel chipped in 38 and skipper MS Dhoni made 29 to help Chennai pose a competative total.
Ganguly's knock gives India hope
Sunday, April 13th, 2008Kanpur: The story of Day Two has to be the best-written script of the three-Test series so far. India and South Africa, jousting with all possible intensity, refused to give an inch as the tide shifted to and fro through out the day. However India, led by a defiant 87 by Sourav Ganguly, managed to overhaul South Africa’s 265 to lead by 23 runs at the end of the second day’s play at the Green Park Stadium here on Saturday.
India, who have to win to draw level in the three-Test series, finished at 288-9 at stumps with S Sreesanth (nine) and Ishant Sharma (zero) in the middle.
India were on the back-foot early in the day, losing both their openers within the first hour but the middle-order breathed life back in the innings, stringing crucial partnerships on a crumbling pitch. Ganguly led the Indian charge, scoring his second half-century of the series while VVS Laxman (50), MS Dhoni (32) Yuvraj Singh (32) and Rahul Dravid (29) played handy knocks.
Ganguly, who was India’s ninth wicket to fall, tackled the pitch and negotiated the fiery South Africa bowling in an exemplary fashion to pound his 30th Test fifty. It was the perfect blend of compact defence and controlled aggression from him. The southpaw, who fell 13 short of a deserving century, hit nine boundaries and one six.
Ganguly, confident after his gritty 87 in Ahmedabad, negated the turn and variable bounce in the pitch and conjured two vital partnerships; first with Yuvraj Singh and then with MS Dhoni.
After Ganguly and Yuvraj added 65 runs, the former skipper and the stand-in skipper put together 60 to take India closer to the South African total.
Paul Harris took two wickets in the last session as ambitious shots by Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni led to their undoing. An uncalled for wild heave landed the ball straight in the hands of AB de Villiers at deep mid-wicket and Yuvraj’s stay ended. Dhoni, after being patient through his knock, stepped out to Harris but failed to connect and Mark Boucher dislodged the bail and the Indian tail was exposed.
Ganguly started opening his arms and a pull off Dale Steyn saw India managed to overtake the South African total. But soon after, Steyn trapped Harbhajan leg-before for six and then Graeme Smith caught Piyush Chawla for four to give Makhaya Ntini his first wicket.
Gambhir saves blushes but India go down by 18 runs
Sunday, February 24th, 2008Sydney: The story of India’s run chase began in the same old fashion but there was a twist in the tale in the middle. Chasing 318, the top order collapsed once again under pressure. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh failed in familiar style, leaving a ‘Herculean’ task to the Indian middle and lower order.
But unlike seven days ago, this time India did not cave in and the lower order came up with a spirited show to go down by only 18 runs against Australia at the SCG on Sunday. India were bowled out for 299 in the 50th over in a game which saw two sizzling centuries from either side, a thrilling five-wicket haul and a record number of dismissals by a wicketkeeper.
With India losing, Sri Lanka are still in the race for a berth in the final of the tri-series. The Lankans have to beat both India and Australia to reach the finals.
India’s man in form Gautam Gambhir led the fightback with a dazzling 113 and MS Dhoni (36), Robin Uthappa (51), Irfan Pathan (22) and Harbhajan Singh (20) came up with valiant knocks to give Australia nervous moments in the later half of the chase.
After India were in a precarious position chasing a gigantic total, Gambhir and Dhoni led India out of the dumps. And then the lower order showed mettle to take the formidable Aussie bowling apart at the SCG. But in the end, the daunting total proved a mountain too high to climb for the spirited Indians.
India started their chase on a disastrous note losing their top order in no time. Brett Lee initiated the downslide, nailing Tendulkar for the ninth time in ODIs. Tendulkar’s horror run with the bat continued as he could last only three balls to score two runs. Sehwag and Gambhir lived dangerously, chancing their arm against the pacers until Clark got the former caught behind by Gilchrist, who was involved in a record six dismissals, for 17.
Rohit Sharma (five) and Yuvraj Singh (one) both nicked to Adam Gilchrist as India dug a hole for themselves, getting reduced to 51-4 in the 11th over.
Gambhir and Dhoni then rebuilt the innings. And slowly but surely they got the back the much-needed momentum in the innings. The duo steadied the Indian ship and then looked to accelerate. But with the asking rate climbing up to eight runs per over, they had an uphill task. And finally in trying to up the tempo, Dhoni perished to Lee for 36 giving Gilchrist his fourth catch.
But Gambhir hung on and batted with controlled aggression to keep India in the hunt. Along with Uthappa, the Delhi batsman added 67 runs in just eight overs for the sixth wicket to put pressure back on the Aussies. The southpaw reached his second ton of the tri-series through a quick two and then opened his shoulders to close in on the target. But a missed heave off Brad Hogg in the 40th over and Gilchrist took the bails off with Gambhir’s back-foot on the line. The southpaw cracked nine fours and one six in his 119-ball innings.
Uthappa continuing his onslaught whipped some powerful hits down the ground. Uthappa, Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh were at their adventurous best giving Ricky Ponting food for thought to set his field as the ball disappeared in distant corners of the SCG.
Uthappa manufactured some enterprising shots, smashing four boundaries and one colossal six off Lee over long-on. But desperate attempts to keep up with the mounting run-rate, ended all three brave knocks. And with Uthappa dismissed by Bracken in the 49th over, India’s last hope of making the target was gone.
The Indian innings ended when Ishant Sharma was bowled by Lee in the final over to give the speedster a five-wicket haul.
In the Australian innings, Ricky Ponting’s decision to bat first paid rich dividends as his out of form top order came back in form and it was the Australian captain who led the way. Ponting, who has been in abysmal form through out the CB series, blazed a blistering 124 to take Australia to 317-7 in their 50 overs.
Matthew Hayden (54) and Andrew Symonds (59), who also have been struggling in the tri-series, gave their skipper good company to come up with two century partnerships. Hayden first added 110 runs with Ponting to take Australia off to a flying start. And then Symonds and Ponting pressed the gas to push Australia past the 300-run mark in the later stages through a 102-run stand.
Ponting who held the fort from one end, struggled initially and then flowed through some cracking shots, akin to his halcyon days. Ponting lived dangerously at the start, keeping the fielders on their toes. He got lives when Rohit Sharma and Robin Uthappa could not latch on to difficult chances. But after a few chancy shots in the beginning, the Aussie skipper dazzled with some delightful ones during the later half of his knock, smashing seven boundaries and one six.
The Australian openers, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden took the home-side off to a flying start. Gilchrist smashed three boundaries in the first six balls he faced before an acrobatic catch by MS Dhoni off S Sreesanth ended the southpaw’s innings for 16. But that didn’t deter the Aussie bats from seizing the opportunity to put quick runs on a placid wicket at the SCG. The two out of form batsmen, Hayden and Ponting went berserk plundering 92 runs in 10 overs.
Hayden reached his half-century, which included five boundaries and one colossal six off Ishant Sharma. The burly southpaw was looking in ominous touch and would have run away with the game but for miscommunication between the two batsmen in the 21st over ended Hayden’s devastating knock for 54. Ponting hit the ball straight to Rohit Sharma at short-cover and Hayden took off but Ponting was in no mood to chance his life again. By the time Hayden could make it back to the non-striker’s end, the bails were dislodged.
Michael Clarke and Ponting strung together 63-run stand before a full blooded pull off Sehwag was caught by Rohit Sharma to send back Clarke for 31.
Symonds then lifted the Aussies through some lusty blows. Symonds in his 49-ball knock was merciless smashing the Indian pacers to all corners of the SCG. And had it not been for some clever bowling from Ishant Sharma, the all-rounder could have caused further damage. A slower one from Sharma cleaned up Symonds after which some words were exchanged between the two.
Ponting then attempting to clear the ropes held out to the erratic S Sreesanth in the penultimate over. Two run-outs in the last over, some how restricted the home-side but Australia by then were well past the psychologically boosting 300-run mark.
Australia: Adam Gilchrist (wk), Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, James Hopes, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Nathan Bracken.
India: Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt, wk), Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, S Sreesanth.
India strike early, push Australia into a corner
Friday, January 18th, 2008Perth: Irfan Pathan struck two telling blows as Australia, chasing a stiff target of 413, were reduced to 65-2 at stumps on day three of the Perth Test. Pathan removed both the openers with less than 50 runs on the board. Chris Rogers (15) and Phil Jaques (16) fell in quick time for the second time in the match. Australia, looking for their record 17th Test win, will have to play out of their skins to surpass the stiff target.
In the Indian innings, a classy 79 by VVS Laxman took India to 294 all after the elegant batsman, first with MS Dhoni and then RP Singh, strung efficacious stands. Laxman, coming to bat in a crunch situation, delivered the goods in style as he kept the fiery bowling at bay with some dazzling strokeplay, including eight lusty hits to the fence. Coming to bat at number seven, Laxman batted with the tail in exemplary fashion and was India’s last wicket to fall.
Earlier, the Australian pacers ripped through India. Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson struck early as India slumped to 160-6 soon after lunch.
Resuming on their overnight score of 51-1, India were jolted by early blows as the Aussies made inroads in the reputed batting lineup. Virender Sehwag was the first to go as Clark cleaned up the opener for 43.
Rahul Dravid, who top scored in India’s first essay with 93, could manage only three as an expansive shot brought his downfall off Lee.
Sachin Tendulkar also could not follow his 71 of the first innings with a significant contribution. Lee struck for the second time in the morning when he trapped Tendulkar leg before for 13.
Sourav Ganguly failed to get off the mark, as a nick off Johnson ended his stint.
Irfan Pathan, who came up with a fighting knock after coming in as the nightwatchman, fell for 46 in the post lunch session. Dhoni then gave Laxman good company to put up 75 runs for the seventh wicket before the Indian vice-captain was dismissed by Andrew Symonds for a well made 38.
New man Anil Kumble left early as Symonds struck four balls later to send him back for a duck.
RP Singh then showed he was no mug with the bat as he blazed to 30 comprising three boundaries and a six as India stretched the lead past 400. Clark claimed RP with a peach of a delivery to grab his fourth wicket of the innings.
Lee came back in the next over to end Laxman’s gritty effort as India’s innings folded six short of 300.
India trail the four-match series 0-2 and have to win at the WACA to keep the series alive.
India end day two on a high, lead Aussies by 170 runs
Thursday, January 17th, 2008New Delhi: The Indian bowlers ran through the formidable Australian batting lineup to bundle the home side out for 212 on the second day of the third Test. Left-arm pacer RP Singh was the pick of the Indian bowlers he ripped through the Aussie lower order.
Andrew Symonds (66) and Adam Gilchrist (55)were the only batsmen who could tame the accurate Indian bowling as the duo plundered 102 runs for the sixth wicket after Australia were reduced to a dismal 61-5. But after Anil Kumble dismissed Symonds, the floodgates opened as India cleaned up the remaining batsmen. Australia lost its last four wickets for only 20 runs.
Earlier, comeback man Irfan Pathan struck early with the new ball, scalping both the openers, Chris Rogers (4) and Phil Jaques (8), cheaply. RP Singh soon joined in by removing Sydney Test centurion Micheal Hussey for a duck to peg back the home side.
Ricky Ponting along with Michel Clarke held the fort for a while but rookie pacer Ishant Sharma dealt a huge blow to the home side when he claimed the Australian skipper for 20. Clarke was the next to go for 23 as Sharma made most of the bouncy WACA track.Earlier, resuming on their overnight score of 297-7, the Indians were able to add only 33 runs as some hostile Aussie bowling polished off the Indian tail in clinical fashion.
MS Dhoni and Pathan, starting the day for India, lived dangerously for most part of the first hour but Stuart Clark was finally able to scalp the Indian vice captain for 19. After Dhoni, the visitors fell like ninepins as India was unable to put up any resistance.
With Pathan (28), Anil Kumble (1) and RP Singh (0), all falling in quick time, India’s tail failed to wag. Mitchell Johnson was the most successful Aussie bowler with four wickets; Brett Lee grabbed three while Clark ended up with two in India’s first innings.
India trail the four-match series 0-2 after losing in Melbourne and Sydney.
Dravid shines, Tendulkar flows but Aussies on top
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008New Delhi: After a 139-run partnership between Sachin Tendulkar (71) and Rahul Dravid (93) put India on a strong mantle, the Aussies struck back in the last session to reduce the visitors to 297-6 on the opening day of the Perth Test.
Irfan Pathan and MS Dhoni, both on eight, were in the middle at the end of the day’s play.
India lost four wickets in the post tea session to hand the initiative to the home side. The Aussie pace bowlers wiped out the cream of the formidable Indian batting in the last session as Tendulkar, Ganguly (nine), Laxman (27) and Dravid fell in quick time.
After Anil Kumble decided to bat, Sehwag after warming the bench for the first two Tests, was in the vicinity of his best as the Delhi batsman along with Wasim Jaffer took India off to a steady start. But tight bowling after the first hour strangled the openers and soon a perfect delivery by Johnson induced an edge from Sehwag and the opener was dismissed for 29.
Jaffer, who has been Brett Lee’s bunny through the series, fell to the speedster once again in what was a dismissal identical to that of the second innings of the Sydney Test. The Mumbai batsman got 16, his highest in the series so far.
Tendulkar and Dravid steadied the Indian ship as the visitors played through the second session without any hiccups. The duo successfully combated an all-pace attack on a bouncy WACA pitch to guide India to a solid position in the penultimate match of the four-Test series.
Tendulkar’s surge was halted abruptly on 71 a little after tea when Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf adjudged him leg before to Brett Lee, a decision that raised many eyebrows as the ball struck the batsman above his knee roll on a bouncy pitch.India’s in-form batsman Sourav Ganguly followed Tendulkar as Mitchell Johnson struck for the second time in the day. Ganguly made a wild slash that sent the ball straight into the safe hands of Micheal Hussey at gully.
Dravid, batting in his habitual number three position, was scalped by Andrew Symonds for the third time in a row, seven short of his ton.
Laxman was India’s last batsman to fall on the first day as Lee struck for the third time in the day.
Both sides made two changes to their playing 11 for the third Test.
The visitors brought in opener Sehwag and left-arm medium-pacer Irfan Pathan in place of Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh. The Aussies decided to go with an all-pace attack with Brad Hogg making way for South Australian speedster Shaun Tait. Chris Rogers, making his debut on his home ground, was Australia’s second change as the 30-year old southpaw replaced an injured Matthew Hayden.
India trail the four-Test series 2-0 after losing in Melbourne and Sydney.
The teams:
India: Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble (capt), RP Singh, Ishant Sharma.
Australia: Chris Rogers, Phil Jaques, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark, Shaun Tait.