by Sajed Ahmed India has always been criticized for underperforming in away test tours. But the first two tests of the 2014 India’s tour of England shows that all of that has just changed. We had a captain who was being criticized for being too defensive in away tours, a very fragile batting line-up and a very ordinary bowling line-up. With an inexperienced side, MSD has managed to do something that had only been done once before by Kapil Dev in 1986, a test victory at Lord’s.
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by Sajed Ahmed We’ve been invited to each and every single ODI cricket WC. We’ve won two ODI WCs and one T20 WC. With every passing generation our cricketers keep getting better and better. So what makes us good at this sport? Here's what we think.
by Sajed Ahmed I don't know why but for some reason I cannot take the IPL seriously. It just seems like a big budget TV series to me. I mean, think of the variety of characters that the IPL has. It has the once upon a time legends, now retired and have taken up something more civil. Kinda like Capt. Roy Montgomery from Castle whose part is being played by Shoaib Akthar. Then it has the good looking protagonists like Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell who pull off an Ian Somerhalder every now and then. For humour IPL has the comedians whose sense of humour is refreshing, something like the Pritchetts from Modern Family. Danny Morrison and gang do good justice to the roles they were offered. That being said, we also have to put up with Sidhu and his creepy one liners. There should be an auction for the hosts of Extraa Innings as well. That way there is at least a possibility that we may not have to hear Sidhu babble about cabbages and ostriches.
by Sajed Ahmed Unfortunately for them, the Proteas retain the title of chokers that they have had for 14 years straight, in this edition of the T20 world cup. I haven’t quite been able to figure out why, A curse probably? Or maybe growing pressure to lose the chokers tag? Either way the South Africans have another year to figure out what goes wrong every World Cup Semi-Final as the 50 Over WC is scheduled for next year. As far as India is concerned, we don’t have to worry for the next 15 years. The future of Indian cricket is in very safe hands. This game was yet another proof that Indians can handle anything (except non-Asian venues).
by Sajed Ahmed The moment I got to know that West Indies was going to play the Lankans in the first Semi-Final of the ICC T20 World cup, I got very excited. It’s exciting to watch both the teams play, especially the Srilankans. West Indies maybe a little underperforming when it comes to ODIs and tests but when it comes to T20 cricket, we see a whole new energetic and rejuvenated team. The West Indies team has always brought something new into the arena every single time they play. The Lankans have always been a formidable side in every format of the game. It’s a treat to watch the Srilankan batsmen and their exquisite strokeplay. With the Lankans at the best of their game and the West Indians fresh as ever, this game was all set to be an exciting game of cricket. by Sajed Ahmed India is a very vast country geographically and culturally. We have 28 states, 16 major languages, and a population of 1.3 billion. When India plays Pakistan we set all our differences aside and cheer for India. It’s safe to say that India cannot be more united than when India plays Pakistan. Although this match wasn’t as exciting as expected, it had its own share of moments.
by Sajed Ahmed No. This isn’t about the Oscars. It’s about the ESPNCricinfo awards where our favorite cricketers turn up with their girlfriends and win awards. That’s just a creepy way to put it. The ESPNCricinfo awards rewards player and team performances that have stood out and showed immense class. As an Indian, I’m very proud of our team. We have had a very good year as far as overall team performance is concerned. And, we’ve won awards too.
by Sajed Ahmed Cricket has come a long way. From leg guards made from cloth and wooden sticks to leg guards made from thermoplastics. We have seen the One-day cricket scene change from whites to colours. With the new technologies arriving every day, the margin for human error is decreasing. 30 years back no one would have expected something like the UDRS (Umpire Decision Review System) to be in place to relieve some load off the umpires. But right from the start of cricket one question has always remained, when you nick the ball, do you walk or not?
by Sajed Ahmed There’s been a lot of buzz and chatter over the IPL auctions for the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League. I have to admit that how much ever I hate T20 cricket, a lot of strategy goes into the purchasing of players and that’s what makes the IPL interesting. Like any other auction, the IPL auctions have basic rules that govern the way the auction is conducted. Every team has a finite purchasing power in the form of a pre-determined sum of money based on their player retentions. A minimum of 14 Indian and a maximum of 10 foreign players can be there in the squad. Another important facility is the right to match card. The number of right to match cards with every team depends on the number of players retained by the franchise. The right to match card allows the team to secure a player from their previous roster by matching the highest bid.
by Sajed Ahmed The Ashes is one of the oldest rivalries in cricket history. For almost 135 years now, the Englishmen and the Aussies have battled it out to gain possession of The Ashes. Countless heroes have emerged, failures have never been bigger, and the performance of a player in any Ashes tour has and will never be forgotten. It’s been a little more than two weeks since Michael Clarke went down in the history books as the third Australian captain to achieve a whitewash in the Ashes after WW Armstrong in 1920/21 and Ricky Ponting in 2006/07.
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