'Our top moments of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011'

If it was a Vijay spoiler the last time around in the Carribean , it has become a superstar special in the subcontinent this yr , with the icing on the cake being India winning the world cup after 28 yrs ! :) The World cup which saw the top 8 teams make it to the knock outs , had its share of drama as well ! The upsets were there , The big teams choked , but made it through eventually ! So , here comes the first actual post from this duo , 

"The top 10 moments of the Cricket World Cup 2011 ! :) "

10. ’ The Group B cycle ‘

The most unnoticed thing , this world cup ! And , who else but  Mandira Bedi (Stop blushing , Partner ! ;) :P ) to point it out ! 

India beat Bangladesh …. Bangladesh beat Ireland…… Ireland beat England…….England beat South Africa …. and finally South Africa beat India!! 

9. ‘Charmed life’

 The most embarrassing knock  the God has ever played ! “Leading a charmed life “ , consisting of a leg before wicket ( LBW :P ) referral going his way ( that looked absolutely plumb to the naked eye ) , a stumping ( Which KAMRAN AKMAL DID ! Omg…..:P :P ) & the lack of slow motion cameras saving him ( with Kamran Akmal doing a Premgi in the background……..Enna koduma Sir idhu ! :'(  ),and 4 dropped catches ( Kamran ( obviously ) , Umar ( His younger bro , no wonder ! ) , Younis khan and Misbah-Ul-Haq ( No comments :P ) ) and a man of the match award to go with it !

8.‘In Vain ‘ ( Ponting 104 vs India , Jayawardane 103 vs India , Ryan Tendoeschate 119 vs England )

Not a lot speak about ! :P 3 solid hundreds from 3 accomplished batsmen…….which couldn’t help their teams to win ! :P 

7. The ‘Double’ Hatrick !

2 bowlers………Both bowl toe crushing Yorkers faster than u could even blink an eye ( 145 , it seems ! lol , India’s fastest bowler struggles to bowl at 130 ! )……..against 2 cricketing nations whose cricket has gone from bad to worse……..

The result : 2 hatricks !

a)      Lasith Malinga (6 fr 38)  vs Kenya

b)      Kemar Roach ( 6 fr 27 ) vs Netherlands

  

6) From 188/5 in 44 to 302/7 in 50..!!!!! :o 

If it was happy birthday for Ross Taylor…it could have been happy retirement day for Shoaib Akhtar!!!! The ball flew out of the park in all possible directions and the Pakistanis couldn’t stop the run flow….The total posted by the Kiwis was enough for the Pakistani batting line-up to collapse and it turned out to be a one-sided encounter….:P 

5. The GOD walks ……into the People’s Hearts !! 

 

We have always known Sachin for his elegant cover drives and the beautiful straight drives. Well there turned out to be something more about him we can appreciate during his match against the West Indies in Chennai ( which I saw in action and my partner did not ! yes J look at his face ! lol :P ). The very 1st over and Sachin got a short pitched ball from Ravi Rampaul. There seemed to be a niche but the umpire was not convinced….His 100^th ton was at stake…..But Sachin walked ! The entire Crowd stunned ! And for the 1st time a batsman …maybe after Sir Don Bradman gets a standing ovation on getting out for single digit..!!!!

And Now,

We thought of putting the title as “The God walks , The Dog dosen’t ! “ 

An amazing show of sportsmanship ( or the lack of it :P ) ,  from the Great “Ricky Ponting” , when though he edged the ball clearly ( and Kamran Akmal caught it ( in other words , did not drop it ! ) ) , did not walk until he was given out by the 3^rd umpire , which set it up nicely for the media and the former captains to have a crack at this poor soul ! :P

4. RSA Choke...........Again !

Jacob Oram : I am 6 foot 6 and I think he is 4 foot 6 ! , on being asked abt his inclusion in the Newzeland team in place of Kane Williamson after the quarter final against South-Africa .

Hashim Amla cuts , The ball on to the boot of the keeper Mccullum and straight into the hands of the 1^st slip ( Vettori )! Are they starting to CHOKE ?!

The ‘C’ word is back ! A needless shot from Jacques Kallis to the tallest man on the ground at that moment who literally pockets the catch out of nowhere and the rest of the team fall like a pack of words……..

Implies :- ?!

RSA eliminated for the 5^th time in a World cup knock out game and Newzealand enter the semi finals of CWC 2011 ! 

FEW MORE CHOKES THIS WORLD CUP :

RSA choked against England chasing a modest target of 167 in the group stages while India lost 9 wickets for just 26 runs against the same South Africans in another Group-B game!

 3.'The KHAN of all seasons!!' :P

Mohali , Durban and Now Bengaluru !

If it is McGrath for Australia it’s surely ZAK for India!! Against England was the match India had found their wicket taking bowler…Brought back into the attack during the batting power play he struck right when needed....right on the money and 3 precious batsmen were on their way back!! The highlight was the beautiful Yorker delivered to Strauss who had no idea where the ball was..!!! :P (Oh well….the match was tied anyways :P)

 2.The Irish Party In Bengaluru !

Bengaluru turned Party town this little known Irish man , Kevin O Brien , feasted on a mediocre English bowling , which less than 2 months ago demolished a famed Aussie batting line up to pocket the Ashes !

He was always regarded as a man of great capability….but he was still in need of a match winning knock to prove his worth which was around the corner versus England ( They say , Ireland vs England is like India vs Pakistan  ! ) The bowling attack of the English was made to look stupid and Kevin got to his 100 in just 50 balls!!! With this knock he made sure Ireland successfully chased the highest total in cricket world cup!! 

ANOTHER TIDBIT WE CAME ACROSS : Ed Joyce played for England vs Ireland in the 2007 world cup and now for Ireland vs England in this edition and was in the winning side in both the matches ! :P

1. ‘ Cometh the hour , Cometh the man ‘ ! 

He has done it once again ! Dharamshala was repeated !

Mahendra Singh Dhoni ,  the man of the hour ! A six ( and the eventual ‘Rajini style’ bat twirl after that ) , that made even the God cry (Not to forget Yuvraj and Bhajji ( who has come a long way from being a hard core slapper to a man with some emotions ! , A Sweet revenge for Sreesanth ! ) and got India its 2^nd world cup title ! J Captain Cool ( with an average of 25 before this match and 150 odd runs to his credit , this world cup )proves his mettle with a blazing 91* which saw him come up the order (ahead of the in form Yuvraj ) and answer his critics in a way which we all loved :D