Cricket World Cup T20: Harbhajan Shines As India Crush England!

Harbhajan Singh The Player of the Match

It was India’s biggest win in terms of margin of runs in any T20 history. It was England’s lowest total ever in T20 history. It could be the T20 international of the century in terms of the most dramatic turnaround with spinners dominating absolutely. It gave Harbhajan Singh a most memorable comeback to Team India. The off spinner had an incredible figure of 4 wickets for just 12 runs with 17 dot balls in 4 overs. With his partner spinner, another comeback guy, Piyush Chawla the duo captured 6 England wickets for 25 runs. Thanks to them England crashed from 39/2 to 60/9, looking at achieving the ignominy of being the team scoring less than the lowest ever total of 67 by Kenya in T20 history.  The last England pair saved that humiliation at least by taking the score to 80.

India crushed England by 90 runs in their last group encounter in Colombo on 23^rd September, 2012.  Indian skipper Dhoni seemed to have done everything right on this day. He ‘rested’ his supposed best players—Zaheer, Sehwag and Ashwin, and inducted two spinners in Harbhajan and Chawla with 6 batsmen to 5 specialized bowlers formula. He asked Irfan Pathan to open with Gautam Gambhir and promoted Rohit Sharma ahead of Yuvraj and Raina. Irfan could not deliver with the bat, but all other decisions vindicated Dhoni.

England won the toss and skipper Stuart Broad, perhaps taking the cue from the Indian Test cricket disaster in his country in 2011, put India in to unsettle them with short and bouncing stuff. Broad also opted for three fast bowlers and just one spinner. Maybe he failed to read the slower than anticipated pitch better than Dhoni.

Gambhir romped back into form with a well made 45 and Virat Kohli put in another classic act of 40 runs playing exquisite shots all around the park. The duo gave the team a momentum to build a total in excess of 180. But things slowed down midway with English spinner Graeme Swann bowling a tight spell. Rohit Sharma and Dhoni finally plundered 51 runs from the last four overs to take India to a sound 170/4.

Have India scored a good enough total? The debate was just picking up all around when Irfan Pathan struck in the last ball of his very first over bowling out English opener Hales for a duck. He struck again in the fourth ball of his second over getting the other opener Wright leg before. With two expensive overs by Balaji and Dinda in between the spinner duo of Harbhajan and Chawla came in when the Powerplay was still on, and England wickets started tumbling in heaps as if under a spell. The most fantastic spin bowling in a T20 International was witnessed thus as the balls started to turn appreciably. It was all over with more than five overs to spare. The Scorecard:

The encounter was technically inconsequential as both teams had already qualified for the Super Eight stage. This gave Dhoni a scope to experiment and get his best team ready to fire on the next stage. With Irfan Pathan not quite doing well as an opener Virender Sehwag, a match winner on his day, is most likely to come back, but Dhoni is set to have a most difficult time choosing from Harbhajan, Chawla and Ashwin even if he sticks to two spinners. And then the pacers, all of whom except Pathan were largely ineffectual. The choice of one or two pacers to partner Pathan would need a lot of thinking. As India have topped the group they stay in Colombo for the Super Eight games and the conditions experienced in this game are likely to favor the team.

Earlier, in a cracker of a match Pakistan defeated a fighting New Zealand by 13 runs in Pallekele thanks to a splendid all-round performance by Mohammad Hafeez and a superlative knock of 56 runs by Nasir Jamshed. The cricket lovers had their money’s worth as New Zealand fought to their last breath. Both of these teams have qualified for the Super Eight too.

 Not much action till the Super Eight starts from September 27. The big one for Indian cricket lovers is coming on 28^th September in Colombo at 7.30pm when India meet Australia. The Schedule:

Cricket World Cup T20: Gaylestorm...And Rains Spoil First Two Big Matches!

The first two big matches of the ICC World Cup Twenty20 2012 were scheduled on September 22--Sri Lanka Vs South Africa and Australia Vs West Indies. Spectators were indeed regaled by some splendid batting performances including that of Chris Gayle who is back in the West Indies team (54 runs off only 33 balls with 5 fours and 4 sixes), De Villiers for South Africa (30 runs off 13 balls) and Shane Watson for Australia (41 off 24).

The first match between Sri Lanka and South Africa in Hambantota started after a delay of more than two hours due to heavy rains and so it got reduced to a ridiculous 7 overs each. Sri Lanka made it worse for themselves by opting to field first after winning the toss, maybe influenced by the overcast conditions. Thanks to De Villiers South Africa posted a daunting 78 runs for 4 in 7 overs. The Sri Lanka reply was a disaster as their batsmen had no answer to the pace and accuracy of South Africa bowlers. South Africa won by a huge margin of 32 runs. Malinga was the most expensive bowler for SL, a cause for worry indeed. 

The second big match of the day between Australia and West Indies in Colombo started on time with West Indies winning the toss and deciding to bat first. Immediately there ensued a Gaylestorm and riding on that superlative innings West Indies made a healthy looking 191/8 in 20 overs. Australia started in a fitting manner and blazed away to 100 runs in just 9.1 overs for the loss of only one wicket when rains stopped play. After an agonizing wait the DL method came into force and Australia was declared winners by 17 runs. Shane Watson was the player of the match. 

In the earlier matches South Africa defeated Zimbabwe by 10 wickets on September 20. In the two matches played on September 21 New Zealand thumped giant-killer Bangladesh by 59 runs with Brendon McCullum making a scintillating 123 runs--the highest ever in any T20 history off only 72 balls, and in the second match England sent Afghanistan home in great style winning by a mammoth 116 runs.  

Two big matches are again scheduled for Super Sunday today. Pakistan meets New Zealand in the first match which promises to be a eye catcher with McCullum peaking at the right time. And then the biggest one for India, England Vs India at 7.30pm Indian time. Team India must gear up for this encounter in all departments of the game.

Lord Ganesha Arrives In The City!

Happy Lord Ganesha Festival wishes to all of you! The beloved God of wisdom and prosperity who protects everyone from obstacles and mishaps has arrived yesterday in Mumbai. Huge endless queues line up the biggest public worship places while millions do the rituals, the offerings and chanting of devotional songs in their homes. At home for the desired duration of days He is like the Head of family and is respectfully installed, bathed ritualistically, dressed and offered all the daily meals—an integral part of worship. No wonder He is so fondly called Ganapati or Gananayaka (leader or protector of people).

This year Ganapati Festival on the occasion of Lord Ganesha's Birthday is being celebrated from September 19 in Mumbai and Maharashtra. This 10-day festival begins on the fourth day of the new moon lunar cycle. Worshiped both publicly and at homes across the state this festival is celebrated from one and half day to the full ten days. On the 11th day idols are immersed in a big way. Depending on the days of worship major immersions take place on the second, fifth and the 11^th day. To check pollution in the seas the municipal corporation of Mumbai has kept ready many artificial ponds. Many idols are being conceptualized on the running themes of corruption, drought, organ donation and many others. 

Ganesha Festival has a special significance for Maharashtra because in 1893, Lokmanya Tilak transformed the annual domestic festival into a large, well-organized public event. Tilak recognized the wide appeal of the deity Ganesha as "the god for everybody", and popularized Ganesh Chaturthi as a national festival in order "to bridge the gap between Brahmins and 'non-Brahmins' and find a context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them", and generate nationalistic fervor among people in Maharashtra against the British colonial rule. Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesh in pavilions, and also established the practice of submerging in rivers, seas, or other pools of water all public images of the deity on the tenth day after Ganesh Chaturthi.