WI Tri-Series Cricket: India Win The Celkon Mobile Cup!

The Dhoni Assault!

The World Champions, the Champions of Champions Trophy India have added one more tournament win to their bag of achievements by defeating Sri Lanka in the final of the West Indies Tri-Nation ODI Cricket Series on Thursday and taking home the Celkon Mobile Cup. Captain Cool MS Dhoni who with a hamstring injury keeping him out of the Series came back to play this match only and in a low-scoring thriller hit Sri Lanka’s almost unplayable bowler of the match Eranga for 16 runs needed to win in four balls of the last over of the match. With 45 not out Dhoni became the worthy player of the match while seamer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was adjudged the player of the Series. Just imagine Kumar was dropped or rested or whatever in a crucial match against Sri Lanka that put India almost out of the tournament. Anyway, the Champions came back from the brink of elimination, won two matches with bonus points and finally won the Cup.

The track was a tricky and treacherous one helping both seam and spin and also having uneven bounce. The ball often tended to keep low too. These factors probably influenced Dhoni to field first after winning the toss. Kumar delivered two vital blows eliminating the openers who tormented India with a double hundred partnership in a match earlier. But Sri Lanka came back into the match and at 171 for 2 in the 38^th over they were cruising. Maybe Dhoni’s decision to under bowl his three seamers made things a little easier for Sri Lanka.  However, thanks to Ravindra Jadeja’s lethal spin (4 for 23) Sri Lanka uncharacteristically collapsed for 201 all out with their 8 wickets falling for just 30 runs. It seemed to an easy target for a powerful batting side.

India started uncharacteristically too with Dhawan and Rohit struggling for runs. Maybe the over defensive approach backfired with wickets falling. The painful proceedings continued as Karthick took 11 balls to get of the mark and still could not last long. Rohit labored on  in a determined way and his partnership with Raina--the fastest one of the innings--got India to 139 in the 32^nd over and at that point India looked to be cruising. Rohit completed his 17^thODI half century, but could not last long as one unplayable low or almost grassing ball from Herath (4 for 20 runs) bowled him. From 139/3 India were reduced to 167/8 in the 42^ndover and Sri Lanka stormed back into the match. Dhoni still refused to take quick singles obviously due to his injury and grimly kept his end going. Perhaps he planned a final assault on a Sri Lankan bowler he would finally face to settle the match that already seemed to be over for India. That happened in the last over with Eranga being the bowler. And India won by 1 wicket with just two balls to spare.
The Scorecard:

Celkon Tri-Series ‘Rain’ Cup: India In Final, West Indies Out!

This is incredible cricket mixed lethally with persistent rains. After the first round in Kingston the West Indies Tri-Series ODI Cricket Celkon Mobile Cup tournament was in a most intriguing stage with all the three teams having a chance to play in the final. India yet to open their account had the hardest chance having to win both remaining matches ideally with bonus points to stay alive and sail into the finals as the venue shifted to Port of Spain where the rain became a sort of the ‘fourth umpire’. The hosts, West Indies were sitting pretty with 9 points from two wins in the first round having just to stave off big defeats if not win. Incredibly enough, India did win both matches with bonus points and ensured their place in the final yesterday crushing Sri Lanka by 81 runs in a match reduced by rains to 26 overs and the D/L method setting a target of 178 for Sri Lanka. Thanks to Bhuvaneshwar Kumar’s scintillating bowling (4 wickets for just 8 runs) Sri Lanka was shot out for only 96 yielding India the much wanted bonus point. West Indies lost both their matches in Round-2 with big margins and got edged out on better net run-rate of Sri Lanka. Therefore, it’s again India Vs Sri Lanka Final Tomorrow in Port of Spain and the buzz is that injured Indian captain MS Dhoni might as well play. 

The Scorecard:

The rains interfered in every match in Port of Spain and yet the chasing team suffered every time losing the match with big margins. Yet, the toss winning team kept on choosing to field first, so powerful might have been the uncertainty or fear of batting first on a damp or moist wicket with some green patches. Finally, all factors including a spirited performance, the rains and the D/L method helped India to get geared up for one more tournament win.

Terror Targets Buddhist Shrine In India!

Serial bomb blasts shattered the serene atmosphere of the Mahabodhi shrine in Bodh Gaya in the north Indian state of Bihar in the early hours today. In all there were nine blasts inside and outside of the holiest of holy Buddhist pilgrimage site that left two monks injured. Fortunately all the blasts were low intensity and could not damage the main temple. Bodh Gaya is the historic place where Lord Buddha got his enlightenment and pilgrims from across the globe visit the Mahabodhi shrine here regularly. The blasts were carried out in a well coordinated manner within half an hour between 5.50 and 6am. The Indian Home ministry had confirmed the strike as a terrorist attack, though no terrorist group has claimed responsibility so far. In the background of the large-scale ethnic classes between Rohingya Muslims and the Buddhists in Myanmarthe Government of India has taken the attack in all seriousness and has issued advisory to all Indian states to ensure security for all Buddhist shrines and Tibetan settlements. This could very well be the first instance of issuance of advisory for possible violence in view of the Myanmar clashes.

The President, the Vice President and the Prime Minister of India have condemned this cowardly attack on a religious place vouching for a policy of zero tolerance against terrorism. But the ugly head of terror keeps on appearing again and again concentrating nowadays on soft targets while trying to demonstrate the fact that it can choose and strike place anywhere at its will. Recently it had returned to America too and the targets in Indiaseem to be growing by the day.

Thee are reports of intelligence alerts issued by the central agencies to Bihar government over a period of at least six months and apparently these were either ignored or not taken seriously. These lapses have drawn public attention and a national debate has already begun. The opposition parties got another opportunity to indulge in politics of terror and attack the Government. Interestingly, the national opposition BJP blamed the Bihar government squarely for the intelligence lapse forgetting conveniently that they were also part of the government till last month when the split between BJP and JD-U happened following the Modi factor. Let us propagate zero tolerance for politics too!