Asia Cup-2010: India Vs Pakistan Cricket History

Cricket claims to be the world’s 2^nd most popular sport in the world after Soccer. Although debatable, but when it comes to South Asia, Cricket is by far the most popular sport here.

South Asia is the power house of Cricket. And the most powerful cricket board, BCCI, the Indian Cricket Board, is also a part of South Asia. Over the years, South Asia has contributed a lot towards the game of Cricket. First, India and Pakistan produced legendary cricket stars like Sunil Gavaskar, Zaheer Abbas, Sarfaraz Nawaz, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Majid Khan…and the list goes on and on.

Then, Cricket spread its roots to the neighboring countries of these two arch-rivals. Sri Lanka started showing some great talent. And now Bangladesh is emerging as the 4^th strongest team of Asia.

But the Cricket in South Asia is mainly dominated by India and Pakistan. And when these 2 teams (India vs Pakistan) are up against each other, you are bound to get excited. No matter what the event is, no matter what the Cricket Ranking of each of these teams, no matter which era it is, when there is match featuring India vs Pakistan, the whole Cricket world expects a fascinating clash.

The history of India vs Pakistan Cricket is very volatile. More often than not, the two teams avoided playing Cricket against each other due to the several political tensions.

India Vs Pakistan History

Since 1978, there have been a total 118 ODI Cricket matches featuring India vs Pakistan. Out of which

Asia Cup-2010: History & Future!

Asia, not only the largest Continent on Earth but it’s the biggest region when it comes to the craze for Cricket.  Asia is really the power house of Cricket. Nations like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and now Bangladesh have contributed a plenty to the Cricket world.

Asia Cup is a tournament that features all these 4 teams in ODIs. The tournament was first played in 1984 in Sharjah, UAE organized by ACCA, the Asian Cricket Council. However, this tournament has not been held regularly due to the unfavorable political and Cricket affairs between different Asian nations, especially between India and Pakistan.

A total of 8 editions of Asia Cup Cricket Tournament have been held. India and Sri Lanka have been victorious 4 times each. The first Asia Cup was won by India in 1984. However, in 1986, Sri Lanka managed to become the Asian Champions. In 1988, team India regained the title.

Indian cricket team managed to defend the title in 1990-91. Then in 1993, the Asia Cup was scheduled to be held in Pakistan but due to political tensions, it was not held. In 1995, once again India cricket team managed to successfully defend the title. In 1997, Sri Lankan team came up as victorious.

Pakistan Cricket team could only win the Asia Cup Cricket Tournament in year 2000, held in Bangladesh. There was again a gap of 4 years when the Asian rivals locked horns again in 2004. This time, Sri Lanka reclaimed the title.

The last time Asia Cup was held in 2008, when Pakistan was hosting the event for the first time. Sri Lanka cricket team again managed to win the title when they beat India in the Final.

Now, the 9^th edition of the Asia Cup Cricket tournament is going to be held from June 15, in Dambulla, Sri Lanka.

It’s not easy to figure out the favorites for the Asia Cup-2010. Not because all teams are evenly good, but because the performance of these teams have not been impressive in the recent times. Let’s have a look at each team:

Team India:

Indian cricket team is struggling with

Why Team India Thrown Out?

What we predicted has happened. Indian Cricket team has been thrown out of the Tri-series in Zimbabwe, quite convincingly. The host Zimbabwe has beaten India twice in a week to remove Team India’s chances of playing final of the series.

So, what went wrong with Indian team? As we have already discussed in our previous post, the selection of team India was the main cause of the team’s dismal show. The team comprised of all youngsters with no big names. The most shocking decision was to exclude the skipper, MS Dhoni. The selection was pathetic.

However, I support the idea behind the selection, to give chance to the youngsters ahead of Asia Cup-2010. But the way this idea was executed, was absolutely unacceptable. You just cannot afford the risk of playing all the young 11, without any experience, and most importantly, under a very inexperience captain.

I also feel sorry for the youngsters who played in the tri-series. They were put under enormous pressure, with inexperience captain, and without any experience players to learn from. This might just ruin the future of these young Indian players.

This decision of excluding all the big names has backfired. India has lost the 2^nd position in the ODIs and has moved to the

Young Team: Toothless India...!

The Indian Cricket team is playing the Tri-series in Zimbabwe. This series also features the hosts, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. But the most surprising news is the team India selection for this series.

Senior Indian Cricketers have been rested for this triangular cricket series in Zimbabwe, Suresh Raina is leading the young Indian team in the series.

I support the Indian selector’s decision to include youngsters in the national team, but what amazed me was the exclusion of almost all the cream of the senior cricketers. I have not seen such a clean sweep of senior players from Indian cricketers for a while. The team does not include players like Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh  and most amazingly, the captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The idea was to give opportunity to a host of youngsters for their impressive performances in the domestic circuit. Players like R. Ashwin, Pankaj Singh, Umesh Yadav, Ashok Dinda, Vinay Kumar and Naman Ojha have been awarded for their good performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Murali Vijay is another youngster who will make his ODI debut. Virat Kohli is the vice-captain while Rohit Sharma and Pragyan Ojha make a comeback in the ODI side.

Besides the Tri-series, ending June 09,  India will also play two Twenty20 internationals against Zimbabwe. Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla will play only in the two Twenty20s.

Now, there are a few issues I want to discuss here. First, the Indian team should not

T20 World Cup-2010: India Out, Blame IPL

Yes, the negative effects of IPL on Indian Cricket have started to come out. Team India has been thrown out of the ICC T20 World Cup-2010, being played in West Indies. India could not win a single match in the Super-8 round of the World T20 Cup and hence could not qualify for the semi-finals of the mega event.

India Cricket team has been performing outstandingly: Ranked No.1 in Test cricket and No.2 in ODIs. India also has the privilege of winning the first ever T20  World Cup back in 2008. So, what IPL has to do with the exit of Team India in the previous two T20 World Cup tournaments? Let’s try to find!

The biggest factor behind this failure is Indian Premiere League (IPL). Yes, it’s true. Indian Premiere League has taken its toll. The 45 day long cricket league has not only cricket, it included late night parties, hectic travel, extra pressure from franchise owners and a lot of money. Of course, players love all this. They enjoyed every bit of these activities and didn’t bother to keep an eye on their fitness to play the T20 World Cup-2010.

Yes, there are other international players who have played IPL but only Team India has

ICC T20 World Cup-2010: An India-Pakistan Comparison

In Twenty20 Cricket you will find two strongest teams: Pakistan and India. India was the champion of the first T20 World Cup in 2008, while Pakistan was the champion in the 2^nd T20 World Cup in 2009. And this is the third edition of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup-2010. All eyes are again on these two teams, who will win, who will lose in T20 World Cup-2010? India and Pakistan have played both group matches in the ICC T20 World Cup-2010. I thought it’s a good time to compare the performance of both these teams in T20 World Cup-2010 so far.

India and Pakistan are archrivals and when these two play, it’s not easy to sit calmly in front of the TV set, especially, if you are an Indian or a Pakistani. India, Pakistan Cricket rivalry has been adding beauty to the game ever since they played each other for the first time. Especially, their record in Twenty20 World Cup has been outstanding against each other.

India and Pakistan, both have started T20 World Cup-2010 as favorites. However, India has

ICC T20 World Cup: Who is Favorite?

Twenty20 (T20) Cricket seems to have overshadowed the International Cricket. After 42-day extravaganza of IPL, Twenty20 World Cup (T20 World Cup-2010) is going to start from April 30.

This year will see the third edition of T20 World Cup. The inaugural T20 World Cup was won by India in 2008 when they beat archrival Pakistan in the Final. The second Twenty20 World Cup was won by Pakistan, beating Sri Lanka in the Final. This year T20 World Cup will be played in West Indies.

The question everyone is asking now is who will win the Twenty20 World Cup-2010. The answer, of course, is not easy!

Pakistan has the best record in Twenty20 World Cup, they are the only team to reach the final of the first two T20 World Cup tournaments, could only won the last T20 World Cup in 2009. Pakistan also has the best winning ratio in Twenty20 World Cup with 22 wins, 7 losses and 1 no-result.  However, Pakistan team for Twenty20 World Cup-2010 misses key senior players due to injuries/bans. Shahid Afridi, the skipper, is sure to make his team fight hard to win Twenty20 World Cup-2010.

Another favorite of T20 World Cup-2010 is India. India also has the privilege

IPL: Is Sachin Tendulkar a Great Captain

The little master Sachin Tendulkar has always made great impact on cricket. Sachin Tendulkar has registered a new addition to his never-ending record of achievements. Sachin Tendlukar leads Mumbai Indians (MI) into the Final of Indian Premiere League-2010 (IPL-2010).

Sachin Tendulkar has given a lot to the world of Cricket. From his stylish batting style to his brilliant batting techniques, Sachin Tendulkar has set highest standards for himself and his fans. Sachin Tendulkar has now added new dimensions to his success story as a captain of Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premiere League (IPL-2010). Under Sachin Tendulkar’s leadership, Mumbai Indians was the first team to book a seat in the finals of the Indian Premiere League (IPL-2010). Great Work Sachin Tendulkar!

Sachin Tendulkar has broken so many records and set up dozens of new