Story SouthAfrica's International Diary(ICC CT 2009) - Boucher tries to Steady the Ship

[saladguy]

India have Zaheer to thank for the win. With just six to win off three I feel that the Aussies were too careless but I guess that they had to go for it and therefore risk some wickets in the process.

 

[treva]

Nice win for the Indians, although Australia will be very disappointed to crumble under the pressure. Very good death bowling from Khan securing the win.

Great stuff as usual Shantanu.

 

[Roofrom50]

Haddin, White and Clarke all let us down. If those 3 men conceeded a couple of more runs, ecspecially Clarke, then Aus could of easily won the match.

Good update mate as usual

 

[jarl]

Great story Shantanu it's really impressive. :hpraise

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Great story Shantanu it's really impressive. :hpraise

Thanks a lot Jarl and nice to see you back..

Also thanks to all for posting ..coming up the Presentation Ceremony

 

[Roofrom50]

Looking forward to the presentation ceremony, Keep up the good work mate

 

[mattfb]

Top win for India, Khan kept his cool and the Aussies couldn't handle the pressure. Hussey really had to stay in if the Aussies were to win. H Singh bowled great and Marsh batted awesome but it wasn't enough to see the Aussies home.

Great writing and gfx Shan, this is a superb story. kiu!

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Ravi Shastri: Hello and welcome to the presentation ceremony for the exciting match between Australia and India, where the host were fail short by just 6 runs. Though around 560 runs only were scored today, there was lot of entertainment today inclduing brilliant innings by Yuvraj Singh and then a superb maiden century by Shaun Marsh followed by last over hatrick by Zaheer Khan. So lets get back to the presentation. First of all I would like to call the losing skipper Ricky Ponting to have a small chat.

Ravi Shastri: Well Ricky, tough luck but match could have gn either way..isnt it?

Ricky Ponting: Yes Ravi, we fell just a shot away from victory but good bowling in the depth by ZaHeer Khan and Harbhajan Singh under lot of pressure. We had a good partnership between Marsh and me but afterwards we lost wickets at regular intervals which led to our downfall.

Ravi Shastri: Do you think the bowlers could have done a bit better?

Ricky Ponting: Yeah, I think our bowlers were not on target today and we gave some 10-20 runs more. It was only Bracken who bowled well and other really fail. While in contrast the Indian bowlers were much more better and stuck to the line and length.

Ravi Shastri: Thanks Ponting and good luck for the next match.

Ricky Ponting: Cheers mate, Thank You.

Ravi Shastri: Now I would like to call up on the stage the victorious Indian skipper MS Dhoni.

Ravi Shastri: Well MS, a great thriller and again the Indians kept their calm and cool and won the game...what you think about the game?

MS Dhoni: Right Ravi, the pitch was brilliant and there were a lot of runs in stored for the batsman. We didnt get the best possible start but Gauti and Yuvi in the middle did very well. But at one stage I though we were some 10-15 runs short but Zak, Bhajji and Ishant bowled really well in the last crucial overs and Zaheer used all his experience in the last over to win us the game.

Ravi Shastri: When they needed 6 runs of the last three balls did you expected India to win?

MS Dhoni: Yes, I had a lot of confidence in Zaheer Khan and he lived up to it. Well as we saw one wicket can change the game and the wicket of Marsh was very useful and since we picked up wickets at regular interval. And when they needed 6 runs of the last three balls Zak knew what he had to do and he did it and took the last three wickets in three balls and winning the game for India.

Ravi Shastri: Thanks a lot MS and good luck of the next match.

MS Dhoni: Thanks Ravi, I would like to thank all the supporters for cheering us in Melbourne and hope you do the same in our next games.

Ravi Shastri: Well, ladies and gentlemen know time for the man of the match. We saw some brilliant performances from Guatam Gambhir, Ricky Ponting, a brilliant hundred from Shaun Marsh and a hatrick from Zaheer Khan but at the end we decided to give the award to Yuvraj Singh for his knock of 82 runs in 79 balls which helped India post a match winning total on the board.

Ravi Shastri: Congrats Yuvi, again a brilliant innings, less than a run a ball, and more important a victory for India. What are you comments on the win?

Yuvraj Singh: Its a complete team effort win. We played well and outplayed the Aussies when we needed. At one stage the partnership between Marsh and Ponting was taking the game away from us but our bowling did really well to restrict the scoring and take wickets at regular intervals.

Ravi Shastri: As MS said you fell some 10-15 runs short. How was the pitch?

Yuvraj Singh: The pitch was brilliant, it was a batsman's paradise and the ball at the start was stopping and coming on the bat but later it came nicely on the bat and the shots became more easier. But in the second innings it just changed a little and supported the spinners more and that's why Bhajji got some turn and troubled their batsman.

Ravi Shastri: Thanks Yuvraj and good luck for the next match.

Yuvraj Singh: Thanks Ravi.

Ravi Shastri: So that concludes the Presentation Ceremony from Melbourne and hope to see yo for the next match between South Africa and England still then good bye.

 

[Jaztheman]

Great interview and graphics, Shan. Hopefully you can win against England and I'll definitely be cheering you on. I thought Singh would get Man of the Match, which he deserved.

Awesome presentation.

 

[Roofrom50]

Fantastic presentation ceremony. Loved the wagon wheel, it's brilliant mate.
Surprised to see Singh get the MOM award, as i thought Khan could of taken it out with his hattrick at the end there

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Fantasy Cricket

Here are the Fantasy cricket results after the end of Match One. Reps to the top three.

1)Dez: 471
2)Funknath: 436
3)Roofrom50: 418

4)FeelinBlue: 401
5)highlander999: 300
6)Jaztheman: 259
7)Zohaib: 192

Coming up: South Africa vs England Live from Sydney​

 

[Roofrom50]

wooo yay i get reps haha. Congradulations to both Dez and Funknath for their reps as well beating me

 

[mattfb]

Gutted I just missed out on the top 3 but at least I beat Tom and Jaz Nice work with the presentation ceremony, simply amazing!! The graphics in this story are mind blowing.

Great stuff mate, kiu!

 

[Dez]

Haha I am good.

Great story Shan, extremely well written and presented.

 

[Funknath]

Nice pres and update mate. Congrats to Dez.