India - To regain their aura....

  It was always like this. Having lost in the first test match at Lords, in 2011 also the same conditions prevail. Nine years ago, in 2002, Indian team under their most unperturbed captain lost the first test match at Lords. The arrogant people met him at the street told him that they are returning to home. Then Dada replied "Why so soon? Stick on we are going to level the series...." and Dada kept his words probably more than that. India won the third and the fifth test and sealed the series. Now Lords 2011 is lost, England are more stronger than then. On the other side India will loose their bowling spearhead, Zaheer Khan.
   But now, it is already late in this series. Team India is on the verge of extinction from the eminent position of the ladder; if they loss one more. Watching the video of players practicing at Trent Bridge, one thing is clear, having a defeat of 196 runs at Lords had made them more tired than having demoralized. Especially the bowlers, who had to bowl around 210 overs by three bowlers and most interestingly Dhoni used their part time bowlers only in 19 overs and half of was bowled by himself. This led to many controversies even during the test match itself. And due to this action by the captain , the bowlers had to work over time and they dot tired. Apart from this Gambhir was injured and Sachin infected by fever. It's quite relieving for India that both are now fit and said the media that they are fit enough to play in the second test.
   Let's hope for the best from team India and keep their position on the top of the ladder itself....

 

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The BENGAL TIGER is back!!!!

   A very good news for the Dada fans.Sourav Ganguly has been bought by Pune warriors India, will replace Ashish Nehra who have been ruled out of  IPL-4 due to his finger injury.Sourav Ganguly who was unsold even at the end of two auctions has got the lifeline, whose base price was $400,000. Ganguly will join the Pune team ahead of their match against Mumbai Indians at Wankhade stadium on May-4 as the vice captain of the team.

   Pune Warriors are now at the bottom of the table as now they are struggling with six consecutive loses after their first two victories at the initial stage of this season. Pune team officials hope that Ganguly averaging 1031 runs with an average of 28 runs and with a strike rate of 110 could deepen the depth of  batting and help them to recover from the under-performance of their batting order.

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Will DADA be back????

  Now the chances are more for Sourav Ganguly-the most successful captain of Indian cricket team ever; to play in the forth edition of IPL. And that too in my home team Kerala Kochi Tuskers (KTK).Srilankan call back to their players before May 5 paved the way in Dada's favour.I am not sure it's a grape vine or not, but you can truly believe that this news is directly from the KTK desk.But the choice on Sourav Ganguly will depend more on the Mahela Jayawardena's availability to the team.On the other hand BCCI is trying their best to take back their words by Srilankan Cricket Association as most of the funds to the Srilankan cricket Association are from the BCCI.

THE BENGAL TIGER

    Also there was a rumor that Sourav Ganguly will be replaced for Steve Smith,Australian Spinner who was recently ruled out of IPL-4 due to his ankle injury.Also Kochi Tuskers are keen to take Ganguly on board after the kick-off of IPL season 4.Anyway it'll be a cream come true for most of the KTK fans if Sourav Ganguly plays for the team.
     Also I am much more interested in it as then onwards I will be a supporter of my home team Kerala Kochi Tuskers.Let's hope for the best....

I f still you can't believe my words, please go through the link below where you can read it from the official KTK website.
CLICK HERE    

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KOLKATA ,GANGULY- AGAIN & AGAIN....

Now I know why Ganguly is so dear for 'Kolkatans'.Yesterday Ganguly continued his fine form to keep Kolkata Knight Riders in the run to semifinals.The win achieved by Kolkata was not only by Ganguly himslf but also by the thousands of crowd that cheered for Kolkata's win.A 99 run partnership between Sehwag(64) and Gambhir(47) could not fight against these odds and was fell before 14 runs ahead of the target.

Earlier Ganguly (56) and Gayle(40) gave Kolkata a flying start as they reached 100 runs in ust 11 overs.Down the order Tiwary(26) and Mathews(46) played an important role in leading Kolkata to a good target of 181 in 20 overs.Delhi Dare Devils was down in the very first over itself as Dinda got the dangerous Warner-a five ball duck.Then Sehwag and Gambhir tried their best to bring Kolkata near to the target but was fell down in front of the Tactical Game played the Kokata skipper with his braveful fielding and bowling changes.Then none other from Delhi played well and was able to take only 167/8 in 20 overs.

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KOLKATA PLEASE....

Kolkata is now on the edge of "extinction" from 2010 IPL as today they will face a confident Delhi Daredevils.To be there in the context in the run for semi-finals Kolkata must have a desperate win on today's match.Kolkata skipper Ganguly have a unenviable task to lift the player's morale.
Hopefully Newzealand's Brendon Mccullum and Ishant Sharma will be played in ths must-win match.This will add worries to Ganguly as he have to drop still not good David Hussey or Shane Bond.On the other side Delhi will be in a relieved form as their batting strength doubled with Karthik and Ganbhir too in form as they already have hard hitters Sehwag,Warner,Collingwood in good form.Their bowlind side is too good as Nehra is making a come back from shoulder injury.
Even though Ganbhir is not ready to take them silly as he already said like this "They are a very dangerous side...In Sourav, they have a canny captain and in the Eden crowd they have a 40,000-plus strong 12th man. It's a tremendous challenge and a test of character".

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DADAGIRI-In it's Real

Yesterday Ganguly was not Ganguly,but the real "DADA".I f you have have matched yesterday's match you will not say it's the same o39 year old Ganguly who always stood lazy in the field.If there is ever a list of cricketing come backs ,definitely Ganguly will be there on the top.Yesterday Ganguly against Deccan Chargers was 10 year less,batted aggressively,Fielded aggressively,Led the team aggressively.
Ganguly's view was clear from the very beginning itself when he directed a loosener from Kemer Roach to the square-leg boundary followed by a square drive.Ganguly kept his momentum till the end.Ojha will never dreamed that Ganguly will do like that to him.Ganguly hit three massive sixes in his over.But trying for an another one he was caught by Rohit Sharma that rightly pulled sure century by Ganguly. David Husssey also played a few reckless shot to brought the total to181.
In reply Deccan Chargers never hinted that they were going to the victory as they lost Gilchrist very cheaply.Only Gibbs and Symonds only tried from their side but it was all spoiled as none other gave a support to them and finally ended up in 157/5.

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DELHI WRAPPED UP KOLKATA....

Yesterday it was all around David Warner who scored his second century in the IPL and also the highest in IPL-3 .Earlier elected to bat Delhi had a bad start as Sehwag,Gambhir and Karthik went back to the pavilion within 3 overs.But then Warner and Collingwood led Delhi to a fighting total of 177.Thanks to Warner's devastating innings of 107 runs in just 69 balls which include nine fours and five sixes.Collingwood also gave him a good support by scoring 53 runs in 45 balls.
In reply Kolkata had a very bad start as skipper Ganguly ,Mandeep singh and last match's player of the match Manoj Tiwary were out when their score was only 21 runs in 4.2 overs.Then Gayle(30),Hussey(29) and Mathews (24) tried their best but then it was all over and the game was out of their control and they could register only 137 runs in 20 overs.

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CAN KKR ENTER TO THE WINNING STREAK????

Spectacular half centuries from Ganguly and Tiwary helps Kolkata Knight Riders escape from the losing streak by winning their third match on Saturday by 39 runs.Winning the toss KKR captain Ganguly chose to bat first and scored 183/5 in 20 overs,thanks to Tiwary who scored 21 runs in the last over bowled by Irfan Pathan who till then conceeded only 21 runs in three overs.

Brett Lee's first over in this IPL was warmly welcomed by Gayle by scoring 15 runs in the first over itself.But he was sent back to the pavilion by Srivastavain the third over.Then came the U-19 Indian player Mandeep Singh but was not able to do much.Then Tiwary and Ganguly build the KKR total and in 11.2 overs they reached 100 runs for 2 wickets.Tiwary and Ganguly played some intelligent cricket to keep the momentum going.Soon Ganguly was sent back after he completed his fifty;his first in this IPL and also the one after 16 innings.

In return to the target of 184 runs Kings XI lost their first wicket with no runs on the score board.Then Yuvraj scored some marvellous shots but was down by misjudjing a good length delivery from Ajit Agarkar.Kumar Sangakkar and Jayawardane failed to keep the run rate but miserably failed.Pathan and Goel also tried their level best but the game was out of control then.And finally Kolkata Knight Riders registerd their third victory and in the table they are now at 5-th position.

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KORBO LORBO JEETBO....

Will it happen even this time?In the third edition of IPL I think Kolkata knight Riders will make their slogan come true!!!!I think the change in their jersey's colour has brought a luck as well as fighting spirit to the Knight Riders.
With a stunning win against the last year champions and first runners up have bought Kolkata top in the table.In their first match Kolkata ran over Deccan Chargers for 11 runs and then they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore for 7 wickets.The batting department is strong led by Angelo Mathews and their bowlind field is also strong which is led by Ishant and Langevedlt.Ishant who was hard to find his line and length in the International matches near days was in good form in the first two matches.
Even though Sourav Ganguly hadn't played well in batting;He performed very well in the Captaincy which he only can achieve.We can't consider the fact that the first win against Deccan was mostly depended on Ganguly's last hours sensible fielding and bowling changes.....
Now today it will be interesting to watch how Ganguly and his "Team" can make Dhoni's "Team" under pressure.The match starts at 8pm.

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PHENOMINAL TENDULKAR....

"Sachin Tendulkar is a great player and a 'phenomenon'".This was said by none other than Sourav Ganguly,the former Indian captain of course the most succesfull captains that India had.Ganguly was responded to the repoerters query when he came for the domestic cricket leading the Bengal team.
He also added that he had played a lot innings with Sachin Tendulkar probably than by any other and found that Sachin is Master who is a true hard worker.

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Thinking of you,DADA....

We can see the touch of God,his majesty everywhere.In football if it was with Diego Maradona,in cricket he would be there in the offside of Sourav Ganguly.Yes Dada,you are gifted,a natural striker of the cricket ball through the pin hole gap in the offside.
Someone said"Leader is the one who leads from the front...." and Ganguly purely showed it.It was his risk to make a batsman like Sehwag to open the innings,it was his choice to retain Yuvraj,Harbhajan in his team.It was his mind that made Javagal Srinath to come back to the International cricket after his first retirement.Yes, you were always right.It was Ganguly who taught the Indian team to go for the victories than a dead draw in test matches.We say "why take chances?" but Ganguly thought in an another way "If you need victories then why don't you take risks????"
It was he who supported Greg Chappel to be the coach of Indian cricket team after John Wright left that position.Even though it was Greg who criticized the most about Ganguly's performance and always wanted him to be out of the Indian cricket team and atlast he suceeded in his "mission".Here comes the memory of words that Dr.Abdul Kalam one's said "Waves are my inspiration not because they rise and fall but after each fall they rise again...."Ganguly was also like these waves,after his fall from the team he came back like a hurricane.The batting figures shows that in 8 test matches he scored runs with an average of 58.98 including 5 centuries.
(even Sachin Tendulkar doesn't posses this).Even then Ganguly was criticized.They all waited eagerly for a low scoring game of Ganguly even though they got only a few.

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