Cricket Blog

India complete a comprehensive series win by taking an unassailable 4-0 lead. The team led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni are looking like the team to beat in all forms of international cricket. The match was a reduced over match with each side facing 22 overs. In hindsight, the umpires should just have made it a Twenty20 match.

England were today undone by Virender Sehwag with the bat and Zaheer Khan with the bowl. Ishant and Munaf bowled terrific as well. Although the partnership between Owais Shah and Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff almost took the match away.

Virender Sehwag was given man of the match award for his stand and deliver stuff. He mentioned that his previous IPL match of 40 odd from 17 balls gave him the confidence to go after Flintoff and co.

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A one man show can only be done by a legend such as Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who was at his deadliest best in yesterday’s day-night match. His performance won the series for India and despite missing out on YET another century, the end result would have been far more satisfying. India finally managed to beat Pakistan in a home ODI series. With another game to go, India can well afford to rest some seniors and get their younger generation a chance to display their skills.

For most part of his 18 year career Sachin has been regarded as the best batsman in the world, ever. Yesterday he showed that age is no bar when it comes to playing at the big stage. For the most capped player in ODI history, Sachin also defies critics on a regular basis. Most of 2007 has been spent in speculation on whether the time has come for the Big 3 to retire. I don’t know about the other two, but this man should be left alone. Yet again he has silenced his critics as he let the bat do all the talking. And his bat did not just talk, it screamed.

Winning the toss, Shoaib Malik decided to bat first knowing fully well that the dew would play an important factor in the second innings. RP Singh gave his team the perfect start by getting rid of Salman Butt for a duck and Pakistan never recovered from the 2nd ball of the innings. The powerplays were wasted as only 79 runs were scored in the first 20 for the loss of 2 wickets. RP, Pathan and Zaheer were bang on target and barring the odd boundary kept things nice and tight.

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South Africa won the fourth match by 7 wickets to level the series 2-2. Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Pakistan never got going with Afridi failing yet again at the top of the order. He went back without scoring. A fighting 82 from Younis Khan and decent contributions from Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Abdur Rehman ensured that Pakistan managed to reach a decent total.

South Africa, however, were clinical in their run chase. Graeme Smith ensured that South Africa got off to a good start and then he had a match-winning partnership with Shaun Pollock who was also very good with the ball earlier on. Both the batsmen made sure that the required run rate would not get out of control and actually ended the match with South Africa scoring at over a run a ball. The series now heads on to Lahore for the fifth and final match which is also going to be the decider in this closely fought series.

Click here for the full scorecard

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It has been a long long wait. Almost 4 years. Over 11 matches. But finally India have done it. The T20 World Champions have beaten the ODI World Champions by 8 runs in a nail-biter, reminiscent of their semi-final clash in the Twenty20 World Cup. India needed to win this match and the series has now come alive. After a complete domination in the first 3 matches (the first one was washed out), Australia finally were challenged and they succumbed. It goes to show that any team can be defeated if the right pressure is applied.

India one the toss and MS had no hesitation in batting first. In the previous couple of matches the Aussies had made first use of the pitch. Dhoni ensured that this time his batsmen would get the first opportunity to bat. India had the tried and tested opening pair of Tendulkar and Ganguly to start proceedings. After the recent statement by Dilip Vengsarkar, the two had to get some runs and get India a good opening start. They did that by putting on 92 for the first wicket in 19 overs before Ganguly was the first to depart on 41 from 56 balls.

Yuvraj got a promotion and came in at number 3. Along with Tendulkar, he put on another decent partnership as the Indians got to 174 before Yuvraj hit one to Ponting. He had made 39 and was just looking to cut loose. Dhoni was the next man in, but the foundation had been laid. India had another 15 overs to go and 8 wickets in hand with Tendulkar still at the crease. He had yet to come out all guns blazing and as luck would have it, he got himself run out on 79. He had faced 119 balls giving him a strike rate of 66.38 runs per 100 balls. India were now 221-3 from 41.5 overs and it really surprised me to see Rahul Dravid come in at this stage. He did not last long and his shocking series continued as he fell on unlucky 13.

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To buy tickets for the matches, you should have a look at TicketPro.in and Globalticketservice.com

Also try WorldTicketShop.com for purchasing match tickets.

Click here to watch India vs Pakistan for free

Update: Click here for a list of the umpires

More tickets information at the end of the article.

Fri 2/11 - Tour Match
09:00 local, 03:30 GMT TBC v Pakistan
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Tue 6/11
09:00 local, 03:30 GMT 1st ODI - India v Pakistan
Nehru Stadium, Guwahati

Fri 9/11 Floodlit Match
14:30 local, 09:00 GMT 2nd ODI - India v Pakistan
Punjab C.A. Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh

Sun 11/11
09:00 local, 03:30 GMT 3rd ODI - India v Pakistan
Green Park, Kanpur

Thu 15/11 Floodlit Match
14:30 local, 09:00 GMT 4th ODI - India v Pakistan
Captain Roop Singh Stadium, Gwalior

Sun 18/11 Floodlit Match
14:30 local, 09:00 GMT 5th ODI - India v Pakistan
Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

Thu 22/11 - Mon 26/11
09:30 local, 04:00 GMT 1st Test - India v Pakistan
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Fri 30/11 - Tue 4/12
09:30 local, 04:00 GMT 2nd Test - India v Pakistan
Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Sat 8/12 - Wed 12/12
09:30 local, 04:00 GMT 3rd Test - India v Pakistan
M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Update - 30/10/07

The sale of tickets for the second ODI cricket match between India and Pakistan here on November 8 would commence on November 1, the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) said here on Monday.

The tickets have been priced in four denominations of Rs 300 for General Block, Rs 1,000 for the VIP Block, Rs 5,000 for thtickets have been priced in four denominations of Rs 300 for General Block, Rs 1,000 for the VIP Block, Rs 5,000 for the Terrace Block and Rs 10,000 for the air-conditioned lounge, PCA Treasurer G S Walia said in a statement.

The sale of tickets would be done through different branches of HDFC Bank while the high denomination tickets of Rs 1,000 and above would also be sold at the special counters to be set up at the stadium.

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