ICC Champions Trophy-2013 Groups and Fixture

ICC Champions trophy is the most awaited event of this year. The exciting thing about it is that it will be the last champions trophy to be played and every one is excited that who will uplift this trophy. The ICC Champions trophy is starting from June-6-2013. Top eight teams of ICC rankings are participating in this mini world cup.

Before the start of this tournament some warm-up matches will be played. Since England and New Zealand are playing against each other in English conditions so they will not play any of them. According to the fixtures Srilanka will play three warm-up matches and South Africa will be playing only one warm-up match. The other teams Pakistan,India, West Indies and Australia will play two warm-up matches. Some of the warm-up matches will be telecast live on Sports channel.

The warmup matches will definitely give some sort of help to sub-continent teams as they struggle playing in English conditions. The exciting fixture will be the match of Pakistan vs South Africa. Because they will be playing against each other in the group matches. And recently they have played against each other so it will create a healthy contest between these two teams. Though South Africa looks more consistent then Pakistan in the past. But in big tournaments Pakistan team looked more confident then South Africans.

Teams are divided in two groups. Both Groups look balance. In Group A England can give tough time in their conditions where as the past record of New Zealand and Australia in Champions trophy is also very good. In Group B South Africa looks the strongest of all whereas India and Pakistan are considered to be one of the best ODI teams in the world. West Indies in the recent past has become one of the toughest competitor. They have got many individuals who have played eminent role in IPL for their team like Gayle, Pollar, Bravo, Rampaul, Sunil Narine and Dwayne Smith and all of them are in the team so they will give a tough competition to others. To me Group-B is the toughest under recent performances of the teams whereas Group-A looks toughest if we consider team performances in past champions trophies.

The first Group match will be played between India and South Africa in Cardiff on June/6/2013 wheras another Group B match will be played on the very next day. There is no gap in the group matches. The top two teams of both the group will reach in to semi finals which will be played in Oval and Sophia Gardens. The final of this last ICC Champions trophy will be played on June/23/2013 in Birmingham.

Khan, Kumar and Kulasekara Unplayable From New Ball

Bowling requires a great physical effort and it needs a lot of fitness. But it is not enough to pick wickets. It is also not necessary that a bowler should have some devilish looks to under pressed the batsman . Khan, Kumar and Kulasekra don't look so horrible at all.

Khan, Kumar and Kulasekra

However they are the ones who have been well aware of their strengths i.e bowling sharp in-swingers to right hand batsman. Also they can bowl the other one pretty well. Perhaps, they are not as fast as those who bowl with them from the other end- Irfan, Malinga and Sharma. But they make sure that the batsman may find himself helpless against them. They have really make the life of batsman completely horrible when they come out to face them. Whether, it is Nasir Jamshed who scored two centuries against India recently, was forced to avoid playing B. Kumar as he picked him on the first ball in a T-20 match. Also he is more known in Indian team of picking Tendulkar on duck in domestic match.Also, Indian team whose well known top order collapsed by brilliant bowling of Junaid Khan. And today, N. Kulasekara who pick up fifer against Australian and restrict them on 74. Thanks to Aussie tail as they resist a bit to score more than 70 which is their previous lowest total in an ODI.

The three of them become pretty difficult to read from the new ball. As they bowl in and out with out changing anything in their action which may assist the batsman to play them. N. Kulasekra is not any new entry in Srilankan line-up like the other two, he has been bowling splendid well since couple of years for Srilankans. His disciplinary bowling is an extra advantage which you may not found in the other two. And that is because he is an experienced campaigner. But that is for sure they both will learn quickly as the time passes.

Also on the other hand you can't forget there partners which look deadly from their stances. Malinga's hair and slingy action, Sharma's hair (it may some times give him problem more than others) and his good height. lastly but the latest, extra ordinary height and bowls consistently with 140+ kph bowler- Muhammad Irfan. They definitely support them from the other end. Perhaps, sometime more than that. But in Test Cricket format we will find that Khan, Kumar and Kulasekra (he is doing that) supporting others from their discipline which is the key of bowling in test cricket.

Malinga Shines after a Stunning Spell Of 6/7

Malinga was on fire in Perth as he bowls a stunning spell of 6/7. His previous best figure was 5/13 for Mumbai Indians. Slingy malinga and Melbourne squeezes Scorchers and whole team crumbled at 69. In reply Melbourne win the match easily by D/L method as they were 29/0.

Although Srilankans are having tough time in test series against Australia but Malinga is enjoying his trip of Australia. The captain of Scorchers, Simon Katich said,
"He bowled beautifully. He bowled yorkers that were on the money from the word go, swung the ball and then he had good variations with his slower ball and the odd bumper. Unfortunately we just couldn't counter it and he won them the game single handedly"  

He deceive from his slow balls. He kept straight and bowls on block holes and showed his experience.

Predicting as a Guru

My last post and South Africa's fresh performance against England, I feel like a Cricket Guru. Before proceeding further in that I first want to congratulate Mr. Hashim Amla for his glorious triple century who reminds me Muhammad Yousuf's double century against England @ Lords in 2006. Not because of his beard :D but from his stance. Moreover he is now the highest run scorer of South Africa in a test math. And making a triple century against England does the topping on the ice as it is one of the best side in test cricket.

Now back to the topic as I predict the name of Smith, Amla, Kallis and De villiers who are strong contenders for making a century and put South Africa on the driving seat for the first test match. 3 out of  4 were right and the one which was wrong may become right in the next match. I can't say for the next inning as England's gets the disappointing start in second inning and from here onward it seems like we will not see even a respectable total from England. 

Let see what are the possible result of this test match and how this will boost any of the team for the rest of the matches?

And Considering about being a guru I feel good to be a Cricket Fan..... :)