Cricket world cup 2011

Cricket world cup is in knock out stage now. Today's first quarter final was won by Pakistan. Pakistan won the match against the WI team with an easy 10 wickets victory. Pakistan had to toiled hard to grid win against the lesser non test playing nations. They made WI team lose the match embarrassingly. Sahid Afridi and Mohamad Hafiz were the heroes for the Pakistani teams.

Sahid is having a wonderful world cup as he is the leading wicket taker with 21 wickets (4 in this match) in the current edition of the world cup. If Pakistan plays like this than they may be strong contenders for this world cup. Only 2 matches left to be won, let's see who comes out in top.

IPL Cricket

IPL a cricket venture launched by BCCI is drawing a lot of attention worldwide especially those
who are ardent fans of cricket. It has hugely attracted a pool of high class players worldwide. The reason for its popularity is simply to the fact that huge money is invested on the teams participating on it. As India being the cricket driven country obviously there will be no sort of sponsors willing to put their money. The likes of players like Ricky Pointing, Brett Lee, Graeme Smith, Jayasuriya and others will be taking part in the different teams. Not to forget the big shot of Indian cricketers. Let's see if the hype is really worth going. The twenty20 cricket will definitely be a joy to watch.

Muttiah Muralitharan breaks world record

Muttiah Muralitharan is the new world record holder for the most number of wickets breaking leg spinner legend Shane Warne's 708 wickets. Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne battled it out as who was the better spinner through out their career. Both excelled the art of spin and were nightmares even to the best batsman on their given day. Their excellence performance shows their skill and they took spin bowling to next level.

Murali dismissed Paul Collingwood during England's first innings in Kandy to take his 709th wicket in 29 fewer Tests than it had taken Warne to get to 708 wickets. He was four behind Warne before the series began but took his fifth wicket of the match to claim the record. Murali achieved the record in his 116th Test and on his home ground.

His milestones:
Wicket no. Matches Average
100 27 31.49
200 42 26.90
300 58 25.17
400 72 23.53
500 87 22.89
600 101 22.35
700 113 21.33
709 116 21.67

India ICC twenty 20 champions

India were the first nation to win the first ever twenty 20 world cup. The team led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni just outperformed every other team in the tournament. The Indian team beat their old rivals Pakistan in a tight encounter by 5 runs. India batting first managed to score 157-5 in their 20 overs. Pakistan just managed to score 152 runs before being bowled out in 19.3 overs.

Umar Gul with brilliant bowling display of 3-28 helped restrict India to 157-5, despite Gautam Gambhir's brilliant knock of 75.But RP Singh struck twice early on and Irfan Pathan took 3-16 as Pakistani batsman gave away their wickets cheaply. Misbah-ul-Haq rallied them with three sixes off Harbhajan Singh and another in the final over, but fell to Joginder Sharma before being out for decent 43 runs.

Irfan Pathan was acknowledged Man of the Match and Sahid Afridi was rewarded with Man of the Series for their performances in the fianl and the whole tournament respectively.

ICC twenty 20 World cup

ICC twenty 20 world cup is in full swing starting from 11 september. The very first match between the host South Africa and West Indies was a cracker which the host won. The match also created a history as Chris Gayle became the first man to score a century in an international twenty 20 cricket match. West Indies scored 205 for the loss of 6 wickets but South Africa chased the target in just 17.4 overs.

Other crucial matches that happened were encounter between the old rivals Pakistan and India which the Indian team won 3-0 in a bowl out. As both team managed to score equal amount of runs on the board they had to enter into a bowl out round which was just like a tie-breaker in a football match as twenty 20 cricket supported no tie matches. Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa were Dirty Harry-accurate, while Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi all missed by a fair distance as a sell-out crowd celebrated an enthralling match.

The result summary:

South Africa: 208-2 ( 17.4 overs )
West Indies: 205-6 ( 20.0 overs )
South Africa beat West Indies by 8 wickets

Australia: 138-9 ( 20.0 overs )
Zimbabwe: 139-5 ( 19.5 overs )
Zimbabwe beat Australia by 5 wickets

New Zealand: 74-1 ( 7.4 overs )
Kenya: 73 ( 16.5 overs )
New Zealand beat Kenya by 9 wickets

Pakistan: 171-9 ( 20.0 overs )
Scotland: 120 ( 19.5 overs )
Pakistan beat Scotland by 51 runs

West Indies: 164-8 ( 20.0 overs )
Bangladesh: 165-4 ( 18.0 overs )
Bangladesh beat West Indies by 6 wickets

Zimbabwe: 138-7 ( 20.0 overs )
England: 188-9 ( 20.0 overs )
England beat Zimbabwe by 50 runs

Australia: 136-2 ( 14.5 overs )
England: 135 ( 20.0 overs )
Australia beat England by 8 wickets

India: 141-9 ( 20.0 overs )
Pakistan: 141-7 ( 20.0 overs )
India tied with Pakistan
India win 3-0 by bowl out

Sri Lanka: 260-6 ( 20.0 overs )
Kenya: 88-9 ( 19.3 overs )
Sri Lanka beat Kenya by 172 runs

South Africa: 146-3 ( 18.5 overs )
Bangladesh: 144 ( 19.3 overs )
South Africa beat Bangladesh by 7 wickets

Sri Lanka: 168-3 ( 18.5 overs )
New Zealand: 164-7 ( 20.0 overs )
Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 7 wickets