Friday, April 17, 2009

I have moved!

I have moved to wordpress..
I update content and blog there. use the following link to get there..
http://kunaljanusport.wordpress.com/

Kunal janu



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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

IPL 2: Team Preview : Mumbai Indians

it would have been music to the ears of JP Duminy when he heard that he was bought for a whooping $950,000 by the Mukesh Ambani owned Mumbai Indian side for the second season of the IPL. Other steals were Bangladesh captain Mohammed Ashraful who was bought for $75,000, Kiwi fast bowler Kyle Mills . Zaheer Khan will be a vital addition to the side given his current form with the ball. In other swaps, Mumbai sold Ashish Nehra to Delhi Daredevils and bought Shikhar Dhwan who could well compensate for Utthapa's departure to the Bangalore Royal Challengers side.




Dwayne Bravo, has been given a permanent deal having played for Mumbai Indians last year. Two other key signings also came before the auction. They are limited-over specialists from the English county circuit, all rounders Graham Napier and Ryan McLaren - a Kolpak player South Africa wanted to get back after their ODI losses in England last year.

The team has three Sri Lankans in Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando, all of whom are available for the entire tournament. Mumbai were unlucky last time to miss Sachin Tendulkar, who was injured, and Harbhajan Singh - banned for his infamous slap - for the bulk of the tournament. If they manage to get it right, they would perhaps be able to do justice to Mumbai's tag of domestic giants.


Probable XI: 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 & 5 Dwayne Bravo/ Ryan McLaren/ JP Duminy/ Graham Napier, 6 Abhishek Nayar, 7 Yogesh Takawale (wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Dhawal Kulkarni, 11 Lasith Malinga/ Dilhara Fernando/ Kyle Mills.



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IPL 2: Team Preview : Delhi Daredevils

Delhi may now no longer have the services of their Pakistani duo in the name of Shaoib Malik and Mohammed Asif, but the team looks even more dangerous after their imports in the likes of Australian opening batsman David Warner and the England Duo of Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood.Warners sensation T20 debut for Australia against South Africa proved his worth for the Delhi daredevils side. Having played these games in South Africa might help his cause. Delhi also have all rounder Allan McDonald, who too debuted for Australia in the recent T20 matches, and left-arm fast bowler Dirk Nannes, an out-and-out Twenty20 specialist.



Delhi were in great form last year and made it to as far as the semi finals when they lost to Chennai Super Kings in a one-off match. Gambhir and Sehwag put up partnerships that no teams had answer to. There was no one way to get them out, The only way the duo lost their wickets were to run outs most of the time. When the opponents eventually succeeded in picking them, In walked Shikhar Dhwan who played even better than the duo. sadly, Shikhar Dhawan will play for the Mumbai Indians side this year, leaving an open spot for Develliers to walk in and continue his form with the bat. Glenn McGrath continued to live up to the reputation, while Daniel Vettori who said that he was happy to be in Sehwag's side as he will not have to bowl to him will bring in his experience.


Dilshan and Collingwood could prove useful with both bat and ball, as Amit Mishra spinned a web around the batsman last year. Ashish Nehra, Yo Mahesh and Pradeep Sangwan will be battling for the second and third seamers spot with the foreign players. With most of their foreign players free for tournament, the only headache for Delhi could be getting their XI right.

Probable XI: 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Tillakaratne Dilshan/ Owais Shah, 4 Manoj Tiwary/ David Warner, 5 AB de Villiers/ Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Rajat Bhatia/ Paul Collingwood, 7 Daniel Vettori 8 Amit Mishra/ Ashish Nehra, 9 Farveez Maharoof/ Yo Mahesh, 10 Dirk Nannes/ Pradeep Sangwan, 11 Glenn McGrath.



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Australia in South Africa: 4th ODI Review : Gibbs powers SA to a series win

April 13 2009: After the No.1 spot in ICC ODI Rankings changed hands through the series, South Africa have made sure that they finish in the same position thanks to Herschelle Gibbs 21 ODI century that helped them win the 4th ODI and the series 3-1 to Australia at Port Elizabeth. His 110 came almost off a run a ball after having battled the first few overs in partnership with Smith. Australi who perished in the name of Van De Merwe never looked like being in the game.



An out of form Australia were always likely to be on the back foot heading into their do or die stint. They made a couple of changes bringing in Shane hardwood for Lauglin who didn't look like taking any wickets as Gibbs and AB Develliers powered SouthAfrica to a score of 317 leaving Australia with almost no margin for error run chase. For a while they looked Flauless, Haddin and Micheal Clarke clicked as a pair for the first time in the series putting on a 129 run stand, but both men loast their wicket at the half way mark. Clarke became victim to a vicious spinner pitching on leg and turning away from him to knock the off stump, a classical Van de Merwe delivery.

Merwe playing only his 3rd ODI picked up 3 for 46, the two other wickets coming in the name of Callan Ferguson and Micheal Hussey. Ferguson, Man who restored pride in the falling top order in the previous games was promoted to No.4 lost his wicket stumped by Boucher. Hussey soon followed, out LBW playing the wrong line. 129 for 0 suddenly turned 150 for 4 in a matter of 4 overs. Haddin's aggressive approach imbued Australia with hope and he batted instinctively in compiling 78 from 61 balls, including four sixes. But after he holed out to long-on off Johan Botha it was a steady decline for Australia and the tail succumbed to Dale Steyn, who finished with 4 for 44. The chase was always going to be difficult after Gibbs and de Villiers dominated with the bat.



Both Develliers and Gibbs kept the scoreboard moving also played some aggresive shots off the bad deliveries. Australian bolwers failed to offer any threat and the biggest worry turned out to be in the name of the spinners Micheal Clarke and Nathan hauritz who between them sent down 10 overs for 73. Both suffered in the hands off Gibbs who posted a ODI century after 14 months, Develirs suddenly turned the aggresson in the partnership as he trashed consecutive deliveries off Hauritz over long on and Mid Wicket boundaries.

The 61-run victory ensured Graeme Smith's men the honor of becoming the first team to triumph in three successive bilateral ODI series against Australia - a streak that dates back to their historic victory in the 438 match in Johannesburg three years ago. It also means that when the teams return to the Wanderers for Friday's fifth and final match, it will be to contest a dead rubber. Smith and his men have now won 7 out of their 10 games against the world champions - Australia. They deserve their 1st spot in the rankings, They've earned it.

In Other News: Botha, after being reported for suspect action has been cleared after tests found that the bending of his hand is well below the limit. His doosra and the faster ball came into the line of fire after match referee decided to report it for a test. Reports suggest that the Doosra measured a 9 deg bend while the off spinner measured 11 deg bend, well below the 15 deg limit set by the ICC.



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Monday, April 13, 2009

IPL 2: Rajasthan Royals - Practice match

Rajasthan Royals and Captain Shane Warne lost the first of the two T20 warm-up matches against the Cape Cobras by 28 runs. If there is one thing that Captian Warne would be regretting is the absence of his stars, Shane Watson and Sohail Tanvir. The Cobras fielded a new look side of what is normally a star studded side, which includes the likes of Gibbs and Morkel brothers. The cobras have been rated as the top T20 side in South Africa. Cobras won the toss and batted first. Much to Warne's likeliness the cobras lost early wickets, at one point 30 for 3. For the Royals it was kamran Khan a new addition to the 27 member Rajasthan royals squad. Kamran khan,18, rattled a few stumps with his slinging action and surprise pace.



The Cobras middle order batted sensibly and kept the scoreboard ticking before the final on-slaught to reach a score of 142 for 8 in their 20 overs. With not many experienced cricketers in the Royals side, The target proved to be a tough ask as they were bowled out for just 114 leaving cobras with a 28 run victory. Shane Warne was particularly pleased with the effort as most of them are new to South African conditions and will take time to settle down to. He hopes that addition of the international cricketers to the team will help in their performance. Warne was particularly thankful to the Cobras for the practice and said that he hoped this would help the players prepare for the task ahead.





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Shane also mentioned that he would miss his stars of the last season, Watson who is on the Australian squad named for the series in Pakistan in Abu Dhabi and Sohail Tanvir who was forced not to participate following pakistan boards diapproval of the IPL. Both were instrumental with the performance RR posted last time around. Warne hopes that the new imports in the name of Henderson will prove as good replacements for the men he's lost.

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