Indian Premier League (IPL) - 4 - Qualifier 2 RCB Vs MI 27 May at Chennai

Tonight is a big fight, The Qualifier 2 of IPL 4. RCB who lost to CSK now face MI who defeated shahrukh's KKR. RCB gets a 2nd chance to make it to the IPL 4 finals, it’s an unusual opportunity call it IPL-4 flavor.  Being a die heart RCB fan it’s a big match for me. My only wish was there were more local heroes in the team. In this season of IPL Kumble has now retired, Dravid played for Rajasthan, the local smasher Robin Uttappa and Mahesh Pandey last IPL’s discovery played for Pune warriors. I miss our boys, but guess IPL-4 is more of a business than just a cricket extravaganza.

The last match i.e. Qualifier 1 RCB lost to CSK. It was disheartening to see Virat Kohli’s knock of valuable 70 runs of 44 balls going in vain. RCB had made a challenging 175 in allotted 20 over’s for a loss of 4 wickets. After the initial jitters and Gayle failing to make an impact it was Kohli who made the match worth a stiff contest. CSK innings of first 10 over’s gave an impression that RCB would easily make it to the final. But then Raina got going and smashed RCB bowlers all around the park.  The left-hander smacked 73 off 50 balls. Dhoni too played a crucial knock of 29 off 19 balls and it came just at the right pace. It was a nerve-cracking encounter indeed. The end results, well the defending champions made it to the finals.

Now all eyes on today’s encounter. RCB gets to have another shot to make it to the finals as they face MI today at Chennai. MI had a good game against KKR as they left no stone unturned to crush any hope of KKR might have had at the beginning of the season. MI chased down a modest target of 148 set by KKR, winning the match with four wickets in hand and four balls to spare. Who can forget Bhajji’s Six which was the winning shot for MI. In the end it was brilliant team work which did the trick for MI. Blizzard made 51 runs and was well supported by Sachin Tendulkar who scored an important 36 runs in MI campaign.

KKR is also now in trouble after the loss, with the controversy surrounding them about playing injured Gautam Ghambir which has now literally casted doubts he being fit to lead India in upcoming West Indies tour. Well that’s another interesting topic to blog about later.

2011 Cricket World Cup Final

The time on the clock hanging on my wall reads 12:15 PM. Just a couple of hours away from the big clash on earth today. The news papers have been screaming loud so are the news channels, they are calling it clash of the Titans and what not! But the loudest roaring the city will ever witness is going to be the roar of the cricket fans at Wankhede stadium when the Indian team walks into the ground.

The team winning 2011 Cricket World Cup would be taking home a prize money of US$ 3 million, but what’s more important as a die heart fan of cricket it’s the coveted trophy, the sheer joy and superior feeling of being a champion nation.

It’s been a great world cup so far every cricket fan and today is day billions of cricket fans have been waiting for. Indian team trying to recreate history by winning the cup after a gap of 28 years. Hey that’s how long I have been on this earth too. India won the world cup just once so far, that was in 1983. The team are till date called the Kapil's Devils. For it was under his captaincy that India won its 1st world cup title ever.

This world cup has its own share of unforgettable moments. Would like to just walk through them again. Few surprise defeats, a couple of giant killing, and many more.

The biggest upset of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 has been the defeat of England by Ireland.

Deadly Malinga (watch out for him today) of Sri Lanka got a hatrick so did Roach from West Indies.

Ireland's Kevin O'Brien made the fastest World Cup Century against England. What a match that one was! Awesome!

India beat Pakistan for the 5th time in a world cup encounter that’s a straight 5-0 record! Can’t just get enough of these Indo-Pak battles can we!

Well I can ramble out many more such memorable moments but I end it all by pointing out to the biggest turning point of WC 2011, the UDRS, how can we forget the Umpire Decision Review System and all its controversies.

So keep watching this blog for many more updates on not just World Cup, but much more. For this is not just about a single match, this blog is all about crazy Cricket!!!!