Why Should Kallis play in ICC Champions Trophy?

Kallis is regarded as one of the best all rounders in the world of cricket. Averaging around 56 in test cricket being one of the highest and picked 288 wickets is totally a magnificent accomplishments altogether. He gives his hundred percent for whom he played whether it's for Royal Challengers Banglore, Kolkata Knight Riders or its national side South Africa. But the big news is he is not playing in the last ICC Champions trophy. Although he has decided to miss the ICC Champions trophy but here are the things he can achieve if he play in the last ICC Champions trophy.

Most Runs in ICC Champions trophy: 

At the moment its Chris Gayle who has scored 695 runs in ICC Champions trophy whereas Jacques Kallis scored 653 runs in ICC Champions trophy. Considering the form of Gayle in IPL it is difficult to say that Kallis may beat his record. Looks like it will be Chris Gayle who will keep that record with him.

Most Wickets in ICC Champions Trophy:

Murlitharan who has picked 24 wickets and is the leading wicket taker in CT-13. Kallis is way down at fourth and has picked 20 wickets. He could achieve this by taking only 5 more in ICC Champions trophy. Chris Gayle can also jump up to the top in this contest as he has picked 17 wickets in ICC Champions trophy. Lasith Malinga can achieve this feat as he has 15 wickets of this champions trophy in his pocket. Also his chances are much brighter than that of Gayle since he is a front pacer + conditions suits pace bowler + he has the ability to attack on new comer right from the first ball. So his chances look bright.Other fast bowler who can achieve this are Anderson(10) and Broad(10). Saeed Ajmal(8) has the best average in Champions trophy and also regarded as the best spinner in the world. May be a spinner replace a spinner. 

Most Matches in ICC Champions Trophy:

Currently it is Jayasuriya(20) who has played the most matches in Champions trophy. This record was most easy to break as Kallis need only 3 matches to equal the recod of Jayasuriya and if South Africa would qualified for the semi final in the presence of Kallis. This record will easily be achieved by Jayawardane(18).

Well these records doesn't matter much but it would make him the best player of ICC Champions trophy (biggest tournament after ODI World Cup) from bat and ball which is really an honor altogether.

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.

Tickets of Indian matches in ICC Champions Trophy are sold out completely

I just watch out in the ICC Champions trophy e-ticketing website and came to know that all tickets of India matches are sold out. The one of Pakistan Vs India took less then an hour to get completely sold. Other than that England Vs Australia is also completely booked, that was expected.

The matches whose tickets were completely sold out are:

It is also surprising to see that one of the semi final ticket is not completely sold out. The ticket for the semi final match ranges from 35-55 euros. Even the team hosting the champions trophy has only one match completely sold out and that is against rivalry Australia. It looks like India will finding a good amount of support in England more than England.

Prediction of IPL-6 Champion

Only four matches are left to decide who will be the champion in IPL-6. Last time it was Kolka Knight Riders who win their first IPL trophy. This year they are standing at seventh position in the IPL-6.

Mumbai and Chennai will get the second chance if they lose to one another in tomorrow's Qualifying Match where as no chance for Sun Risers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals if they lose in the match which is to be played day after tomorrow. Lets look at one of the teams.

Chennai Super Kings:

It is one of the most successful team in IPL. From start to present they have won two out of five tournaments of IPL. They have reach in to finals four times. They have won all the semi-finals up till now except the one against RCB in IPL-2. So there chances look much brighter than the other teams of IPL.  The two players of CSK are not too far to achieve Orange and Purple cap i.e Mike Hussey and Dwayne Bravo respectively.  M.S Dhoni didn;t played a heroic innings in this season up till now. According to the stats this teams looks to knock out all the other teams. But the time will tell! 

Players to watch: M.S Dhoni, Mike Hussey, Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo, Ravichander Ashwin and Ravinder Jadeja

Rajasthan Royals:

They were the champions of the first IPL  under the leadership of  Shane Warne. But after that they have never showed a blasting performance like that. Once again they have got the chance to prove them self as the best. They have got much changes from the start to now. Also the incident of spot fixing on their players have put a psychological pressure on them. It holds many difficulties for RR to win IPL-6. They have to win against the other three teams to lift the trophy.

Players to watch: Shane Watson, James Faulkner, Rahanne, Brad Hodge, Trivedi and Rahul Dravid

Sun-risers Hyderabad:

The city has won an IPL trophy in the past under a leadership of Adam Gilchrist. This time it is Cameron white with a new team-Sun Risers Hyderabad. Though it was Sangakarra in the start of IPL-6 who was given the duty but he was unable to deliver from his bat the required performance. They were regarded as the underdogs and have surprised all the other teams from their performances.  They have achieved more than what they have dreamed off in the start of the season of this year IPL.

Players to watch: Dale Steyn, Cameron white, Darren Sammy, Shikar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma and Parthiv Patel

Mumbai Indians:

Of all the above teams Mumbai Indians have never won an IPL in the past. Also they have never been in to the IPL's final. A promising team having one of the best local players. Also their middle order looks more stable then of the other. Currently Rohit Sharma is doing the captaincy and doing it pretty well with some good batting knocks. The duty of captaincy was first given to Ricky Ponting but he didn't deliver well from his bat. From the past stats this team looks pretty ordinary but their level of game in this year IPL looks at the top then the other remaining teams.

Players to watch: Lasith Malinga, Kieren Pollard, Johnson, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Harbajhan Singh and Pragyan Ojha

My pick out of the four is Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals.

Which team do you think will lift the trophy in this year IPL and become the champions?

Adam Gilchrist signed off from IPL in Gangnam Style

You have seen Gayle, Darren Sammy and other players doing various moves or performing Gangnam style. Yesterday, it was a former Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist who was playing his last match of  IPL and astonished every one by picking first wicket in his very first ball in IPL.
Mumbai Indians who have won the toss and decided to give KXI Punjab batting. Gilly only scored 5 runs and it was unpleasant to see such a fine player ending his career by scoring only 5 in the last match. It is also notified that he has lead Deccan Charges in second edition of IPL and march them victorious in that edition.
Gilly's stats in IPL are:

The way Mumbai Indians middle order collapse it was pretty distinct that King's XI Punjab has full control on the match. But it was not an ideal end for a batsman like gilchrist. He has scored two hundred's in IPL, caught plenty of catches and scored eleven fifties. Also a trophy of IPL. What he doesn't achieved was a single wicket. Alas! he picked the wicket of Harbajhan Singh and signs off permanently from IPL in Gangnam Style. Gilchrist this year performance was not fill with wonderful knocks but his ability of producing performances from others were astonishing. His act of jubilance will always be remembered in IPL history.

 

Ricky Ponting: Will he be consider for Do or Die Matches?

Ricky Ponting who is not in the team 11 of Mumbai Indians currently but is in the news because of his french beard. His team is performing well in IPL and has qualified for the semi-finals in the IPL.

I am not sure to whom he is inspired off in the team as none of them has beard on their faces. Before his beard arrived he was in the news all around the world for his marvelous catch which he took against Dehli Daredevils. But his batting is not up to the standards of Gayle, Pollard, Warner and many of them.Other than him Mumbai Indians have got Kieren Pollard who is a wonderful fielder and a good late order batsman.

It seems like Mumbai Indians will not play with Ponting in do or die games though I am bit surprised why he was not given a chance in the last match against Kings XI Punjab. But who knows he may be chosen for those critical matches. His captaincy can be the edge factor for which he can be consider for this year IPL semis and if qualified for the finals also

He will not create any sort of disturbance like the way Gayle does but he will surely create some panic and shock the opposition  from his fielding and captaincy.



                                 

Pakistan Squad For ICC Champions Trophy 2013

Pakistan
Nasir Jamshed
Mohammad Hafeez
Imran Farhat
Kamran Akmal
Misbah-ul-Haq (c)
Shoaib Malik
Asad Shafiq
Saeed Ajmal
Junaid Khan
M. Irfan
Asad Ali
Wahab Riaz
Umer Amin
Abdul Rehman
Ehsan Adil 
Shahid Afridi, Umer Akmal and Younus Khan are not chosen for the ICC Champions trophy 2013. Many fans will definitely be dishearten from this decision specially the one of Afridi. But we have to belief in the fact that it is not the star power who will bring Champions trophy, its the over all team performance which do so. 


Bowlers are the key for the Champions Trophy:

Bowlers will definitely play a crucial role. In every match the performance of each bowler will matter more than the batsman. Considering the opening pair of Muhammad Irfan and Junaid Khan and in the middle overs Muhammad Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal, Pakistan bowling looks very competent. Apart of these bowlers there are other handy options for Pakistan like Ehsan Adil, Wahab Riaz, Asad Ali and Abdul Rehman who could support the crew. Against West Indies, Pakistan should go with two specialist spinners if conditions are not too good for fast bowlers. 

Bowlers need a bit support from Batsman:

Muhammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed are the pillars of Pakistan batting in this champions trophy. Also a complete charge is given to Asad Shafiq in the middle order who has got the talent to do so but needs to prove it. Chances are that Kamran will go one down in few matches rather than Asad Shafiq. Possiblity of Imran Farhat to play at number three. There is also Umer Amin who can play at lower middle order. He has improved himself a lot in past couple of months lets see how he performs if he get the charge. Shoaib Malik is one of those player who can turn the whole match in both the ways so he needs to work hard as far as his batting is concern. May be Misbah will ask him to bowl few overs also. Pakistan bowling has got full potential to restrict the opponents under 200. But Pakistan batting also need to support bowlers. If Pakistan bowler fails to restrict the opponent under 250 it becomes very much difficult for batsman to chase it which can be the problem against India and South Africa. May be also West Indies because the way Gayle,Pollard, Smith and Bravo are playing in IPL they can give tough time to Pakistan bowling line-up.