ICC Champions Trophy 2009

ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY 2009

Hi guys, its time to discuss about champions trophy. In this post, am gonna give my views about each team and interesting facts about the players and i have planned to write review of each match. Join with me and comment on my views, let us share our thoughts about this tournament

Why Champions Trophy Steal more ATTENTION?
In this tournament, top eight teams are participating, so obviously there is no doubt for thrill, entertainment and good CRICKET. Lets have a quick look on teams, that are ready to grasp this beautiful Trophy.

Australia is the defending champion. Pakistan and England never won Champions Trophy.

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CT 2009 NEWS:
* Yuvraj ruled out of champions trophy, fractures his finger during practice session. Virat Kohli will replace him.
* Australian Pacer Nathan Bracken ruled out of mini WC due to knee injury.
* Younis Khan fit to play in second match of their tie against India on Sept 26th.
* Jessie Ryder Ruled out of Champions Trophy after he pulled his left abductor muscle. He also fined 15% of his match fee for abuse of cricket equipment, he broke chair in dressing room by his bat following his dismissal.
* Sri Lankan team fined 5% of match fee for slow over rate against New Zealand which they lost by 38 runs, Sangakkara fined 10% of match fee. England team and the captain too fined for slow over rate.
* ENGLAND became the first country to move to semi-final. The host South-Africa out of competition.
* D Tuffey out of CT due to broken hand. The key players injuries hurt New Zeland team who tries to get a place in semi final berth
* As IND-AUS match washed out due to rain, PAKISTAN now get a place in semi final berth from Group A.

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STANDINGS (Preliminary Rounds):

Team	P	W	L	T	NR	PTS	NRR
Group A
Australia	3	2			1	5	+0.510
Pakistan	3	2	1			4	-1.080
India	3	1	1		1	3	+0.999
West Indies	2		2				-1.501
Group B
New Zealand	3	2	1			4	+0.782
England	3	2	1			4	-0.487
Sri Lanka	3	1	2			2	-0.085
South Africa	3	1	2			2	-0.177

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SCHEDULES:

#	Date	Match	Venue	Time
Group Matches:
1	Tue 22 Sept	SA v SL- SL won by 55 runs	Centurion	18:00 IST (D/N)
2	Wed 23 Sept	PAK vs WI- Pak won by 5 wickets	The Wanderers	18:00 IST (D/N)
3	Thu 24 Sept	SA vs NZ SA won by 5 wickets	Centurion	13:00 IST (D)
4	Fri 25 Sept	SL vs ENG Eng won by 6 wicket	The Wanderers	18:00 IST (D/N)
5	Sat 26 Sept	WI vs AUS Aus won by 50 runs	The Wanderers	13.00 IST (D)
6	Sat 26 Sept	IND vs PAK Pak won by 54 runs	Centurion	18:00 IST (D/N)
7	Sun 27 Sept	NZ vs SL Nz won by38 runs	The Wanderers	13:00 IST (D)
8	Sun 27 Sept	SA vs ENG Eng won by 22 runs	Centurion	18:00 IST (D/N)
9	Mon 28 Sept	AUS vs IND Match Abandoned due to rain	Centurion	18:00 IST (D/N)
10	Tue 29 Sept	ENG vs NZ NZ won by 4 wickets	The Wanderers	18:00 IST (D/N)
11	Wed 30 Sept	AUS vs PAK Aus won by 2 wickets	Centurion	13:00 IST (D)
12	Wed 30 Sept	IND vs WI Ind won by 7 wickets	The Wanderers	18:00 IST (D/N)
Semi-Finals:
13	Fri 2 Oct	AUS vs ENG Aus won by 9 wickets	Centurion	18:00 IST (D/N)
14	Sat 3 Oct	PAK vs NZ NZ won by 5 wickets	The Wanderers	18:00 IST (D/N)
Finals:
15	Mon 5 Oct	AUS vs NZ Aus won by 6 wickets	Centurion	18:00 IST (D/N)

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RESULTS

Match 1: Group B:South Africa v Sri Lanka at Centurion - Sep 22, 2009

Sri Lanka won by 55 runs (D/L method)

Sri Lanka 319/8 (50 overs)- T Dilshan 106, M Jayawardene 77, K Sangakkara 54; D Steyn 3/47, W Parnell 3/79.
South Africa 206/7 (37.4/37.4 overs)- G Smith 58, J Kallis 41; A Mendis 3/30.

Summary:

The host won the toss and decided to field first. SL captain was happy with the decision since they can pile up runs at these kind of pitch and can control SA chase. SA playing after a long interval since T-20 World Cup. South Africa opted to go wit 2 spinners. Steyn gave early breakthrough by picking Jayasuirya wicket. Then Dilshan and Sangakkara played steadily and had a 2nd wicket partnership of 158 runs. Sangakkara after reaching his fifty fell to Duminey.Dishan continued his excellent form and scored 106 from 92 balls. Steyn managed to take his wicket. Jayawardene and Samareweera then added 116 runs. Finally Sri Lanka set a target of 320 to the host South Africa.
Sa started their chase badly. They lost Amla in 2nd over but Smith and Kallis build up a 2nd wicket partnership of 81 runs. When Smith was in good touch, Mendis was called to bowl. Mendis striked in his first delivery, picked the wicket of Smith. Smith was puzzled by his carrom ball delivery. Mendis, then picked 2 consecutive wickets of Kallis(41) and Duminny(0). SA was in trouble as Boucher and AB Devilliers got out soon. When SA were at 206 for 7 in 37th over, Rain stopped the game and Sri Lanka won by D/L method.
By this defeat, SA lost their first position and India regained No 1 spot.

Man of the Match: T Dilshan(SL)

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Match 2: Group A: Pakistan v West Indies at Johannesburg - Sep 23, 2009

Pakistan won by 5 wickets (with 117 balls remaining)

West Indies 133 (34.3 ov) N Miller 51; M Aamer 3/24, U Gul 3/28.
Pakistan 134/5 (30.3 ov) U Akmal 41*; G Tonge 4/25.

Summary:

West Indies won toss and elected to bat first. Right from the start, Windies batsmen struggled to Pakistan pace bowlers. They lost wickets at quick intervals. In low order, Miller played better and added 51 runs to Windies total of 133 runs. Miller along wit Sammy had a partnership of 38runs for 8th wicket and it is record partnership for west indies in ICC Champions Trophy. Pakistan had to chase a low score but they stumbled to Tonge bowling. He picked 4 wickets and gave trouble to Pakistan batsmen. At one stage Pakistan were 76 for 5, later Umar Akmal played a steady knock along wit stand-in captain Afridi and scored 41*, thus sealed victory for his team in low scoring game.

Man Of the Match: U Akmal(PAK)

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Match 3: Group B:South Africa v New Zealand at Centurion - Sept 24, 2009

South Africa won by 5 wickets (with 53 balls remaining)

New Zealand 214(47.5 overs) - R Taylor 72, B McCullum 44; W Parnell 5/57.
South Africa 217/5 (41.1 overs) - AB DeVillers 70*; D Tuffey 2/52.

Summary:

South Africa won toss and chose to bat. It is a must win game for south africa to stay in competition. Good play by Taylor and McCullum fetched New Zealand score of 214. Taylor made a slow and steady knock of 72. Parnell picked wickets at regular intervals and stopped the partnership at important time. Steyn bowled well and maintained good economy, he got 2 wickets. Merwe fielded so good, he took a spectacular catch to send Ryder back to pavilion and he also got 2 wickets. Elliot too played well and managed to make 39.
South Africa lost their captain cheaply. Kallis put SA ahead with his sensible playing, followed by DeVilliers superb innings who made it comfortable win for SA. He never hurried, played singles and two's and guided his team to vicotry. South Africa chase to victory was guided by AB Devillers with bat and Merwe, Parnell bowling.

Man Of The Match: W Parnell(SA)

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Match 4:Group B:England v Sri Lanka at Johannesburg - Sept 25, 2009

England won by 6 wickets (with 30 balls remaining

Sri Lanka 212 (47.3 ov) - S Kandamby 53, A Mathews 52; J Anderson 3/20, S Broad 3/49.
England 213/4 (45 ov)- E Morgan 62*, P Collingwood 46; K Kulasekara 2/42.
Summary:
Hi guys... England won the toss and surprisingly elected to field first though its a batting pitch. Many more surprises were waiting for cricket fans. Everyone thought England could not withstand with the mighty sri lanka. But England bowlers played sensible and took some early wickets which made England to control sri lanka. Samaraveera and mathews did a great job to make srilanka to reach two hundred total. Even-though england bowlers manage to take some quick wickets they fail to continue it and fail to control bowling too many wides.
England starts the innings with great hope, that they can chase it. but openors couldnt make a good start for England. Oops! England fans would be in disappointment since their players cannot withstand in fast bowlers, then how come they gonna face spinners. But collingwood played a fantastic innings and he overcome the pressure on england and knocked the ball all over the ground, which made sri lanka under pressure. Shah helped him without losing his wicket but his strike rate was not good. After collingwood dismissal, morgan and shah played a sensible innings and confirmed their team victory. Few more suprises, england didnt lose their wicket to mendis, won the match.

MAN OF THE MATCH :P Collingwood(ENG)

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Match 5:Group A: Australia v West Indies at Johannesburg - Sep 26, 2009

Australia won by 50 runs

Australia 275/8 (50 overs)- R Ponting 79, M Johnson 73*;N Miller 2/24, D Bernard 2/63.
West Indies 225 (46.5 overs)- T Dowlin 55, A Fletcher 54; N Hauritz 2/24, Watson 2/34.
Summary:
West Indies elected to field against mighty Aussies. West Indies gave lot of trouble to Australia though it seems a easy 50 runs victory. Aussies would have thought they could win comfortably but West Indies ruined all those thoughts by their performance. Watson was duck out in the first ball of the innings. Paine and Ponting had a 85 run second wicket stand. Ponting was stumped out for 79, Miller bowled brilliantly and he bagged 2 wickets in his 10 overs without conceding a boundary. Australia were 150 for 4 at 31 overs. The others batsmen too got out quickly. The 70 run stand between Johnson and Lee and Johnson quick fire 73* made aussies to set a target of 278 to west indies.
West Indies chase was guided by Fletcher and Dowlin. They played fantastically and australian bowlers struggled to find their rhythm. A poor running by Fletcher, fetched his wicket and West indies looked to fall down after Dowlin wicket. Other players like Sammy and Reifer tried their best, but they cant sustain for long and west indies were all out for 225. Finally Australia survived a scare.

MAN OF THE MATCH: M JOHNSON(AUS)

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Match 6:Group A: India v Pakistan at Centurion - Sep 26, 2009

Pakistan won by 54 runs

Pakistan 302/9 (50 overs)- S Malik 128, M Yousuf 87; A Nehra 4/55.
India 248 (44.5 overs)- R Dravid 76, G Gambir 57; S Afridi 2/39, S Ajmal 2/31.

Summary:
This was the most expected match in Champions Trophy. The rival between India and Pakistan in cricket is always interesting one. Pakistan had beaten India only once in ICC major Event matches.
Pakistan had won the toss and never hesitated to chose batting. The Indian bowling and fielding had failed and was too poor. Malik and Yousuf played firmly and scored 128 and 87 respectively. Nehra alone looked better in Indian bowling department. Harbhajan's worst ever bowling was in this match , he gave 79 runs in his ten over. Indian Fielding was also worst and Dhoni cant make a right fielding placement. Pakistan batsmen played very well to set a target of 303.
India's chase started with a shock of Sachin early exit. Gambir played a very valuable knock and maintained the run rate not to go up. In meantime, Pakistan seamers didnt bowled their best and gave many no balls and free hit to india. The turning point in Indian chase was Gambir run out, a little eagerness from Gambir to face the strike and little hesitation and laziness cost his wicket. Replays showed a dive might have saved his wicket. Dravid played a steady sensible knock and rotated the strike. Later, after fall of Kohli and Dhoni, Raina fired up and he scored a quick 46. His wicket is another Turning point of Indian chase as his wicket raised some doubts over the umpire decision of LBW. Still they believed India can chase it as India required 98 from 15 overs. But Yusuf Pathan failed and its all in hands of Dravid after that. He kept the chase alive through out. The last and final turning point of the Indian chase was Dravid run out. Harbhajan at first called for third run, but Dravid was not so eager, then dravid thought can get third and called harbhajan but bhaji stopped him and sent back and good throw by Gul to keeper cost his wicket. After his wicket, Indians lost quickly. Afridi and Ajmal bowled well and conceded less runs.

MAN OF THE MATCH: S MALIK(PAK)

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Match 7:Group B: New Zealand v Sri Lanka at Johannesburg - Sep 27, 2009

New Zealand won by 38 runs

New Zealand 315/7 (50 overs)- J Ryder 74, M Guptill 66; S Jayasuriya 3/39.
Sri Lanka 277 (46.4 overs)- N Kulasekara 57*, T Dilshan 41; K Mills 3/69.
MAN OF THE MATCH: D VETTORI(NZ)
Summary:

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Match 8:Group B: South Africa v England at Centurion - Sep 27, 2009

England won by 22 runs

England 323/8 (50 overs) - O Shah 98, P Collingwood 83, E Morgan67' W Parnell 3/60.
South Africa 301/9 (50 overs)- G Smith 141; J Anderson 3/42, S Broad 3/67.
MAN OF THE MATCH: O SHAH(ENG)

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Match 9:Group A:Australia v India at Centurion - Sep 28, 2009

NO RESULT- Match Abandoned due to rain.

Australia 234/4 (42.3 overs)- M Hussey 67, R Ponting 65, T Paine 55; A Nehra 1/48.

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Match 10:Group B:England v New Zealand at Johannesburg - Sep 29, 2009

New Zealand won by 4 wickets (with 137 balls remaining)

England 146 (43.1 overs)- P Collingwood 40, R Bopara 30; G Elliot 4/31, S Bond 3/21.
New Zealand 147/6 (27.1 overs)- M Guptill 53, B McCullum 48; S Broad 4/39.
MAN OF THE MATCH: G ELLIOT(NZ)

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Match 11:Group A:Australia v Pakistan at Centurion - Sep 30, 2009

Australia won by 2 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)

Pakistan 205/6 (50 overs)- M Yousuf 45, K Akmal 44; S Watson 2/32, M Johnson 2/45.
Australia 206/8 (50 overs)- M Hussey 64, R Ponting 32; S Ajaml 2/31, M Asif 2/34.

MAN OF THE MATCH:M HUSSEY(AUS)

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Match 12:Group A: India v West Indies at Johannesburg - Sep 30, 2009

India won by 7 wickets (with 107 balls remaining)

West Indies 129 (36 overs)-D Sammy23, D Bernard 22; P Kumar 3/22, A Nehra 3/31.
India 130/3 (32.1 overs)- V Kohli 39, D Karthik 34; G Tonge 2/36.

MAN OF THE MATCH: V KOHLI(IND)

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1st Semi-Final: Australia v England at Centurion - Oct 2, 2009

New Zealand won by 5 wickets

Eng 257/10(47.4 overs)- T Bresnan 80, L Wright 48; P Siddle 3/55, S Watson 2/35.
Aus 258 for 1(41.5overs) S Watson 136*, R Ponting 111*; G Onions 1/47.

MAN OF THE MATCH: S WATSON(AUS)

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2nd Semi-Final: New Zealand v Pakistan at Johannesburg - Oct 3, 2009

New Zealand won by 5 wickets (with 13 balls remaining)

Pak 233/9(50 overs)- U Akmal 55; I Butler 4/44, D Vettori 3/43
NZ 234/5(50 overs) - G Elliot 75, D Vettori 41; S Ajmal 2/39

MAN OF THE MATCH: D VETTORI(NZ)

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FINAL: Australia Vs New Zealand at Centurion- Oct 5, 2009

Australia won by 6 wickets(with 28 balls remaining)

Nz 200/9(50 overs)- M Guptil 40, NT Broom 37; N Haurtis 3/37, B Lee 2/45.
Aus 206/4( 45.2 overs) - S Watson 105* , C White 62; K Mills 3/27.

Summary:
New Zealand team suffered a big blow even before the start of the match, their captain Vettori got hamstring injury, that made him to sit out of the big final. New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat first. Stand-in captain McCullum faced 16 balls and cant score a run and got duck out in Siddle over. Other batsmen to struggled to get runs. They played slowly and played only bad balls and scored runs slowly. Guptil managed to score 40, other players like Taylor, Elliot failed. Broom and franklin stood for 65 runs partnership. Tail enders to played some handy knock to make NZ to set a target of 201 runs to mighty Australians.
Australia started to their batting slowly, knowing its tough to bat during chase and New zealand bowlers too bowled well getting Paine and Ponting cheaply. Watson,at first played too slowly, leaving the good balls and hitting bad balls. The turning point of the match was White was dropped by McCullum, he had to run long way but cant hold the catch. At that time Australia was struggling to score runs. As match progresses, Watson and White started to score runs quickly and thus maintaining the run rate well. The 3rd wicket partnership between Watson and white scored 138 runs.
Watson made second consecutive 100, thus held Australia in strong position to win the final. He was also named man of the match. Australia is successfully defended their title and it is the only team to win Champions Trophy in a row.
Australia is now Champion of Champions.

MAN OF THE MATCH: S WATSON(AUS)

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PLAYER OF THE SERIES: RICKY PONTING(AUS)

BATSMEN OF THE SERIES: RICKY PONTING(AUS) -288 runs from 5 matches

BOWLER OF THE SERIES: WAYNE PARNELL(SA) -11 wickets from 3 matches

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AUSTRALIAN TEAM CELEBRATIONS

Ricky with Champions Trophy and Player of series award

Roger Federer -16 GrandSlam (Pictures)

FEDERER's 16 GRAND SLAM

1. Wimbledon 2003 - So Special Moment
It was the day that Roger Federer and his fans wont ever forget. The day he proved his skills and made the world turn towards him. He won his First Grandslam by defeating Mark Philippoussis 7-6 6-2 7-6 in finals. He also defeated Andy Roddick in semi finals.
At the end of year 2003, he ranked World No 2.

His First Major Title. So Special

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2004 is the Succesful Year in Roger calender. He won 3 Grandslams, 3 ATP Master Series title and won all the finals he reached.

2. Australian Open 2004 - First Australian Open
He defeated Marat Safin in straight set to lift his first Australian Open title. By this Win he became No 1 Player in ATP ranking which he had held for record 4 yrs.

Defeated Marat Safin by 7-6 6-4 6-2 to became Champion of Australian Open

3. Wimbledon 2004
Second Consecutive Wimbledon title where he beat Andy Roddick.

Won by 4-6 7-5 7-6 6-4 against Roddick

4. First US Open- 2004
Claimed his First US Open title by defeating Lleyton Hewitt.

First triumph in New York by defeating Hewitt 6-0 7-6 6-0

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In 2005 he hired Tony Roche as his coach on limited basis. He, then became first player to successfully defend Wimbledon and US Open back to back in Open era

5. Wimbledon 2005
He successfully defended his title by defeating Andy Roddick again.

Second consecutive time defeated Roddick In Final Of Wimbledon by 6-2 7-6 6-4

6. US Open 2005
Andre Agassi was Opponent this time.

Won by score of 6-3 2-6 7-6 6-1

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In the year 2006, Federer won 3 out of 4 Grandslam for second time. He reached final of the French Open for the first time where he lost to Rafael Nadal.

7. Australian Open 2006
Won his second Australian Open title by defeating Marcos Baghdatis in four sets.

Won by 5-7 7-5 6-0 6-2, and shed tears of joy at the victory ceremony when he received the trophy from Rod Laver

8. Wimbledon 2006:
He entered the final without losing a set. In final he lost first against Nadal, then he rallied to win the match in four sets.

Nadal by 6-0 7-6 6-7 6-3, conquered his fourth Wimbledon title

9. US Open 2006
He won his third consecutive Us Open title at Flushing Meadows by defeating Andy Roddick.

In the fourth Grand Slam final against Andy Roddick, Won by 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-1

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In 2007, He appeared in finals of all four grandslams but cant win French open alone.

10. Australian Open 2007:
His third Australian Trophy and Tenth Grandslam. Defeated Fernando Gonzalez.

Won by 7-6 6-4 6-4 against Gonzalez

11. Wimbledon 2007
His 5th Wimbledon Title,defeated Nadal in 5 sets.

Federer Triumphs after a long battle with Nadal and won by 7-6 4-6 7-6 2-6 6-2

12. US Open 2007:
He won his 12th title defeating Novak Djokovic.

Won by 7-6 7-6 6-4 Over Novak Djokovic

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The year 2008 in Roger Federer career mostly seen many failures. He moved to final round in 3 grandslams but won only one and lost in 2 finals to Nadal.He was so deeply upset by losing Wimbledon than losing No 1 ranking.

13. US Open 2008
Defeated Andy Murray by 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.

His one and only Grandslam Trophy in 2008

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Though the year 2009 started with defeat in Australian Open Final, Federer Cruised to Win his First French Open Title to complete Career Grand Slam. He also recaptured Wimbledon. He married his girl friend Mirka and he became father of twin girls.

14. First French Open
Happy moment to complete Grand Slam by winning all four Grandslam.
He beat R Soderling in finals by 6-1 7-6 6-4.

He also tied with Pete Sampras for 14 most grandslam titles.

15. Wimbledon 2009
Re-claimed Wimbledon title by defeating Andy Roddick in 5 sets by score of 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14 and registered his 15th Grandslam title by this Epic Win.

Both Played like Champions

Became First Player in History to win record 15th Grandslam title, thus surpassing Sampras Record.

Roger Federer and Mirka with their twin girls

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16. Australian Open 2010
Roger Federer started the year 2010 by winning his 16th Grandslam and fourth OZ open title. He beat Andy Murray by 6-4 6-3 7-6(11)
His first grandslam title after birth of his twin girls.

Sweet 16 for FedEx

Compaq Cup - Tri Series (India, Sri Lanka, NewZealand

COMPAQ CUP

Hi guys, I planned to write review on upcoming triseries in srilanka. Between SriLanka, India and New zealand.

Here is my view on this series, after many months india going to play a tri series.

Teams:

• India
• Sri lanka
• NewZealand

Three teams were equally talented and all the teams were in good form too. So ultimately the team which going to commit less number of mistakes gonna win this series. this series doesnot have many matches only 4 match going to held. In that, 3 matches is for qualifying match to finals and a final match.

I think, this series will be a warm up match for three teams before they face champhions trophy which gonna held later in this month.

Key players and Expecting star players who gonna shine in this series:

India:

India is in full form under Dhoni's captaincy. Dhoni boys is fresh now as they were taking rest for few weeks. So they are fresh and will be eager to show their full talent in this series.

• Sachin who missed West Indies tour due to injury in his finger, is now back in this series. As he is master blaster and took enough rest, you can expect better cricket from him.
• Dravid is once again back to ODI team , after he dropped in 2007. Due to the extra ordinary performance in IPL. He got chance to play in ODI. And he scored two half century in recent local matches with good strike rate. So its a chance for him to prove himself in international level. Hope he wont miss this chance.
• Yuvraj Singh is a key player in all aspects, who can change the game for India. He hit century in last West Indies tour and scored runs with good strike rate in local match. Middle order depends on his performance and he will be main player to boost the run rate.
  
• Harbhajan singh is experience bowler in Indian side, since New Zealand is weak in playing against spin bowling. He is key player for India.

Plus:

Batting track of India is very strong. Sehwag absence will be drawback for india, but aggressive young players were in squad to compensate him. Sachin will open the innings and he will give good start. Yuvaraj, Dhoni , Yusuf are there to boost the run rate and to build strong partnership in middle order by their power pack performance. Last but not least, if openers and first down failed to score runs and scrumbled, Wall is there to hold India. Now a days Dravid is playing with good strike rate, so am expecting good cricket from him.

Minus:

Main drawback for India is their bowling side. There is no key wicket takers.

Gambir out of the tri series due to injury, just before a day to match. So Indians miss a full time opener.

Finally if they play with over confidence, mostly india will lose the match because of over confidence eventhough they are well talented.

Many game breakers are there and have a strong batting line up. Since they have poor bowling side, India should make sure that they should cross 280 if they batting first or should contain opposition team under a total of 260-280.

Trump player : Yuvraj Singh.

Sri Lanka:

Sri lankan were in super form, they reached final in T20 world cup and won the test match in recent time against New zealand. Most of the players in good form. And the main advantage is they going to play in home ground.

• Dilshan, he is the key player of Sri Lanka. In recent matches he is the run generator for Srilanka at great strike rate. And he is in terrible form now.
• Jayasurya, h is not in good form but you cant guess when he will get his form. Once he start to hit runs, opponent team will be in trouble. If he miss to score runs, he will frighten the opponent by his bowling and in field you cant guess that he 40 years old man. so have a eye on him.
• Sangakkara, who is captain and also aggressive batsman for lankan, have talent to adopt any style of batting according to the situation.
• Mathews, who will take care of middle and lower order with his aggressive batting performance and will manage to score runs. He is becoming good all-rounder and picks up as wickets at right time.
  
• Murali and Mendis will frightened the opponent with their fabulous bowling performance.

Plus:

Dilshan is plus for their batting line up. Their main plus point is their bowling side. They have world class bowlers. They can scrumble opponent team for cheap runs. And they have good batting line up too. Samaraweera is in good form, he is the leading run scorer for this year in test cricket. Malinga will be waiting to frightened the batsmen with his fast and accurate yorker bowling.

Minus:

There is lack of consistency in batting line up, few batsman's were failed to show consistent performance in their last series. Only few of them is very good in fielding side like Dilshan and Jayasurya. So Sri Lanka have to develop their fielding side.

Sri lanka should make sure that opponent team should not score more runs by their world class bowlers. If there were to bat first Dilshan, Jayasurya, Jayawardene and Sangakkara should make sure not to lose the wicket for cheap runs.

Trump Player : Dilshan

New Zealand:

New zealand team is full of young players, you cant guess they will perform good or bad. Its a typical team. They are good in ODI and T20 games when compared to Test cricket. Recently they won two T20 games against Sri Lanka that held few days ago. So they will try to maintain that form through out the series.

• McCullum Brothers were in good form, both of them were frightening opponent team.Its not good for opponent teams to make them stand in crease for long time.
• Vettori, he is the key player for Newzealand with his remarkable and world class spin bowling and with his sensible batting.
• Taylor, dangerous man. Opponent team bowlers should be sure not to bowl on leg side for him.
• Jessie Ryder, he shine in all aspects like bowling, fielding and batting. But the main drawback with him is he wont perform with consistence.
• Guptil, mostly will play good but fails to score fifties or hundred. He will be steady until he reach 40's after that dont know what will happen to him, soon he will lose his wicket.

Plus:

Team is build with young aggressive players and good bowling line up. Vettori is the main bowler, he can bowl at any situation and will restrict the opponent players to score runs. Have good fielding set up too.

Minus:

Even though young players are plus point, due to lack of experience it result in minus point for New Zealand. Have good batsman but not consistence, most of the players fails to score fifties or century and lack of partnership were the main drawback for New zealand. Have less game breakers when compared to other two teams.

If New zealand is capable of building strong partnership, and they work on consistency then it will be trouble for opponent team.

Trump player: When you take New zealand, its tough to select key player. since its hard to guess him. I have two trump player for this team one is Taylor and another is Vettori.

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RESULTS

Match 1: Sri Lanka v New Zealand at Colombo (RPS) - Sep 8, 2009

Sri Lanka won by 97 runs

Sri Lanka 216/7 (50 overs):T Samaraweera 104, A Mathews 54; S Bond 3/43,I Butler 2/55.
New Zealand 119 (36.1 overs):GD Elliot 41; SL Malinga 4/28, N Kulasekara 2/18.

Summary:
Srilanka won toss in the first match of the series and elected to bat first. The openers failed to score runs and fell quickly. Bond and Tuffey gave early breakthrough in the match. Others Bowlers too bowled with that momentum. They lost 5 wickets for just 69 runs. Samaraweera stood up strongly and had a partnership of 127 runs with Mathews. Mathews was then bowled by Bond when he was on 51. Samaraweera after reaching making 100, fell quickly to Butler. SriLanka set a target of 217 for Kiwis. Though Sri Lankan batsmen failed, except Samaraweera and Mathews, the bowlers done a great job to pick newzealnd wickets as early as possible. They lost 3 wickets for just 7 runs. The batting failed miserably to Sri Lankan Bowlers quickies. N McCullum who made his Odi debut, failed to impress, he was duck out. Malinga got 4 wickets and shined in Srilankan victory. Samaraweera given Man of match for his wonderful knock of 104.

Man of the Match: T Samaraweera (SL)

Match 2: India v New Zealand at Colombo (RPS)- Sep 11, 2009

India won by 6 wickets (with 57 balls remaining)

New Zealand 155 (46.3 overs) : D Vettori 25, J Oram 24; A Nehra 3/24, I Sharma 2/26.
India 156/4 (40.3 overs) : S Tendulkar 46, S Raina 45*; D Vettori 2/33.

Summary:

Its do or die match for New Zealand to stay in competition. But New Zealand batting fell down cheaply with Indian Bowlers good line and length. Though it was tough to chase in Sri Lankan field during night time, Indian batsmen did a fair job. Daniel Vettori was bowling very well and indian batsmen played sensibly to register their their first win in the series. With this defeat, New Zealand were out of the series and India, Sri lanka will compete in finals. India Moved to No 1 spot in Odi ranking.

Man Of the Match: A Nehra (IND)

Match 3: India Vs Sri Lanka at Colombo (RPS)- Sep 12,2009

Sri Lanka won by 139 runs

Sri Lanka 307/6 (50 overs): S Jayasuriya 98, Kandamby 91*; Harbhajan 1/37.
India 168 (37.2 overs): R Dravid 47; A Mathews 6/20.

Summary:

Indian Bowlers struggled to get their form and Sri Lankan batsmen, especially Jayasuriya was in awesome form, he never allowed the bowlers to settle and in middle order Kandamby carried the score board to move up. Indian Batting too failed miserably in the run chase. Dravid alone managed to get some runs but when he was in good touch, Mathews made damage. He never allowed the Indian middle order batsmen to settle and picked 6 wickets from 6 overs. By this defeat, India team climbed down the ranking to settle at no 3 spot and they stayed in No 1 position for a day alone.

Man of the Match: A Mathews(SL)

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Final: Sri Lanka v India at Colombo (RPS) - Sep 14, 2009

India won by 46 runs

India 319/5 (50 overs): S Tendulkar 138, Yuvraj 56*, Dhoni 56; T Thusara 2/71.
Sri Lanka 273 (46.4 overs): Kandamby 66, Dilshan 42; Harbhajan 5/56.

Summary:
India won the toss fot first time in this series and elected to bat. Tendulkar and Dravid opened the innings. Tendulkar was in awesome form and he scored 138. He played sensibly and scored all over the ground. Dhoni too came up with half century and supported Sachin innings. Yuvraj made 56* in final overs to add to India score of 319. Sri Lanka started positively to chase the huge score of 320. Sri Lankan openers were rocking in fast seemers overs and maintained a high run rate and they were unstoppable still spin bowlers came to attack. Harbhajan gave break through by getting Dilshan wicket who was in great form. Jayasuriya who was dropped when he was on 13, scored 36 before he fell to Pathan. The big turning point of this match was Sangakkara hit wicket. He lost bat balance and slipped it to stumps. Kandamby looked good in his contribution of 66 but he didn't had a proper partner except Kapugendra, wit whom he had partnership of 70 runs but it was not enough to such huge total. Sri Lankans didn't gave up easily before they were all out for 273. Harbhajan broke Sri Lankan partnership at important period and took 5 wickets. Harbhajan played a very important role to ensure India's victory. He along wit Sachin were Match Winners for India in this game.

Man of the match: S Tendulkar(IND)

Sachin Tendulkar also won Man of the series award.

Sachin Tendulkar with Man of Series Trophy and cheque

"The Compaq Cup trophy is first Digital Trophy"

MS Dhoni With Compaq Cup

Team India - Compaq Cup Winner 2009

Avatar - The Last AirBender

Hi Friends, Myself and Rita planned to write review about the animation Avatar The Last Air Bender. Its nice animation movie. This movie is not created for kids, everyone can watch and enjoy it. Lots more to discuss about this. Keep counting on us. soon will publish our post. Thanks for supporting us.

Trip To Tenkasi and Kutrallam

TENKASI AND KUTRALLAM TRIP

Hi friends, i like to share my experience about my trip to Tenkasi city and Kutrallam… I like to call Tenkasi as a city of Green and Nature. Wherever u see, whole place looks very natural and greenish.

Short information why this city got name as Tenkasi:

As u all know in North India, there is a city named KASI where people take a holy dip in the water with the belief that they can get rid of all the sins that they had committed in their lives. A king in South India planned to build a temple where South India people can have holy dip and wash their sin. He did special prayers(puja), finally God appeared and asked him to build a statue in a city (don’t know the exact place) and bring it to a destined place before a particular time. But that king failed to bring that statue to appropriate place at time. The statue was able to reach Tenkasi, so that king build the temple there and named that city as TENKASI. (TEN means South in Tamil language). One local guy said me this story when i discussed the history of the temple with him. As the statue didn’t reached the place at time, this temple and place is not famous like Kasi. Tenkasi is also famous for Drizzling at the month of May-August.


Day 1: 9-Jan-09 (Friday)

On Friday evening, me , my cousin and his friend started from Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT). We started our journey around 6pm . We planned to go by train or some private bus service but as it was Friday we cant able to book ticket in those. So we had to go by government bus. Had a worst experience in that. Due to very poor maintenance of that bus, the speed is not crossing more than 60-70km. Normal travel time to reach Tenkasi from Chennai is 10 hours, but that bus takes nearly 13 hours.

Day 2: 10-Jan-09 (Saturday)

Finally we reached Tenkasi at 7am. There my uncle was waiting to pick us. We were very much tried because of uncomfortable travel, so thought to have a bath. But uncle advised not to take bath in home. He took us to Kutrallam which is very much near to Tenkasi. It was some 20- 30 min travel, by car.

While nearing Kutrallam falls we can feel the cool breeze.In Kutrallam many falls are there like new kutrallam falls, old kutrallam falls, five falls.

We went to old Kutrallam falls, few massage center was there. Don’t miss to take massage there. Two types of massage available, one is ordinary oil massage and another is oorala kattai massage. if you are new to massage prefer ordinary oil massage, since oorala kattai massage they will massage us using wooden stick, so it may pain at starting. My uncle advised us to go for ordinary massage.

Wow!!!! excellent massage, after taking that massage, drowsiness and tiredness went just like that.

We prepared to take bath in Kutrallam falls. Am going first time to that place. Am so excited to take bath in that falls. It feels like am standing under ice water shower. Water was too chill. We enjoyed our shower there.

Later my uncle took us to the top of mountain. As he was a local guy, he knows every place there. We climbed to certain level of that mountain, the way is bit dangerous.

This place(in picture) looks like small swimming pool but this is natural one. We enjoyed lot there. No crowd disturbance or any kind of disturbance. In that water lot of small fishes were there. You can't stand more than 5 min in water, those fish would keep on biting us.

After enjoying there, uncle gave treat to us in four star hotel. We had stomach full lunch. We took rest for sometime and at evening ,
he took us to a shooting spot where many movies like Anniyan movie (Randakka song) was filmed, took some snaps there. That place is surrounded with green farm lands, really nice to see those kind of place. Pleasant air and lot more.

For dinner he took us to a place called border, it’s a nice place don’t miss to taste food in those hotels, parotta cost 5 rupee each. 5 to 8 people used to keep on preparing those parotta’s. Three kinds of side dish were available and all types of non veg stuff were also available. Even many local people wont prepare dinner in their home , they will get from these hotel.
Don’t miss these hotels. Cheap and best in taste.

Day 3: 11-Jan-09 (Sunday)

This day is a very special day in my trip. Basically i love to travel in forest and like to see wild animals in forest than in zoo.

After had our breakfast in nearby hotel, we went to a dam which is located in tiger reserve area. Actually that dam was build in-between the mountains(at the top),the mountains will be spread-out continuously.

At the top of the mountain a bowl-like structure was formed by nature and many falls originated at the top of these mountains. Water from different falls got stored there. In one side there is gap, through which water will drain out. So to save water, government build the dam, naturally water will stake there like lake but to increase the water level, the dam was build. If you see the picture, you will get a idea how the dam is situated.

As i already said, dam is in top of the mountain, we have to travel to top by car, van, bus etc. We went by car, when we reach that mountain we should report to the forest officers there. They said that it was dangerous place and asked us whether we would like to continue our journey. If we still like to continue our journey, they will get details about our gang and will ask to fill some form, which contains that we are solely responsible for any damage that happens in our trip. After we signed that form, officers advised not to hear audio songs and not to make noise - why they advised us is for two reasons. One is, animals may get frightened so that, it will be like someone comes to our home and disturb us. Another reason is, animals may attack us. And they also asked us not to get down from the car. Since, the way to the dam is filled with Cheetah, Deer, Elephants, etc.I was very much excited after hearing these conditions and i started to pray to see atleast one animal. And I was lucky, while we traveling we saw herd of deers very near to our car.Before us many kids came in van, after seeing the deers they stopped the bus and got excited and they started to shout and left the van to see the deer in close up. As they make noise, deers start to move inside the forest. Then we continued our journey and reached the dam.

Now we have to cross the dam to reach the other side of the dam. Because there only PANATHIRTHAM FALLS is located, there is a boat house. We hired a boat from there and started to cross the dam,
oops i forgot to say one thing, this dam is filled with crocodiles so wanna be careful. Few forest officers asked us to drop them in other side, while traveling we get some information about the place.
Some details gave by those officers were

• There are few small villages, cheetah attacked about four persons. But, Thank God, None died all managed to escape somehow.
• We asked them where tigers will be found, they said at top of the falls.
  Tigers were there and they going to check how many tigers are there and gonna check any illegal things happening in forest like that.
• It’s a big forest, so tiger wont come most of the times near to the falls, in drought season it will come near to the falls to drink water.
• If forest officers came to know that tiger is roaming near to the falls, they will stop the tourist to visit that forest. They mostly know when tiger will come there. So no problem most of the time until we have bad luck
• They said crocodile will rarely cross our way (actually we crossing their way) so no problem in that too but we want to be more careful not to play in boat or stand or peep our hands in water.

We reached other side, boatman gave one hour time to return from there. We walked about 500 meters then we reached the falls near to the falls. Some forest officers where there to guide and help us. Forest officers who came with us prepares to climb the mountain and we prepared to take a shower in that falls.
Wow!!! its nice scenery, water is more chill than i experienced in Kutrallam. We took nice bath, actually at side of the falls only we can take shower, you cant stand more than a minute there since water fell with much force. There were fixed iron pipes, by holding it we have to take shower. It was nice experience, this water will finally reach the dam. Before reaching the dam, a floor like thing is formed, from falls the water will hit the floor and then will reach the dam. Due to the force of water, holes were formed in that rock but you may not aware of it if you see from the top. Forest officers said this thing to us.

While taking shower one thing i cant understand how fungi is forming over the pipe and in the ground, since water is falling with huge force. Due to those fungus, it will be slippery, we have to be careful while taking bath, if we slipped that’s it we will directly hit on the rock and sometime will get jammed in some hole in that rock. After hearing this i never left the pipe.
Finally, we enjoyed the shower and finished it safely. While returning from the falls, one family was traveling. In that boat a girl was riding the boat. After seeing that we asked our boat man to give us a chance to ride the boat. We thanked that girl by waving our hands for giving this idea. Our boatman too gave chance for us to ride it. He teaches us how to ride it. Its little bit tough to ride it.

From the dam, big pipes were connected, that pipe goes till bottom of the hill. they using this pipe to generate electricity.
While returning we saw a pair of peacock. Again am lucky.

We reached the bottom, from there my uncle took us to Papanasam,
it’s a river like place, water coming from different places of the mountain will reach this river, many people who is not interested to go at top of the mountain will take bath here. Local peoples were also there. You may think that we already took shower top of the hill but why we need to spend time here, but this one is completely different experience, in-between the river they build a wall about 4 feet, so it will be like swimming pool. so you can spend more time there. Here we played lot and took snaps in different style. After finishing the enjoyment, we returned to uncle home.
It’s a very special day in my trip.



Day 4: 12-Jan-09 ( Monday )

Today we have to leave Tenkasi, this time we booked ticket in private bus. So no problem. But got bus by 5 pm. So my uncle planned to take us to another falls MANALAARU which is located in Kerala border. We reached that place, but unfortunately there was no water in that falls. We returned and took shower in Kutrallam five falls and took some rest at my uncle home and by evening we started our journey to Chennai.