So World Cup 2011 has started and is Rocking. Well I promised to you that I will try to blog regularly during WC, but unfortunately I was not keeping well for around 10 days and due to lack of time it?s seriously not possible to blog regularly, but I will try to write Blogs may be weekly and if possible say twice in a week or so till the World Cup Ends.
After the hype, a long wait, a grand opening ceremony, WC2011 finally began in Mirpur on 19thof Feb 2011. It was a classic opener featuring the world cup favorites India and home favorites Bangladesh. When Veeru hit the first ball of Shaiful Islam for a boundary through the off side, it made us believe that this World Cup is gonna be something special.
Well it was Virendra Sehwag?s classy 175 which was the main highlight of the first match of the World Cup. Although Bangla Tigers showed some fight and made close to 300 runs, the result was virtually decided during the dinner break once India scored 370 runs. Day 2 saw two one side affairs.??First one was at Chennai were NewZeland defeated Kenya before most of the youngsters were awake in India.??The second match of the day involved some local interest as Sri Lanka opened their World Cup campaign against the minnows Canada at the scenic ground of Hambantota. The Lankans did not disappoint the packed audience and made an easy meat of the Canadians.
Day 3 saw the world champions take the center stage and as expected they recorded an easy victory against the depleted Zimbabwe side. It was Day 4 that really brought the World Cup alive after some dull matches, it was England vs Netherlands and most cricket pundits predicted an easy victory for the Poms. But Dutch had other ideas and batting first they scored more than 290 runs courtesy a classy century from the promising Ryan tenDoeschate. Everyone was expecting an upset during mid innings break but English batsman calmly guided their team home but it was too close for comfort for the Englishmen.
It was the unpredictable Pakistanis who were in action on Day 5 and as expected they did not allow Kenyans to make much noise. Day 6 saw the first real big match of the tournament when Proteas clash against the West Indians. Proteas clinical performance with bat and ball ensured them an easy victory against the Caribbean boys. Day 7 was tipped as the day for the clash between two Trans-Tasman rivals namely the Aussies and the Kiwis. However, it was Australia who won that battle quite comfortably beating Kiwis by the comprehensive margin of 8 wickets. Day 7 had some happy memories for co-host Bangladesh when they defeated Ireland by 27 runs in a close contest at Mirpur.
As captioned by the broadcasters, it was a total ?Weekend Dhamaka? for the cricket lovers. Day 8 and 9 were Saturday and Sunday and Cricket fans experienced two breathtaking clashes over the weekend. On Saturday it was a clash between two sub-continental giants, the SriLankans and the Pakistanis. It was really a tight game which Pakistan won by a margin of just 11 runs. It was kind of an upset as very few were expecting Pakistanis to beat the Lankans in their own backyard.
The day was Sunday when the whole Cricketing world experienced one of the best matches in the World Cup history between ?Team India? and England. It was a see-saw affair with both the sides scoring more than 330 runs and packed house at Chinnaswamy stadium witnessed something that had never happened before on Indian soil. An overseas player eclipsing GOD?s i.e SACHIN?s hundred in INDIA. And yes the magic happened in Bangalore with Andrew Strauss scoring one of the best centuries ever made in the World Cup history. Unfortunately the knock was not enough to take his side home and India who were on the brink of defeat till the 42nd?over, were able to clinch a ?TIE? in Bangalore. The result was not satisfactory for the avid Indian Cricket fans but still they took it especially after the Strauss?s heroics.
Day 10 once again saw two boring one-sided affairs where Zimbabwe destroyed Canadians and the West Indies did the same to Netherlands. Day 11 saw another outstanding performance by the other co-hosts, Sri Lanka when they defeated Kenyans by 9 wickets in Colombo. Day 12 was the day of Upsets when the Irish boys beat England in one of the classics at Bangalore. Batting first England scored 325 odd runs and was in sight of a comfortable victory with Ireland struggling at 111/5, but from nowhere Kevin O?Brien took the crease and scored the fastest hundred in all World Cup events and took Ireland to a famous victory leaving the dreams of Englishmen shattered.
Day 12 saw proteas enjoying another easy ride against the Dutch boys. But the second game was far more interesting. Termed as the Mismatch of the Tournament, spirited Canadians dismissed Pakistan for only184 runs and were on the way of doing another Ireland. But a power packed bowling performance saved the day for the mercurial Pakistanis. Day 13 had some good matches on display, but sadly both the games were boring one-side affairs where Kiwis beat the Zimbabwains by 10 wickets and West Indies repeated the feat in Mirpur by dismissing Bangladesh for only 58 and scoring the target by losing only 1 wicket.
Day 14 featured clash between two cricketing heavy weights namely Sri Lanka and Australia. Unfortunately it was ?Rain? which had the last laugh in Colombo when the match was brilliantly poised. It was the first abandoned match of the World Cup 2011. So first 15 days of the World Cup 2011 had everything for the Cricket fans, a Veeru Hurricane, a century by GOD, two hat-tricks, an Irish upset over England and last but not the least a ?TIE?. Get ready for more fun, excitement and some high quality cricket as the tournament reaches its climax