India won by 6 wickets with 10 balls remaining.
Indian bowlers banished the memories of 2003 as they started off brilliantly. Super tight bowling and amazing fielding didn’t let the Sri Lanka’s run away at start like usual. After 10 overs they were 31/1 with COW of 42%. Dilshan and Sangakkara looked dangerous before Bhajji got his man as Dilshan was bowled. Fans started worrying as Mahela and Sanga looked at ease against the spinners till Yuvraj broke through at 122/3 after 28 with COW of 44%. Indians chipped away at Lankans and it seemed they would end up with 250 odd before Mahela’s century and a late assault by Perera took them to 274/6 with COW of 57%. Malinga claimed Sehwag and Sachin early as India tumbled to 32/2 after 7 with COW of 38%. Gambhir and Kohli started rebuilding smartly before Dilshan pouched Virat as India reached 115/3 after 22 with COW of 41%. Surprisingly MSD walked out and along with Gambhir he took the fight back to the Lankans. By the time Gambhir fell for 97 India was in total control with score at 227/4 after 42 with COW of 56%. Yuvraj and Dhoni wiped out the target as India became the World Champions again.
India was clear COW favourites but Pakistan had every chance to upset the applecart. India got off to a scorching start and by the time Sehwag fell India was 49/1 after 6 with COW of 57%. Sachin continued playing a stellar innings but all Indian batsmen failed to support him as India tumbled to 205/6 in 42 overs with COW down to 48% before Raina hit some big ones to take India to 260 with COW of 54%. Pakistan’s inning mirrored India’s and apart from Hafeez at the top and Misbah later no one really settled in. Indian fast bowlers kept the line and length right and spinner broke their middle order as Pakistan never had their COW over 50% and eventually were bowled out for 231 runs.
Sri Lanka won by 5 wickets with 13 balls remaining
Clear underdogs, New Zealand lost Baz early as usual but Guptill and Ryder were taking them along nicely with score at 68/1 after 18 with COW of 43% before 3 quick wickets brought it down to 39%. Styris and Taylor appeared to stem the rot but Taylor fell for 36 and Styris for 57 as no one took the responsibility of staying till the end. New Zealand were bowled out for 217 with COW of 41%, about 20 runs short. Sri Lanka started of well before Tharanga fell to a spectacular catch for 30. Sangakkara joined Dilshan and they both hit fifties to set SL on way to a comfortable victory at 153/1 after 32 with COW of 78%. But a mid innings collapse saw them stutter to 185/5 after 43 with COW of 65% before few blows from Mathews saw them home in 48th over for their second consecutive final.
Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets with 63 balls remaining.
England were underdogs for this one and their start didn’t help. They found themselves struggling as they reached 31/2 after 9 with COW of 41%. At the point Trott and Bopara steadied the innings and set together a partnership but their slow batting meant COW never really went up. Trott fell for a well made 86 but barring Morgan’s quick 50 no one else showed the urgency needed as they could only score 229/6 after 50 with COW of 47%. England too opened with a spinner to try and do unto SL what they did to them but SL openers tackled spin and pace very well and both Tharanga and Dilshan hit unbeaten centuries as Sri Lanka wrapped up the match in 40th over to win by 10 wickets.
New Zealand won by 49 runs
SA showed why they were the clear favourites to win this one as they reduced NZ to 16/2 after 6 overs with COW of 40%. However Ryder and Taylor put together a century stand before Taylor fell for 43 with score at 130/3 after 33 with COW up to 44%. Once Ryder fell for 83, barring Williamson no one contributed as NZ ended with 221/8, their COW at 45%. Amla fell to a freak dismissal but Smith and Kallis batted assuredly till Smith fell as SA reached 69/2 after 15 with COW of 57%. No South African batsman was able to score a fifty as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and they collapsed from 108/2 after 24 with COW of 62% to 172 all out in 44th over.
India won by 5 wickets with 14 balls to go
Australia got off to a steady start and despite Watson falling to Ashwin, Ponting and Haddin batted well till Haddin was out with score being 110/2 after 23 overs with COW being 50%. Ponting went on to score a fighting century and D Hussey helped him combat a deadly Zaheer Khan as Australia put up 260/6 with COW of 49%. Indian innings replicated the Australian at the start with Sehwag falling for 15 but fifties by Sachin and Gambhir laying the platform for the Indian chase. However once Sachin fell and Gambhir was run out in a moment of madness, India lost wickets in a hurry as they tumbled to 187/5 after 38 overs with COW of 43%. However a superb fifty by Yuvraj and a fighting 34 by Raina helped India see off the Australians and set up a semi-final with the Pakistanis.
Pakistan won the match by 10 wickets
Hafeez and Gul gave Pakistan the perfect start as they reduced West Indies to 16/3 after 6 with COW of 42%. Sarwan and Chanderpaul staged a mini recovery before Sarwan’s wicket led to West Indies collapsing to 71/8 after 28 overs with COW of 22%. A brief resistance by Chanderpaul and Roach saw them breach 100 before they were bowled out for 112 in 43.3 overs with COW of 10%. 43 runs came off the first 5 overs as Pakistani openers snuffed out any hopes that West Indies might have left. Akmal scored 47 not out and Hafeez sealed the Man of the Match with an unbeaten 61 as their 113 run partnership saw Pakistan crush the Windies by 10 wickets in the 21st over.
India won the match by 80 runs
After Rampaul removed Sachin with a peach of a delivery, it seemed India were on track before Gambhir threw his wicket away to bring India to 53/2 after 9 with COW of 54%. Kohli and Yuvraj put together 122 runs and India seemed to be on their way to 300+ score. But once Kohli fell for 59, no other batsman could even cross 25 as despite Yuvraj’s 113 India yet again collapsed for 268 in 49.1 overs with COW of 53%. After Ashwin removed Edwards early, Smith put together stands with Bravo and Sarwan as West Indies looked to be in a commanding position at 154/2 after 30 overs with COW of 51%. But next 8 wickets fell for just 34 runs as West Indies inexplicably crashed to a 80 run defeat.
Zimbabwe won by 161 runs.
After a slow start Zmbabwe lost both the openers to reach 36/2 after 10 with COW of 53%. But fifties from Taibu, Ervine, and Sibanda laid the platform for a late surge as cameos by Chigumbura, Lamb and Utseya saw them post a healthy 308/6 with COW of 68%. Kenya got off to a disastrous start and were 44/5 after 12 with COW of 21%. None of the batsmen took the responsibility of holding up one end and it was no wonder that Steve Tikolo’s last match ended in a heavy defeat as Kenya were bowled out for 147 in 36 overs despite an entertaining 44* by Odhiambo.
Pakistan won by 4 wickets.
After losing Watson early, Haddin and Ponting really struggled to get going and by the time Ponting was out Australia were 76/2 after 19 with COW of 48%. None of their batsmen managed to score a fifty as their lower middle order just imploded and Australia crashed to 172 all out in 46.4 overs with COW of 33%. Pakistan lost both their openers with score of 45/2 after 9 with COW of 67%. Asad and Younis appeared to steady the innings till a Lee double strike had them wobbling at 96/4 after 23 with COW of 69%. Once Asad and Afridi fell it appeared to be heading for a close finish but Umar and Razzak ensured Pakistan won this match of no fifties with 4 wickets and ample overs to spare.
South Africa won by 206 runs
South African openers put together a solid partnership to thwart any hopes Bangladesh had of early breakthrough. Both them fell in quick succession leaving SA at 107/2 in 23 overs with COW of 52%. Kallis and Du Plessis built upon this platform with fifties as SA ended with 284/8 with COW of 62%. Tsotsobe rocked the Bangladesh top order and soon they were down to 21/4 after 8 with COW of 28%. Barring Shakib, no other batsman even reached double figures as they crashed to 78 all out in 28 overs losing by a huge margin.
Sri Lanka won the match by 112 runs
Lanka lost both their openers with just 19 on board and their COW slumped to 46%. But Jayawardene and Sangakkara put together a solid partnership till former was out as SL were 165/3 after 37 overs with COW of 45%.Wickets tumbled in a flurry and it took as cameo from Angelo Mathews to take them to 265/9 with COW of 57%. NZ lost two quick wickets as they stuttered to 34/2 after 8 with COW of 39%. But none of the batsmen crossed 40 as Sri Lankan spinners took them out one by one to bundle them over for just 153 runs in 35 overs.
Ireland won by 6 wickets with 14 balls remaining.
With 2 early wickets and one batsman retired hurt, Netherlands looked in trouble at 14/2 after 3 with COW of 43%. But RTD walked in and changed the game with his second century of the World Cup. Together with Borren and Barresi, RTD was responsible for Netherlands posting 306, in spite of 4 run outs in 3 balls, with a COW of 57%. But any hopes they had of registering their first win of the World Cup were shattered when the Irish came out swinging. Porterfield and Stirling put together 177 runs in 27 overs before both fell in quick succession as Ireland reached 183/2 after 28 with COW of 53%. Stirling’s century and fifties by Porterfield and N O’Brien made the target look easy and K O’Brien finished things off in 48th over.
England won by 18 runs.
England’s dedication to keeping this World Cup exciting saw them start as slight underdogs against the revitalized Windies. England got off to a decent start and despite 2 quick wickets things were pretty even at 79/2 in 12 with COW of 50%. But none of their batsmen could convert the start in to a measurable inning as they failed to record a single fifty and ended up with just 243 on the board with COW of 48%. Russell and Bishoo claimed 7 wickets between them. In contrast West Indies got off to a flyer and were at one point 91/2 after 12 with COW of 57%. But the curse of forties struck them too as none of their batsmen touched fifty despite three of them reaching forties. Despite Tredwell’s three wickets Russell’s innings of 49 seemed to keep West Indies as favourites but Tredwell removed Russell to spark a collapse as Windies folded up for 225, 18 runs short of a memorable win.
Australia won by 7 wickets with 91 balls remaining.
Canada went off on a flyer as Patel took on the Australian attack with some sensational hitting and at one point they were 82/1 after 11, their COW up by 6% to 41%. However once Patel fell, Zurkari and Bagai played surprisingly slowly and the lower run rate sent their COW on a downwards trend. Both of them failed to reach fifty and rest of the team collapsed trying to accelerate as they were bowled out for 211 with COW of 24%. 183 run opening stand between Haddin and Watson made the rest of the match a formality even though they both fell in quick succession with score at 185/2 and COW of 99%. Ponting failed yet again but his team kept their unbeaten streak alive.
South Africa won by 131 runs.
Eden Gardens, Kolkata (IND) (15 March, 2011)
South Africa got off to a slow start against an inspired Irish side and soon lost both openers to reach 52/2 after 10 and then to 119/5 after 27 overs as their COW went down to 48%. It took at stunning 99 from JP Duminy and a quick 46 from Ingram to take them to a respectable 272/7 with COW of 59%. South African bowlers came in hard at the Irish and despite dropped catches they stumbled to 51/4 after 12 overs with COW of 35%. Wilson was the only guy to cross 20 as Ireland batsmen fell to disappointing strokes and eventually were bowled out for 141 to lose this one comprehensively.
Pakistan won by 7 wickets with 23 balls remaining (D/L method).
Pallekele Int'l Cricket Stadium, Pallekele (SL) (14 March, 2011)
Pakistan were clear favourites for this one. In a match interrupted by rain, Zimbabwe got off to a horrible start and were soon 17/3 after 7 with COW of 38%. Apart from Ervine’s fifty and a fighting 32 by Chigumbura none of them applied themselves and when the rains stopped the game for a long period they were 151/7 in 39.4 over with COW of 27%. D/L revised the target to 162 from 38 overs but that was never going to challenge this Pakistan side. Shehzad continued his consistently poor form by getting out early again but Hafiz and Shafiq took control of the match with fine innings. Hafiz fell for 49 and Afridi for 3 as Pakistan reached 111/3 after 24 overs with COW of 76%. Rest was a formality as Shafiq (73*) and Younis (13*) took them home in 35th over with 7 wickets to spare.
Bangladesh won by 6 wickets with 52 balls remaining
Netherlands were expected to give Bangladesh some fight considering they had shown some spunk throughout the tournament. They got off to very slow start and then lost wickets at regular intervals as they reached 79/4 after 26 with COW of 34% and eventually to 160 all out with COW of 28%. Ten Doeschate’s unbeaten fifty was the only positive of their inexplicable performance. Any hope Netherlands had after getting Tamim for a duck soon evaporated as Imrul and Junaid added 92 runs before Junaid fell at 92/1 with COW of 77%. Imrul went on to score 73* and despite Cooper’s two wickets they coasted home in 41.2 over to win by 6 wickets.
Australia won by 60 runs.
No one expected Australia to start off as slow as they did. When Watson fell they were 38/1 after 8 overs with COW of 66% and then 3 quick wickets left them at 143/4 after27 with COW of 66%. But Pup and Mr. Cricket led recovery with fighting fifties as Australia managed to put up 324/6 with COW of 82%. Kenya lost 3 wickets in 1st 10 overs to be 46/3 with a COW of 6%. Another humiliating defeat seemed imminent. But C Obuya and Mishra had different ideas as their fifties helped Kenya post a respectable 264/6 and lose the match by just 60 runs.
New Zealand won by 97 runs.
New Zealand got off to a decent start but Guptill fell for 17 runs. Baz and Ryder took control of the innings till Ryder fell for 38 with score at 151/2 after 30 with COW of 65%. Baz fell soon after scoring a century but a rapid fire 74 by with able support from Styris, Williamson and Franklin helped them reach 358/6 with COW of 86%.Canada stuttered at the start to be 12/2 with COW of 10 and never recovered from it. Fifties from Hansra and Bagai only delayed the inevitable as Canada folded up for 261/9.
South Africa won by 3 wickets with 2 balls remaining.
This was billed to be the match of Group B. And the way India started it looked like it would be a massacre. By the time Sehwag cut a ball on to his own stumps India were 144/1 after 18 with COW of 60%. Sachin went on to hit a century and at 258/1 after 39, India looked all set for a 350+ score. But sheer implosion and irrational batting saw them lose last 9 wickets for just 29 runs as they collapsed to 296 all out in 48.4 over with COW of 45% and South Africa were back in the game. South Africa started slowly and despite fifties from Kallis and Amla their RRR kept climbing as they reached 126/1 after 27 with COW of 46%. But arrival of AB at the crease changed the game as his 52 off 39 changed the game and by the time he was out SA were 225/4 in 41 with COW of 43%. India were back in front with few quick wickets but brilliant cameos by Botha and Peterson and some shoddy bowling saw South Africa win with 2 balls to spare.
Bangladesh won by 2 wickets with 6 balls remaining.
After their stunning win over South Africa, it seemed that England had finally learnt how to win in the sub-continent. But Bangladesh at home was a much sterner test. England started off very slowly and Bangladesh picked up wickets with their pressure tactics as England were 53/3 after 17 with COW of 42%. Contrasting fifties by Trott and Morgan (who seemed to be batting on a different pitch altogether) took them to 161/3 after 38 with COW of 53%. But another collapse saw them crash to 225 in 49.4 overs with COW of 46%, well short of 250 that they looked like set for. After a blazing start even Bangladesh stumbled to 73/3 after 14 with COW of 55%. Imrul and Shakib steadied the inning and looked set to take them home before another collapse saw them reduced to 170/8 after 40 with COW of 35%. With 56 to win and 2 wickets left Mahmadullah and Shafiul defied all odds to pull off a memorable win in 49 overs.
West Indies won by 44 runs.
With Gayle out injured, Chanderpaul came out to open with Bravo and they started really slowly and when Chanderpaul and Bravo fell in 26th over the score was 92/1 with COW of 43%. Sarwan followed soon but Pollard walked in at number 5. Smith scored his maiden century but it was Pollard who blazed away with 94 off 55 balls as he single handedly pushed West Indies’ score to 275 with COW of 56%. Ireland looked like they were in all sorts of trouble at 86/3 after 21 with COW of 36%. But Joyce and Wilson kept them in the game and it took a horror decision by the Umpire to turn the match totally in West Indies’ favour who mopped up the tail to bundle them out for 231.
Sri Lanka won by 139 runs
Dilshan (144) and Tharanga (133) put together 282 runs for the opening wicket completely demolishing the Zimbabwean bowling attack. By the time Tharanga was out in 45th over their COW was already 71%. Next 5 wickets fell in a heap as SL ended at 327/6 with COW of 73%. Zimbabwe needed a good start and they got it from Taylor (80) and Chakbava (35) put together 116 runs till Murali bowled a beauty to bowl Chakbava in 20th over with Zimbabwe’s COW at 35%. No other batsman crossed 20 as Dilshan and Murali picked 7 wickets between them and skittled Zimbabwe for 188 in 39th over.
India won by 5 wickets with 81 balls remaining.
Netherland started off slowly, almost excruciatingly and by the time their opening partnership ended they were 57/1 after 16 overs, their COW down by 4% to 35%. No player managed to cross 30 and at one point they were down to 136/7 with COW of21% before a quickfire 38 by Borrens helped them reach 189 with COW of 26%. The way India started it looked like the game will be over in 20 overs. But Seelaar had other ideas. He picked up 3 wickets to reduce India to 82/3 and they struggled to reach 139/5 after 25 with COW of 87%. One more wicket and Netherlands would have been in to the India tale. But a gritty 51* by Yuvraj and a composed 19* by MSD saw India home in 37th over.
New Zealand won by 110 runs.
COW Analysis: Once again Baz fell in the first over and HOW played an uncharacteristically show innings. But a fifty from Guptill and his partnership with Taylor meant NZ managed to stay in game. It was all looking goof at 110/2 but in 2 overs they were down to 119/4 after 30 with COW of 44%. They looked set for a score of around 250 but Taylor and Oram had different plans. 100 runs came off the last 5 overs and 141 off last 10 as NZ ended with 302/7 with COW of 59%. Stunned Pakistan never really got going and were soon reduced to 70/6 after 18 with COW of 21%. Cameos by U Akmal, Gul and a blazing fifty by Razzak only raised false hopes as they were eventually bowled out for 192 in 41.4 overs.
Canada won by 5 wickets with 27 balls remaining
With both teams struggling to make any impact or impression we expected a tough scrap for a first win. But Kenya refused to fight. They started off losing wicket in the first over and stumbled to 57/5 after 15 with COW of 38%.it took fighting 51s from Mishra and T Odoyo to take them to 198 all out in 50 overs with COW of 38%. Canada didn’t start particularly well either and were soon 56/3 after 12, their COW down to 57%. But fifties by Bagai and Hansra saw them fight back and by the time Hansra was out they were 180/4 after 43 with COW of 80%. Then formalities were completed when Canada wrapped up wth match in 45.3 overs to win by 5 wickets.
India won by 5 wickets (with 4 overs to spare)
Zaheer Khan picked up 2 wickets in 2 overs and Ireland suddenly didn’t look like the team that beat England. Porterfield and Niall took them to 120/2 after 26 with COW of 42% before 3 quick wickets saw them totter to 165/6 with COW of 36% and eventually crash to 207/10 with COW of 31% and Yuvraj picked 5/31. Sehwag departed early and Gambhir followed him soon after but Sachin and Kohli stablised the innings. However Sachin was out LBW to Dockrell and Kohli run out as India stuttered to 102/4 after 24 with COW of 71%. Dhoni and Yuvraj batted sensibly and took India closer to victory and once Dhoni fell to Dockrell too it was mere formality that Yusuf Pathan finished off in a flurry.
England won by 6 runs with 14 balls remaining.
Strauss expected his team to bounce back from defeat but 2 wickets in first over deflated them. Peterson picked up another and soon they were 15/3 after 5 with COW of 42%. 99 run partnership between Trott and Bopara seemed to revive their innings before Tahir ran through their lower middle order as they crashed from 112/3 to 171/10 and the COW from 40% to 27%. Smith and Amla gave Saffers good start and soon at 63/0 after 14 they had the game wrapped up with COW of 82%. But 3 wickets between 17-20th overs and then again between 32-34th overs gave England a sniff of hope and a testing spell by Broad wrapped it up as South Africa crashed to 165 all out.
West Indies won by 9 wickets.
Bangladesh were expected to give a tough fight to WIndies and may be even win this one. But no one told this to their players. Tamim was out in the very first over. And that started a procession. No batsman applied himself and to rub salts in their wounds it was their spin friendly track that hurt them the most as Benn picked 4 wickets for 18 runs. After 13 overs they were 49/5 with COW of 34% and within 6 overs they had folded up for 58 runs in 18.5 overs with COW of 8%. Even though Smith fell for just 6, Gayle smashed 37 runs as West Indies coasted home in 12.5 overs.
Is the entire IPL fixed?(4 votes)
