Captain Cool:Mahendra Singh Dhoni - Achievements as Captain

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the poster boy of Indian Cricket has seen everything in his life. From being taken to his house in a police van after India's exit from 2007 World Cup to being adored by the whole country for leading the team to victory in the Inaugural World T20. From then on there was no looking back. He has transformed the Indian team into an World beating one and his understanding with coach Gary Kirsten is also one of the reasons for this success. But the most important aspect of the current Indian team is "they don't panic under tough situations and they enjoy each others success". When he was appointed captain for the world T20 many eye brows were raised and only later that all came to know Sachin Tendulkar himself had recommended Dhoni for the captaincy. Here are some the feathers in Dhoni's cap thus far. You could also get some Small Business Loans here. Check it out.



Dhoni's Achievements:

• Team India went on to win the inaugural T20 cricket World Cup 2007
• First ever trilateral ODI series win in Australia versus Australia and Sri Lanka CB Series of 2007-08.
• First ever bilateral ODI series win in Sri Lanka (IDEA CUP) in August 2008.
• He captained Team India to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2008 at home versus Australia. India went on to win the coveted 4 match Test series (2-0).
• Also Team India to win the RBS Cup 2008 at home versus England. India went on to win the coveted 2 match Test series (1-0) and the 7 match ODI series (5-0) with the rest of the remaining two ODIs being abandoned.
• Under his captaincy, India beat Sri Lanka for the second time to clinch the IBDI Fortis Wealthsurance Cup ODI series 2009 (4-1) and the only Twenty20 International, the first Twenty20 International match held in Sri Lanka. This is the second straight series win for Team India in Sri Lanka.
• On the Indian tour of New Zealand in 2009 under his captaincy Indians created history by clinching their first ever ODI series in New Zealand, the National Bank Series 2009 . Before this, Indians had just won a Test series in New Zealand 41 years ago. Team India have comfortably won the 5 match ODI series (3-1) with an ODI being abandoned due to rain.
• M.S. Dhoni is the first Indian Captain to achieve nine consecutive ODI wins (between 14/11/2008 and 05/02/2009). Earlier the record of having eight consecutive ODI wins were owned by Sunil Gavaskar (5)- Kapil Dev (3), Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.
• Previous captains Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly have said that under Dhoni India will reach greater heights and even all time great Richard Hadlee said that "Under Dhoni, India will become the world no.1 team" and he also said that by this 2-0 win that the Australian dominance in the cricket world had finally come to an end.
• As a farewell gift to former Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly who was set to retire after the Nagpur test against Australia, Dhoni asked Sourav Ganguly to lead the team for one last time towards the end of the Australian innings in the last test at Nagpur.
• Dhoni has already been compared to Australia's Steve Waugh for his captaincy skills. In the battle of nerves, the mental toughness accompanied with the cool temperament exhibited by Dhoni just resembles the times of Steve Waugh’s leadership.
• During the ODI Series 2009 in Sri Lanka, Dhoni had equalled the record of Zimbabwe's Andy Flower who has also played 46 ODIs in both roles of Wicket Keeper/Captain.
• Out of the 6 Test matches Dhoni has captained, the Indian Cricket Team has won 5 of them

This is just the begining. More to come from Mahi. The message from the Indian team to the rest of the cricket world is very clear - "Watch out we are coming at you"

IPL Season 2:Final Schedule

After lots of delays and speculation about the second edition of the Indian Premier League, the tournament is set to kick off on April 18th. The final date decided is a week later than the first decided dates. Here is the schedule for all the matches. The timings given here are in IST(Indian Standard Time).

Complete Schedule:
April 18: Mumbai Indians (MI) v Chennai Super Kings (CSK) (4 pm) in Cape Town
Rajasthan Royals (RR) v Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) (8 pm) in Cape Town
April 19: Delhi Daredevils (DD) v Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) (4 pm) in Cape Town; Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) v Deccan Chargers (DC) (8 pm) in Cape Town
April 20: RCB V CSK (8 pm) in Port Elizabeth
April 21: KKR v KXIP (4 pm) in Durban; RR v MI (8 pm) in Durban
April 22: RCB v DC (8 pm) in Cape Town
April 23: CSK v DD (4 pm) Durban; KKR v RR (8 pm) in Port Elizabeth
April 24: KXIP v RCB (8 pm) in Durban
April 25: DC v MI (4 pm) in Durban; KKR v CSK (8 pm) in Cape Town
April 26: RCB v DD (4 pm) Port Elizabeth; RR v KXIP (8 pm) in Cape Town
April 27: CSK v DC (4 pm) in Durban; KKR v MI (8 pm) in Port Elizabeth
April 28: DD v RR (8 pm) in Centurion
April 29: KKR v RCB (4 pm) in Durban; MI v KXIP (8 pm) in Durban
April 30: KKR v RCB (4 pm) in Durban; RR v CSK (8 pm) in Centurion
May 1: MI v KKR (4 pm) in East London; RCB v KXIP (8 pm) in Durban
May 2: RR v DC (4 pm) in Port Elizabeth; CSK v DD (8 pm) in Johannesburg
May 3: KXIP v KKR (4 pm) in Port Elizabeth; MI v RCB (8 pm) in Johannesburg
May 4: DC v CSK (8 pm) in East London
May 5: KXIP v RR (4 pm) in Durban; DD v KKR (8 pm) in Durban
May 6: MI v DC (8 pm) in Centurion
May 7: RCB v RR (4 pm) in Centurion; KXIP v CSK (8 pm) in Centurion
May 8: DD v MI (8 pm) in East London
May 9: DC v KXIP (4 pm) in Kimberley; CSK v RR (8 pm) in Kimberley
May 10: RCB v MI (4 pm) in Port Elizabeth; KKR v DD (8 pm) in Johannesburg
May 11: DC v RR (8 pm) in Kimberley
May 12: RCB v KKR (4 pm) in Centurion; KXIP v MI (8 pm) in Centurion
May 13: DC v DD (8 pm) in Durban
May 14: CSK v RCB (4 pm) in Durban; MI v RR (8 pm) in Durban
May 15: KXIP v DD (8 pm) in Bloemfontein
May 16: CSK v MI (4 pm) in Port Elizabeth; DC v KKR (8 pm) in Johannesburg
May 17: KXIP v DC (4 pm) in Johannesburg; RR v DD (8 pm) in Bloemfontein
May 18: CSK v KKR (8 pm) in Centurion
May 19: DD v RCB (8 pm) in Johannesburg
May 20: RR v KKR (4 pm) in Durban; CSK v KXIP (8 pm) in Durban
May 21: MI v DD (4 pm) in Centurion; DC v RCB (8 pm) in Centurion
May 22: Semi Final 1 in Centurion
May 23: Semi Final 2 in Johannesburg
May 24: Final in Johannesburg

La Liga:Real Madrid - Almeria goals

Real Madrid took on Almeria at the Santiago Bernebeu hoping to cut Barcelona's lead at the top of the table and keep up the pressure on them.

Real Madrid 3 - 0 Almeria
1-0 - Marcelo - Watch
2-0 - Huntelaar - Watch
3-0 - Huntelaar - Watch

Enjoy.............

EPL:Liverpool - Aston Villa goals

Liverpool took on Aston Villa at Anfield looking to close the gap on leaders Manchester United to 1 point. Aston Villa also had their target, to keep fighting for the Champions League spot.

Liverpool 5 - 0 Aston Villa
1-0 - Kuyt - Watch
2-0 - Riera - Watch
3-0 - Gerrard - Watch
4-0 - Gerrard - Watch
5-0 - Gerrard - Watch

Enjoy............

IPL Season 2 not to be played in India

The second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will not be held in India. At the BCCI working committee meeting today in Mumbai, a decision was taken to stage the tournament outside the country "because of the extraordinary situation existing this year." This is what a press release from the IPL board had to say "Under the given circumstances, the BCCI is not in a position to either play a truncated IPL or to cancel the second edition of the IPL. It is a matter of great regret that, in the prevailing atmosphere, where the government is expressing concern for providing security to the IPL matches, the BCCI is left with no other option but to conduct the Indian Premier League in another country"
Now England and South Africa have emerged as the front runners to host IPL. South Africa board chairman has said that they are ready to host the event if approached. And IPL has confirmed that the schedule remains the same. This comes as a huge blow to the fans in India who were eagerly waiting for the month of April. Though the tournament is set to go on, I doubt if it will we as successful as the last years edition. But the IPL board might have had little choice as elections are approaching this year. But those who might be affected are the stakeholders. I doubt if sponsors will be pumping in the cash to the same extent as they did last year. Modi has confirmed that dates and timings of the matches will remain the same. The Indian audiences can watch the matches at 4 pm and 8 pm IST as they did in the inaugural season.

Cricket:Sreesanth out of IPL Season 2

Shanthakumaran Sreesanth will miss this year's IPL due to a stress fracture in his back. He was one of Punjab's key bowlers last season with his 19 scalps making him the tournament's second highest wicket-taker. And his infamous slap gate controversy with Harbhajan Singh cannot be forgotten easily. So with Sreesanth out of this season's IPL we can assured that another Bhaji-Sreesanth row won't erupt. His injury comes as a serious setback for the Kings 11 team whose premier fast bowler Brett Lee is not in best of forms and also down with injury. Coach Tom Moody too said it was a huge blow to his team. It's been a year since Sreesanth last played for India and a string og injuries have kept him out of the national side. Whatever may be IPL Season 2 will be without the energy and enthusiasm of Sreesanth!!!

Federer to become a Dad

Roger Federer is going to become a father soon. Federer and his long time girl friend Miroslava Vavrinec are expecting their first child this summer. This was announced by Federer on his website. Federer and Mirka first met during the 2000 Sydney Olympics and they have been together since then. Mirka is a former WTA tour player and has even played a few mixed doubles matches with Federer himself. And later she quit tennis and become Federer's manager and accompanies him to all the tournaments. This news comes at a time when Fedex is heading back into the courts since Australian open. Hope this just fuels him a bit more. All the best soon to be papa Fedex-Mirka.