It's In TeH GaMe !!!

Seems tough! Their main in-form bowler Ian Butler is on the bed and will be there for the whole series. Anyway, there's still one ray of light that has the power to spark and turn the game for the Kiwis - Daniel Vettori. And one more advantage for them is Tendulkar's injury. I guess that should be at least average to save the series. Other thing is that they have to work hard for victory. If they still can't, then all is lost for sure.

I wonder who would be in for Tendulkar ? Is it going to be Rohit Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Karthik or maybe Ravindra Jadeja. My choice would be clearly Irfan Pathan as he would clearly add a bowling option as well as batting. This would create a balance as well. Also, it's time to get back Ishant back in side. And give some rest to Munaf.

I don't exactly know about the Black Caps when it comes to replacements and their squad as I am not a keen follower of them. Please suggest it yourself.

I would like to end this post with this quote by Rudyard Kipling from his poem 'If' which goes for both the teams :

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

Then and only then would you achieve your golden aim - The Game!

It's surely very disappointing to say the least. But this is how Indian team's luck has been going. Jersey changes...India looses ! The first T20 was in any case a disaster but the 2nd wasn't far behind either. Perhaps, the second T20 made the Indian pace attack a bit weaker with Ishant Sharma getting his shoulder injured while fielding. He never returned back on the field. And another disaster that could be in this whole tour for India is Brendon McCullum's sublime form. He is looking unstoppable. While on the other hand, for the first time both the Indian openers(Viru and Gambhir) looked helpless and of course...scoreless.

One of my friend was so frustrated about this loss that he screamed in my ears: "All the Indian wins now look to me a fluke." And maybe he's right. I was there in the school when the match was being played. I managed to get back home when the last ball was about to be bowled. I looked at the full scorecard and was completely shocked. Back in the game...Pathan was taking this run-up and I was praying the god like anything. But it was all too late. Pathan bowled a short one which in my opinion wasn't a bad one. When the ball was hit in the air, my heart just like McCullum was in my mouth. Luckily his heart came down to it's original position while I was still in a state of shock and was cursing Rohit Sharma for dropping that catch. But it wasn't a easy one to pull off.

What this series win has showed is that the Kiwis are one of the best team in this format and why not...they have beaten the world champions twice, in fact thrice(Yes! In all India-New Zealand encounters) counting the T20 world cup victory. Doesn't seem like India can win this T20 world cup. And I would recommend other Indian fans not to expect from their team. You know why ? Just like the inaugural T20 championship where not many had much hope(including me) of Indian victory, Dhoni and his boys proved them wrong. Similarly, if you ask too much from the team, they are obviously going to be in pressure.

Anyway, coming back to the present tour, I would like to see India hit New Zealand back hard in the ODI series.

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It doesn't happen every day or even every year. First it were the Hussey brothers who batted the Aussies to equalize the equation against the New Zealand setting up a thrilling decider on Friday the 13th. But in my opinion the better ones were the Pathan Brothers who not only saved India from the blushes but also showed why India is one of the best teams in this Twenty20 format.

It wasn't one of the greatest starts for India during bowling to their opposition as well.Irfan Pathan dropped a sitter that was offered by Dilshan when he was yet to open his account. Later Ishant Sharma caught Jayasuriya one handed of Irfan Pathan. He was on a onslaught and he not got out at that time of the game, Sri Lanka could have posted a massive total of over 200 runs. Finally when he got out, things slowed down for Sri Lanka. They ended posting a good total of 171 runs.

During the start of Indian innings when Sehwag and Gambhir got out early, it seemed all over for India. I switched off my T.V. for 10-20 minutes and just to check the position of the game, I started watching the game in Live Simulation on this blog. Yuvraj and Raina shared a partnership of 67 runs between themselves before both of them fell in quick succession. Wickets continued to fall in regular intervals and India were reduced to 116-7 before the Pathan Bros started their onslaught.

Hats off to all four of them (both the Hussey Bros and Pathan Bros) !

Twenty is really the most unpredictable format of the game.

By the way luck is really shinning on Dhoni. Even the tosses go his way and even if they don't, then there are his opposition captains that make a decision favoring Dhoni !

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