Once again Dhoni and his men failed to deliver with the bat and they have to face second consecutive defeats by the hands of kiwis by five wickets in the 2nd twenty20 played at Westpac Stadium, Wellington.
B.McCullum for the second consecutive time became hero for New Zealand by scoring 69 runs of just 55 balls with eight fours and one huge six. Chasing 150 runs for victory J.Ryder (26 runs of 15 balls) and B.McCullum gave New Zealand a perfect start by putting 53 runs in just 28 balls. However Z.Khan provided the much needed breakthrough for the Indians when he bowled J.Ryder.
Four overs later H.Singh removed M.Guptill to provide India second breakthrough. R.Jadeja and H.Singh manages to put breaks on scoring and did put India on winning position.
Needing 23 runs of last two overs McCullum held his nerve. 19th over bowled by Y.Singh who conceded 11 runs of that over but did manage to remove N.Broom in the same over. In the last over New Zealand needed another 12 runs to win the twenty20 series. Final over bowled by I.Pathan who held his nerves for first three balls and given just three runs including a wide. New Zealand's chances of winning looked slim when they needed nine runs off the last three balls but McCullum kept his cool, smacking two successive boundaries to level the scores before chipping the final delivery over the infield to seal the win.
Earlier India manages to score 149/6 in 20 overs with the help of superb knock of 50 runs of 34 balls by Yuvraj Singh. Apart from Yuvraj, M.S.Dhoni 28 runs and V.Sehwag 24 runs were other contibuter.
B.McCullum is declared Man of the Match for his blistering knock of 69 runs of 55 balls to guide his team home by five wickets.
Australian cricket team after the completion of South Africa tour will fly directly to UAE to play five one day international and one twenty20 international against Pakistan. The tour will start with ODI and ends with one twenty20 International.
The first two ODI’s will be played in Dubai while rest three will be played in Abu Dhabi and one t20I will be played in Dubai.
Australia have not played in Pakistan since 1998, so it’s expected to be very tense and interesting battle between both the teams.
Here are the complete schedule fixture of Pakistan Vs Australia Series 2009(All timing are mentioned in GMT+05:30)
New Zealand won the toss and chose to field first. Zaheer starts proceedings with the new ball.India started off with a flourish but failed to sustain the tempo to find themseves in trouble at 61 for five by the eighth over. Some lusty hittings by Raina and Harbhajan Singh (21) at the end provided some respect to the total. India's innings, highlighted by an unbeaten 61 by Suresh Raina, included 13 sixes, one fewer than the record for a single innings in a Twenty20 international. When New Zealand peppered the short boundaries at AMI Stadium (Christchurch) with 11 more sixes,.
It was comfortable for New Zealand in last movement of McCullum batted through, playing a sensible hand, without heating any shot too early in his innings. He was helped by a solid show from the rest of the batsmen, as partnerships of 54, 50 and 60 show.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan failed to support Raina and their dismissals left India struggling at 101 for 7. Raina was perhaps the only batsman who consistently succeeded in hitting on the leg side. He stayed balanced and clubbed full tosses and length deliveries from the seamers high over deep midwicket. McCullum is the Man of the Match. He calls his innings 'ugly' and says he never really got used to the pace of the track. He says he was lucky Guptill, Taylor and Oram scored at a quick pace.
Indian team which looks stronger on paper will start as firm favorite when they take on New Zealand in first twenty20 international at AMI Stadium, Christchurch. Indian team after achieving success in the last two series in ODI will have uphill task of beating the New Zealanders on their own backyards.
Indian team who toured New Zeland six years ago beaten comprehensively in one day series as well as test series and by seeing their past performance in New Zealnd no one is taking this tour lightly. However in the shorest version of the game Indian team are world champions and by going with current form of the Indians, New Zelands have to perform well in every department of the game to upset the Indians.
The biggest disappointment for the Indians is they will play their first game without any prior practice game on the tour. This is once again a contest between an Indian team promising a lot and a New Zealand team that knows their home conditions well, a side who don't have the best quality possible but are fully capable of drawing the opposition to their level. As we have seen recently how young New Zealand teams performed down under against the Australians in twenty20 as well as in ODI series.
Now India do have quality pace attack with Zaheer and Ishant but the faith of series still depends on how batsman able to adjust themselves on New Zealand pitches.
Watch out for
J. Oram: A man who did it for his team so many times is making comeback after little break from International Cricket due to injury. But he can be dangerous in any condition both with bat and ball.
Pathan Brothers: Both players did for India in the last twenty20 encounter against Sri LankaNew Zealand at Christchurch. with bat and ball. Both are very useful cricketer and will be eying to perform well during first twenty20 against
Pitch and conditions
The pitch and condition at AMI Stadium, Christchurch is dry and will support the batsman. We can witness high scoring game. Team batting first will eye score in excess of 175 in the 20 overs quota.
Stats & Trivia
So far only one twenty20 International played at this ground between England and New Zealand. England team came out as winner in this match while batting first and posted 193 runs on the board.
Both teams had played one twenty20 international in 2007 twenty20 world cup prio to game at Christchurch. New Zealnd came out as winner on that occassion beating India by 10 runs.
Gautam Gambhir is the highest run getter (312 runs) for India in twenty20 format while Irfan Pathan is the highest wicket taker (13 wickets) in the shortest format of the game.
Team News
Indian team is likely to stick with same playing XI apart from one changes that beaten Sri Lanka in only twenty international. With return of Harbhajan Singh, R.Jadeja is liely to sit out for him. On the other hand New Zeland is boosted by the return of J.Oram and R.Taylor and both is likely to be included in playing XI.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 11:30 AMIndia Time on 25th Of February)
India Squad: V.Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, S.Raina, Y.Singh, M.S.Dhoni (Captain & WK), Yusuf Pathan, R.Sharma, H.Singh, Z.Khan,I.Sharma, I.Pathan.
New Zealand Squad: Brendon McCullum (WK), Martin Guptill, Neil Broom, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori (Captain), Iain O'Brien, Tim Southee, Ian Butler.
Indian team after better performance in the recent series leaves for New Zealand for their tough assignment in the recent times. Their past record in New Zealand is very dismal and Dhoni and his men would be keen to improve their past performance this time.
Indian team will arrive in New Zealnd on 20th of February and would open their tour with two twenty20 International to be played on 25th February and 27th February. Indian cricket team also got brand new kit in striking deep blue dress codes for the two tenty20 interntional and one day international. All the players were gatherd in function at Mumbai before departure with new dress code.
Indian team last tour to New Zealand were more than worse as they have lost both test series as well as ODI series by 2-0 and 5-2 respectively. Last test series win for India came way back in 1967-68 under the captaincy of M.Pataudi, so it has been long 41 years for men in blue to win the test series on New Zealand soil.
So far India has travel seven times to New Zealand and manages just one test series win while loosing four test series and drawing two. In the current Indian squad only five players played at New Zealnd soil- Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag, V.V.S Laxman, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh.
Past record may be against the Indians at New Zeland soil but the current form of men in blue will be very helpful and will help Dhoni and his men to perform better this time. Last two ODI series against England and Sri Lanka, Indian team looked completely dominant over the opponents by winning the series by 5-0 and 4-1.
Young seam bowler Dhawal Kulkarni after an outstanding performance in the Ranji Trophy season 2008-09 got a maiden call-up in the Test Squad announced for the tour of New Zealand, while L.Balaji is also included in the 16 member squad. L.Balaji is making comeback after almost 2 years.
Apart from D.Kulkarni rest of the players included is same which played against England in the home series last year. Indian selection panel lead by former Indian Captain K.Srikanth announced three different squad for the New Zealand tour, one for twenty20, one for one day international and last one for Test series.
D.Karthik the Indian wicketkeeper batsman named in all three squad as reserved wicketkeeper to provide M.S.Dhoni some assistant and help whenever required on the tour. Injured Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and Munaf Patel is included for all three formats of the game. H.Singh missed the tour of Sri Lanka recently while M.Patel has to return back home after first ODI is now fit and included in the team.
Ravindra Jadeja who scored brilliant half-century in his debut match is left out of one day squad; however he is included for twenty20 International. P.Ojha is also left out from test squad announced while he is included in ODI and twenty20 squads.
India will start their tour with two twenty20 International to be played on 25th and 27th of February. Then India will play five one day internationals against the home team on 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th and 14th of March. The two teams will then square off for three-match Test series.
Indian team has tough jobs on their hand since they never won test series on New Zealand soil since 40 Years. Last time also they loss test series by 0-2 and seven match ODI Series by 2-5.
India Test Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain & WK), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Kaarthick, Murali Vijay,Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, L Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra.
India ODI Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain & WK), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Kaarthick, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha.
Here is New Zealand Squad for the series against India at home
New Zealand Fifth ODI Squad: Daniel Vettori (Captain), Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Peter McGlashan (WK), Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel,Ewen Thompson.
New Zealand First Test Squad: Daniel Vettori (Captain), Brent Arnel, Daniel Flynn, James Franklin, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill, Tim McIntosh, Brendon McCullum (WK), Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien, Jeetan Patel.
At presently the tour has been postponed and new schedule will be released soon.
Pakistani team after the home series against Sri Lanka will travel to Bangladesh to play two twenty20 International and five one day international.
Pakistan will start their tour with two twenty20 international followed by five one day internationals. Twenty20 and first three one day internationals si scheduled to be played at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur and the last two one day international will be played at Chittagong Divisional Stadium.
Here are the complete schedule fixture of Pakistan Vs Bangladesh Series 2009(All timing are mentioned in GMT+05:30)
It seems that it was a day of brothers, earlier in the day two Hussey brothers helped Australia to beat New Zealand and level the series and in the late evening two Pathan’s Irfan and Yusuf helped their team to register a thrilling three wickets victory over the Sri Lankan in twenty20 international in Colombo.
Chasing a challenging total of 172 runs for victory India looks on course of winning the game easily but M.Bandara and S.Jayasurya brought Sri Lanka right back into the match by picking up four wickets between them and giving just 24 runs in six over. Indians were reduced to 115/7 at the end of 15th over and looking down and out of the match. But two Pathan brothers have different ideas as they plundered 59 runs of just 25 balls to guide India home with four balls remaing to be bowled.
India were down in the dumps at 115/7 needing another 57 runs in the last five overs with just three wickets in hand. Then came the latetwist in the evening when Yusuf Pathan clobbered M.Bandara for two huge sixes and one fast furious boundaries to collect 17 runs of five balls in the 16th over of Indian inning to minimize the pressure mounting on the Indians. Before that Bandara was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers, claiming three wickets.
Thereafter it was Irfan Pathan who taken the responsibility of scoring runs and hit two huge sixes and two fours to snatch the unbelievable victory from the hands of Sri Lanka. He first clobbered 13 runs in the 19th over bowled by Dilhara Fernando with one flat six over midwicket and then crsip boundary over extra cover. Needing just five in the last over Irfan Pathan smashed second ball of the over for six to registered a thrilling victory over Sri Lanka by three wickets. In the end Irfan scored 33 runs of 16 balls and his brother Yusuf Pathan score 20 runs of 10 balls.
Earlier during run chase Suresh Raina (35 runs of 27 balls) and Yuvraj Singh (32 runs of 21 balls) played useful hand after the quick dismissal of both the openers. Virendra Sehwag was run out by C.Kapugedara for 1 run and G.Gambhir out on very next ball for 13 runs caught on the bowling of T.Tushara.
Earlier Sri Lankan Captain Dilshan won the toss and decided to bat first. T.Dilshan scored 61 runs from 47 balls to help Sri Lanka to score a chalalenging total of 171/4 in their 20 overs.
Sri Lanka started well with openers S.Jayasurya (33 runs of 17 balls) and T.Dilshan (61 runs of 47 balls) both went on to put blistering 59 runs in just 36 balls. T.Dilshan made full use of drop chance made by I.Pathan in the very first over of Sri Lanka inning on the bowling of Zaheer Khan.
However Irfan Pathan manages to break the partnership when he gets S.Jayasurya out for 33 runs. At start Sri Lanka were going at more than 10 runs per over but Indian slow spinners put the breaks on scoring. Both spinner Y.Pathan and R.Jadeja bowled really well and conceeded just 52 runs in their quota of four overs each.
Yusuf Pathan was most successful bowlers for the Indian as he manages to pick up two wickets. While I.Sharma and Irfan Pathan picked up one wicket each.
Y.Pathan is declared Man of the Match for his superb bowling spell of 23/2 and blistering knock of 20 runs of 10 balls to guide India home by three wickets.
Here is the highlights of India Vs Sri Lanka twenty20 Cricket Match played on 10th of February between these two teams at R.Premdasa Stadium,Colombo. Sri Lanka after winning the toss batted first and scored 171/4 in their quota of 20 overs with the help of T.Dilshan 61 runs from 47 balls and Sanath jayasurya scoring a blistering 33 runs of 17 balls.
Chasing a challenging total of 172 runs for victory India looks on course of winning the game easily but M.Bandara and S.Jayasurya brought Sri Lanka right back into the match by picking up four wickets between them and giving just 24 runs in six over. Indians were reduced to 115/7 at the end of 15th over and looking down and out of the match. But two Pathan brothers have different ideas as they plundered 59 runs of just 25 balls to guide India home with four balls remaing to be bowled.
Highlights of India Vs Sri Lanka twenty20 played on 10th of February 2009
Sri Lankan captain T.Dilshan 61 runs from 47 balls helped Sri Lanka to score a comparative total of 171/4 in their 20 overs. After winning the toss and electing to bat first Sri Lanka started well with openers S.Jayasurya (33 runs of 17 balls) and T.Dilshan (61 runs of 47 balls) both went on to put blistering 59 runs in just 36 balls. T.Dilshan made full use of drop chance made by I.Pathan in the very first over of Sri Lanka inning on the bowling of Zaheer Khan.
However Irfan Pathan manages to break the partnership when he gets S.Jayasurya out for 33 runs. At start Sri Lanka were going at more than 10 runs per over but Indian slow spinners put the breaks on scoring. Both spinner Y.Pathan and R.Jadeja bowled really well and conceeded just 52 runs in their quota of four overs each.
Yusuf Pathan was most successful bowlers for the Indian as he manages to pick up two wickets. While I.Sharma and Irfan Pathan picked up one wicket each.
Match Summary
Sri Lanka – 171/4 in 20 Overs
T.Dilshan- 61S.Jayasurya –33
C.Silva-21*C.Kapugedara-16
Y.Pathan- 4-0-23-2I.Pathan-4-0-34-1
I.Sharma-4-0-40-1
Team News
India went on to match with including pacer Zaheer Khan in place of L.Balaji.Lasith Malinga, who had been out of action for almost a year, returned to the side to give his side a pace boost, while batsmen Jehan Mubarak and Chamara Silva were back. Indika de Saram and Malinga Bandara were the other notable inclusions.
Final Playing XI for both teams (Match has started at 19:00 PMIndia Time on 10th Of February)
Crowd will witness first ever shortest version of the game on their soil, when India take on Sri Lanka on only twenty20 International at R.Premdasa Stadium. Match is now become important for the Indians especially after the loss in the last ODI against Sri Lanka. They will be looking to end their tour on winning note after all they are twenty20 World Champions.
After demolishing Sri Lanka by 4-1 in the recently concluded ODI series, world champions IndiaSri Lanka will look forward to carry their winning momentum into this match which seems really tough for the home team and the captain T.Dilshan. With Sri Lankan selectors deciding to rest some of the key players like regular Captain M.Jayawardne, deputy K.Sangakar, M.Muralitharan, N.Kulasekara and A.Mendis, the new captain T.Dilshan have real job on his hand to snatch the victory from the hands of twenty20 world champion India. have a distinct edge over the home team in the today match. On the other hand
India will play without Sachin Tendulkar, who is already returned to India on Sunday night but with the kind of form Gautam Gambhir and Virendra Sehwag are in, India will not have too much difficulty in the opening department.
India also poses solid middle order batting lineup with the likes of Yuvraj Singh, S.Raina, M.S.Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan. In the bowling department also India looks more settle and experienced than the Sri Lankan.
However with L.Malinga making comeback after long one year gap due to injury can provide lost of support in the opening bowling department and players like Dilhara Lokuhettige, reputed to be a Twenty20 specialist, should get a chance to show his skills.
Watch out for
Y.Singh: Who will forget this man when it comes to twenty20 format of the game? He has shown what he can do with any bowler in this version of the game. With the kind of form he is in we can expect another entertaining knock in today match.
G.Gambhir and Virendra Sehwag: A deadly duo. Both batsman are in prime form with century to his name in the current tour, both missed out in the last ODI against the home team and will be keen to give their team a match winning start at the top of the order.
Pitch and conditions
The pitch at R.Premdasa is expected to be same as used in last three ODI’s. It will be batting paradise and we can expect team batting first will aim for score between 190-200 runs in 20 Overs.
Stats & Trivia
Ishant Sharma has only played one twenty20 International for India against Australia last year in Australia and will be keen to improve his performance this time.
So far twenty20 World Champion India has played 10 t20 matches with seven win and two losses and one match has no result. On the other hand Sri Lanka has played 12 T20 matches with eight win and four losses.
India and Sri Lanka will face each other for the first time in this format of the game.
