India smashing win over SL;A must watch game

India gets the unbelievable smashing win over SL to remain in the CB series at Oval. This was a must watch game as India was chasing huge target of 321 but amazingly got the victory before 13 overs with the wonderful and smashing batting from Virat Kohli.
SL batted first and with excellent centuries from Dilshan and Sangakara, got the huge score of 320. India started their inning stunningly with quick runs from Sehwag and Tendulkar, but soon lost both when Virat and Gambhir took the resposibility.Virat batted excellently till the end, completing quick century and was well supported by Gambhir at the other end who took India to almost winning side. After Gambhir, Raina came up and gave the match the finishing touches, however Virat was the highlight of today's match.
Short match details:

 Sri Lanka  320-4 (50 overs)                                               India  321-3  (36.4 overs)

Dilashan - 160*(165)                                                          Virat Kohli - 133*(86)
Sangakara - 105(87)                                                           Gambhir - 63(64)
                                                                                            Raina - 40*(24)

England gets the sensational victory over Pakistan

England almost sealed the last five overs to get a sensational last match victory against Pakistan and take the T20 series 2-1. The last five overs was the time to watch when Pak needed 35 runs which was not difficult to win with Misbah ul Haq and Umar Akmal on the crease and 7 wickets remaining but England produced world class bowling from captain Broad and Dernbach to get 5 runs victory.
England chose to bat first and with only Pieterson(62*)  getting the good hand got 129 which was not the difficult target for Pak at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi for the excellent bowling from England got them 2-1 win in the series.

India suffers huge 87 runs loss

India once again lost by huge runs margin in the 10th match of CB Series against Australia. Player of the match David Warner hit excellent 68 runs,also DJ Hussey and MS Wade completed their half centuries(54 and 56 runs respectively) to take Australia to 252-9. However, India did not started well and lost the wickets with no players exceeding 30 runs and finally collapsed at 165 to give 87 runs victory to the Kangaroos.
India is on the verge of kick-out from the series and the Final march for India strongly depends upon upcoming last 2 matches;India vs Sri Lanka(Hobart, Feb-28) and Sri Lanka vs Australia(Melbourne, Mar-2).

Stunning comeback from Arsenal with 3 goals in 11 minutes

Arsenal grabbed 3 goals in 11 minutes against League leaders Man City to invert the losing match towards their favor. Louis Saha got the immediate breakthrough for City at 4' followed by Emmanuel Adebayor at 34'(PG), but the comeback goals from Bacary Sagna-40' and  Robin van Persie-43' equalized at the end of second half. Arsenal got more 3 in 2nd half with two goals from Theo Walcott-65' and 68', and another one from Tomas Rosicky at 51'.
With this win the Gunners shorten their distance with 3rd placed Tottenham to 7 points. 

De Villiers century marked SA win

The unbeaten century from AB de Villiers help SA take 1-0 lead in the series against New Zealand. Initially batting NZ got 253-9 with 56 runs from B McCullam and 55 from Kane Williamson, however, the calm batting from De Villiers-106* supported by Dumini at first, after losing immediate 3 wickets in the powerplay, and qiuck batting Faf du Plessis at the end session who got 66* fro 49 helped SA beat the host by 6 wickets in the first ODI of the series.
The next match is being held at Napier on Feb 29.
For further details goto http://www.espncricinfo.com/new-zealand-v-south-africa-2012/content/current/story/555132.html

SL goes to top in CB Series

Sri Lanka gets the last over victory over Australia to climb up to the top position in CB Series.PJ Forrest batted excellently to get 104 and supported by Clarke-72 to take Australia to score of 280-6.But the good start by skipper Jayawardene-85 and patience play by Chandimal-80 with excellent batting from Parera at the end getting 21 of 11 balls helped SL get the victory with just 4 balls remaining.

Wernbloom equalises against Ronaldo

The late strike from Pontus Wernbloom helped the Russian club to equalise with Real Madrid in Champions League Leg.Christiano Ronaldo strike at 28',almost made sure that Madrid will take way the game but the last minute injury time(90+3') goal from Wernbloom equalised the game for CSKA at the match in Olimpiyskiy stadion Luzhniki — Moskva.

Ponting says bye to ODI

One of the best player in ODI cricket says bye bye to the game, again with disappointment.Ricky Ponting, the former Australian captain who won two world cups: 2003 and 2007, with his captaincy says he does not expect to play ODI anymore.

"I don't expect to play one-day cricket for Australia anymore".

"I've only got Test cricket left now and I still have what it takes to be a dominant player."
"It's a bit hard to say I've retired given I've been dropped but I don't expect to play one-day international cricket any more and I'm sure the selectors don't expect to pick me either". 
This was the statement given by the legend who has scored 13,704 runs with an outstanding average of 42.03, runner up to Sachin Tendulkar.He was dropped out of the team after he scored just 18 runs in five innings of CB series.However this disappointing dismissal of a legendary player is not the first for Cricket Australia.Michael Bevan also retired the same way.
The career of Ponting does not make us believe that he should be retired from ODI as happening.He is one of the legendary player, extraordinary captain and excellent batsmen that Australian team ever got.

 

 

Ricky Ponting's one-day career

• Born: Dec 19, 1974 in Launceston, Tasmania
• Matches: 375 (winning 165 of 230 as captain)
• Debut: Against South Africa at Wellington on 15 Feb, 1995
• Total runs: 13,704
• Centuries: 30
• Batting average: 42.03
• Highest score: 164
• Wickets: 3
• Three World Cup wins: 1999, 2003, 2007
• Second highest ODI run-scorer behind India's Sachin Tendulkar
• Second highest number of ODI centuries behind Tendulkar

4 goals from Messi at 200th appearance.

Lionel Messi was the star of the match when he scored 4 goals continously against Valencia to shorten the point difference from League R.Madrid to 2 points.Messi striked the goals at 22, 27, 76 and 85' and Xavi found the net at 90+1' which completely enveloped one goal striked by Pablo Piatti at 9', to give Barca 5-1 win.Messi brought out the special day for himself and Barca at his 200th appearance for the team.

3 own goals in the same match

3 own goals, 2 scored by the same player helped Liverpool on their way to the next round in FA Cup after they defeat Brighton & Hove Albion 6-1 in the Anfield.Martin Skrtel opened up the goal for Liverpool which was equalised by Kezenga Lualua at 17'.Then Liverpool got the goal prizes from Liam Bridcutt-44' and 71' and Lewis Carl Dunk-75'.Andy Caroll and Luis Suarez also striked at 44' and 84' to complete the 6 goals.
The other game forecast of FA cup is listed below :
Crawley Town 0-2 Stoke City
Stevenage 0-0 Tottenham

Aussies regain top position in the series

Australia climbed back to top of the table by getting a huge runs victory over India in Brisbane in the CB Series.Aussies batted first and made 288-5 with runs from Hussey(59) and Forrest(52) but Indian inning collapsed at 178 with the incredible bowling from Hilfenhaus(5-33) and Lee(3-49) to give 110 runs victory to the Aussies.The on-form Gambhir early collapse made Indian team to struggle when Dhoni(56) tried to hold on but could not stop the uge defeat.
India will face Sri Lanka at Brisbane on Feb 21.

Pieterson's hundred helped to gasp the series.

The unbeaten century from the man who long awaited 37 ODIs helped England hold the series 3-0 against Pakistan in 3rd ODI in Dubai. Kevin Pieterson was the man on highlight today when he scored 111* shuting the mouth of many rumours against him to lead England to 9 wickets victory.The half century from Afridi helped Pak make 222 runs but the 170 runs opening stand between Cook and Pieterson made the chase easy and they won with 12.4 overs remaining.The only regret Cook had was he could not become the first English batsmen to score hundred thrice in consecutive ODIs as he returned at 80,however the series win had overcomed the regret.
The last match between two teams is going to be held on Feb 21 at Dubai(DSC).
For more details of the match goto http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-v-england-2012/content/story/554135.html

Most sixes and Fastest hundred by a batsmen

Most sixes and fastest hundred, both hit by a single player helped South Africa to draw the series 1-1 in 2nd T20 match against New Zealand in Hamilton.Richard Levi was the man on fire today when he hit 13 sixes and scored 100 in just 45 balls with total of 117 in 51 balls to make the 174 runs target by New Zealand look shorter in T20 game format.NZ made a good score of 173-4 by 47 runs from Guptill but the flying strikes from Levi rarely let the run rate fall below 10 except the 1st over the kiss the victory 4 overs before.
NZ won the first T20 by 6 wickets and the final T20 between the two teams will be on Feb 22 at Auckland.

FA Cup current match news

The exit of another European giant came in FA cup when Arsenal was dumped in the 5th round to leave the Cup race.Sunderland got it 2-0 with the goals from Kieran Richardson(40') and one own goal from Chamberlain to remove Arsenal from the list of next round.
The report of other matches is short-listed below:
Chelsea 1-1 Birmingham
Norwich City 1-2 Leicester City
Everton 2-0 Blackpool
Millwall 0-2 Bolton Wanderers

For further details goto http://www.goal.com/en-gb/#

La Liga current match report

Real Madrid moved 13 points clear off secceeeding Barcelona after they defeated Racing Santander 4-0 in a easy game totally on their sides.Christiano Ronaldo opened the goal account at 6' to give the lead which was followed by Benzema(45+1') in the first half.Second half added two more goals from Di Maria-73' and again Benzema to give the finishing touch at 89'.Real is leading the League with 61 ponts from 23 games followed by Barca with 48 points in 22 games.
The brief of other League games:
Getafe 1-1 Espanyol
Sevilla 2-0 Osasuna
For further details goto http://www.goal.com/en-gb/match/63153/real-madrid-vs-racing-santander/report

Chelsea equalised against Birmingham

Chelsea played a draw in their homeground against Birmingham City at the FA cup.The early goal from David Murphy(20') was equalised finally at 62' with the goal from Daniel Sturridge to finalize the next meeting.However, the host lost a golden opportunity of winning the match after Juan Mata dropped the penalty few moments after Chelsea wqualised.

Aus vs SriLanka VB series

Australia got another blow in the series after they lost dramatically against Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in the CB Series at Sydney.The effort from David Hussey(58) went in vain after the host were all out for just 158 runs their lowest total at the ground since 1997 and 4th lowest total in overall Sydney matches.Sri Lankans took over with Jayawardene-61* and Dilshan-45 by D/L method to get 8 runs vcitory.

England vs Pakistan ODI

  After the series loss against Pakistan, England got a very good start in the ODI series  at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi by getting huge victory of 130 runs.English captain AN Cook was the highlight of the match where he scored 137 runs of 142 balls to get the team to the score of 260.Pakistan inning was trembled from the atack of Finn(4-34) who send the top four batsmen to pavilion, none of them scoring more than 15 runs.The highest run scored by Pakistani batsmen  was 28(Afridi).Pakistan inning crashed at the low score of 130 runs with Patel taking 3 and Swann taking 2 wickets to grant 130 runs victory to England.
      For furhther details to scorecard goto http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-v-england-2012/engine/current/match/531631.html

India-Aus 4th match

Skipper Dhoni guided India to a long awaited victory against Australia when India won the 4th match of Commonwealth  Bank series at Adelaide Oval with 2 balls remaining.Australian debut PJ Forrest played a great match scoring 66 of 83 and helped Aussies reach the score of 269 with DJ Hussey(72) and skipper Clarke(38), however Indian opener and Man of the Match Gambhir gave a great start scoring 92 of 111 balls and Dhoni(44*) holding at the last minute to give victory just before 2 balls and healed the 65 runs loss at Melbourne.
The remaining match fixtures are listed below:
India v Sri Lanka at Adelaide
Feb 14, 2012

Australia v Sri Lanka at Sydney
Feb 17, 2012 

Australia v India at Brisbane

Feb 19, 2012 

India v Sri Lanka at Brisbane
Feb 21, 2012 

Australia v Sri Lanka at Hobart
Feb 24, 2012

News of ManU vs Liverpool match

The two Red rivals met again and had a rebelion match along with the clash and increasing tension between Evra and Swarez,however, ManU pushed back  Liverpool 2-1 with two goals from Wayne Rooney in 47' and 50'.The match started in tension when Swarez refused to shake hand with Evra who was the cause for his 8 match, and continued during all match time.Swarez also striked a goal in 80' and tried to lift up his team points  but it was not plenty enough.
Yesterday also was the big day as there were other watchable matches.Quick watch to other matches is given below:
Everton 2-0 Chelsea.
Sunderland 1-2 Arsenal
Tottenham 5-0 Newcastle United

Osasuna 3-2 Barcelona
For further details logon to http://www.goal.com/en-gb/

Zimbabwe tour of New Zealamd

New Zealand sweeps the series with 202 runs of huge victory in the 3rd and last one-day against Zimbabwe at Napier.The excellent batting from McCullum(119 from 88 balls) and  Guptill(85)  lead the kiwis to a huge score of 370-8 to which only Brendon Taylor(65) was able to hold on but other Zimbabwees gave up and ended at 171.
Details of the series:

Tour Match: New Zealand XI v Zimbabweans at Gisborne - Jan 21-23, 2012

New Zealand XI 272/7d and 274/5; Zimbabweans 329

Match drawn

1st ODI: New Zealand v Zimbabwe at Dunedin - Feb 3, 2012

New Zealand 248 (48.3 ov); Zimbabwe 158 (41.1 ov)

New Zealand won by 90 runs

2nd ODI: New Zealand v Zimbabwe at Whangarei - Feb 6, 2012

New Zealand 372/6 (50 ov); Zimbabwe 231/8 (50 ov)

New Zealand won by 141 runs

3rd ODI: New Zealand v Zimbabwe at Napier - Feb 9, 2012

New Zealand 373/8 (50 ov); Zimbabwe 171 (44 ov)

New Zealand won by 202 runs

1st T20I: New Zealand v Zimbabwe at Auckland - Feb 11, 2012

Match scheduled to begin at 19:00 local time (06:00 GMT)

2nd T20I: New Zealand v Zimbabwe at Hamilton - Feb 14, 2012

Match scheduled to begin at 19:00 local time (06:00 GMT)

For more details goto http://www.espncricinfo.com/new-zealand-v-zimbabwe-2012/engine/series/520581.html

Barcelona reaches the final

The Spanish giant is going to contest the Copa del Rey final after defeating Valencia 2-0 in Camp Nou yesterday with the goals from Fabregas(16') and Xavi(81').Barca secured the aggregate win of 3-1 to finalize the meet with Athletic Bilbao who defeated CD Mirandes 6-2.

Pakistan white washes England

Pakistan secures the whitewash against England in a 3 test match series after beating England by71 runs in 4th day of 3rd test in Dubai.
Even after dismissing Pakistan for 99 in their first innings, England could not pick it up and the current leading team in the Test rank was dominated by sunny disposition of Saeed Ajmal, the Man of the Series, and the stiff-limbed tenacity of Abdur Rehmanwho shared 43 wickets between them in the series.

Liverpool missing chances for Champions League

Liverpool is  losing hopes for Champions League qualification when they played a draw against the 3rd placed Tottenham at Anfield.Luis Suarez made his return to the Reds' team as a second-half substitute and perhaps wasted the best chance of the match, nodding at Brad Friedel from a matter of yards while Gareth Bale shot straight at Pepe Reina when through on goal late on.Tottenham, being 7 ponits behind the leaders, is looking their title chances grow with a hard-fought point.

ManU vs Chelsea draw

The sensational match of Premie Leaugue finished yesterday with a draw in the Stamford Bridge when Man U had a excellent comeback against the hosts Chelsea.The home side was secured with 3 goals lead from Jonny Evans(OG  36'), Juan Mata(46') and David Luiz(50') but Man U came back with 2 PG from Rooney((58'  69') and the draw goal from Chicharito(84').However, with the draw ManU are held 2 points back of ManC who is leading with 57 points.

Arsenal wins with hat-trick from van Persie

Arsenal striked  7 goals blow against Blackburn in the Premier League match in the Emirates Stadium.The goals included hat-trick from Robin van Persie(2', 38' and 68'), to move to 5th position with 40 ponits in 24 games.Rest of the goals came from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlaine(40'and 54'), Mikel Arteta(51') and Henry(90+3').

India victory over Aus

Finally India ends the 16-game away drought and gets a remarkable win against Australia in the 2nd T20 match and draws the 2 match series 1-1.Gautam Gambhir's unbeaten fifty(56*) guided India to an eight-wicket win in Melbourne when India 135-2 defeated Aussies 131.

T20 match India-Aus

India is moving on with its continous losses with Aus as it lost the first T20 match by 31 runs.Watched by a crowd of 59,659, the largest ever for a cricket match in Sydney, Australia's new T20 captain George Bailey enjoyed the winner's plaudits in his first match by the aid of punishing 72 from Matthew Wade and telling cameos with bat and ball from David Hussey(42 runs and 2 for 4 from 2 overs).Australia 171-4 beats India 140-6 and leads the two match series 1-0.