Two groups (A and B) with three teams each, play a round robin league. Top 2 teams from each group qualify to the super 4s. Another round robin. The top 2 reach the final. The points from the initial group stage are carried forward to the super 4.
Somebody asked me this.
Thanks

This is turning out to be something we have to get used to now. Barring an odd defeat in an odd final, India seems to have got the better of Pakistan these days. Anyway, this match wasn’t that boring for me not to report it, though it could have been better.
It all began in an all too familiar fashion. A feeling of déjà vu, you might say. As Dropmal was dropped, skip Malik decided to end his ruefully bad form by opening the innings and batting even more ruefully till the time he saw Ishant Sharma’s face. 26/0 in 10 …read more

MS Dhoni and his men in blue thrashed Pakistan by 140 runs in the second ODI of the tri-nation Kitply Cup. This also ended Pakistan’s 12 game winning streak which consisted of 5 games against Bangladesh.
 
End of winning streak
The amazing fact was that India did not let Pakistan be in top at any moment in the match. Most of the batsmen contributed to India’s score of 320, a massive one considering the fact that the pitch aided spinners. But not so massive too, considering Pakistan went in with 4 seamers. Brains man. Shoaib Malik did not even bowl …read more

As if this post was necessary. As if I haven’t told all of you that Bangladesh should be given some time before they are sent to top flight cricket. But no one would listen. Yet another loss. And that too against the biggest give-hope-to minnows team in the world – Pakistan.
I wanted to write that Bangladesh bowled well; but no : most of the wickets were due to careless batting.
I wanted to write that Salman Butt played well for his 70 in this curtailed (40 Over) match; but no, the bowling wasn’t that good.
The situation was summed up really …read more

Preview:
Teams:
Bangladesh: Mohammad Ashraful(c), Mashrafe Mortaza(vc), Abdur Razzak, Alok Kapali, Dolar Mahmud, Farhad Reza, Mahmudullah, Mehrab Hossain jnr, Mushfiqur Rahim(wk), Nazimuddin, Raqibul Hasan, Shahadat Hossain, Shahriar Nafees, Tamim Iqbal
Pakistan: Shoaib Malik(c), Misbah-ul-Haq(vc), Bazid Khan, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Anjum, Kamran Akmal(wk), Mohammad Yousuf, Nasir Jamshed, Naumanullah, Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Younis Khan
India : MS Dhoni(c, wk), Yuvraj Singh(vc), Piyush Chawla, Gautam Gambhir, Manpreet Gony, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Robin Uthappa
Fixtures:
Sun 8 June(D/N)15:00 local, 09:00 GMT : Bangladesh vs Pakistan : …read more

The tri series features Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Yusuf Pathan and Pragyan Ojha are in the team from the IPL quota. Most of the players should get a look in against Bangladesh at least. Bangladesh should be happy too. They are playing two of the most generous teams in world cricket, and that too on home turf; not that it matters.
Team:Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha.

I caught this interesting peace of news on the web yesterday. Having seen the massive interest which the Indian Premier League has generated, The Pakistan Cricket Board is seriously contemplating a similar tournament in Pakistan.
The business community in Pakistan is pretty keen on this idea. In an interview which the PCB Chief Naseem Ashraf, a controversial personality according to us, gave to the media, he said and I quote:

“We will be waiting for a suitable time to start the tournament as many corporate institutions here have also shown their willingness to sponsor the event”

Though the International calendar is finding …read more

Now this one is like throwing the cat among the pigeons. Everybody has a view. I am one of everybody. So, I have a view. If you are a Bangladeshi and you are reading this, do not worry mate. I am just surprised. With players of the quality of Mohd. Ashraful and Abdur Razzak doing the rounds, things can only get better. But that was about an year ago. Or maybe two. I am not sure but what I am sure is that there is no drastic improvement in the win percentage. Talking about it to my friends (great cricket …read more

Kaneria’s physiognomy reminds me of one of my botany profs (you know who you are!) who appears to be always grinning.
I will leave it up to you guys to caption this one.
Fire away!
Photo Credits: CricInfo

So, as I had been howling at the forums, it’s gonna be an Indo-Pak grand finale. No one believed me. “India’s chances are slim, boy.” “They can’t get past the Aussies.” “Heck, NZ might just kick Pak out, then?”
Everything, so far, has happened as I had wanted it to.
So, while I “bhangra” like Bhajji, you can go read JC’s match account if you missed the action.