India vs. Australia in cricket never disappoints.

India were chasing a colossal total of 328 runs and have just lost the match making it an all co-host finale.

India, having chased massive totals against the same opponent earlier, could have won the match.

Today, many people watched the Indian team disappoint them. And some of them were non-cricket fans, too –

The Crowd Outside Shops

Crowd watching cricket match outside shop

Shops selling electronic gadgets and even a laundry shop that has TV on would have witnessed massive crowds gathered outside.

Sceptics

Even the sceptics would catch this match with dedication

Sceptics are everywhere when it comes to matches involving India, but today even they would not have want to leave their seats until the match was over.

Women

Female cricket fans would be cheering the Indian cricketers

Most women are not popular for being cricket fans, but the intensity of today’s match would have encouraged them to catch the game live.

Beggars on Streets

Beggars will cease to exist today on streets

Don’t you feel empathetic when you see beggars every day alongside roads? Well, you wouldn’t have witnessed that today, for even they were busy watching the match somewhere.

Pakistani Audience

Fans in Pakistan will watch the India vs. Australia game

Pakistani fans would have rooted for Australia. Though they did not get to burst the ‘Mauka Mauka’ firecrackers against India, they would have utilised it now. If you are looking for celebrations, heading to our ‘friendly’ neighbouring country would be advisable.

Indian Immigrants Living in Australia

Indian fans residing in Australia will support the Men in Blue, too

Indians, who have migrated to India, were present at the SCG to catch the game live or watch it at their home definitely supporting their country.

Rahul Gandhi

Even Rahul Gandhi will not want to miss this match, wherever he is

“Where is Rahul Gandhi?” has been trending for quite some time now. We know he was watching the India-Australia match today.

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During tomorrow’s India vs Australia match, you can expect massive scoring, records being broken and sledging, to name a few.

With 70% of stadium tickets bought by Indians, Australia captain Michael Clarke was forced to send out an SOS Tweet to his fellow countrymen for support.

I call on all Australian cricket lovers to paint the SCG gold on Thursday. We need your support. #goldout

— Michael Clarke (@MClarke23) March 20, 2015

Former Australian pace bowler Brett Lee believes that the hosts will outperform the Asian team, in the process setting up the final clash against New Zealand.

However, with the Indian fans painting the Sydney Cricket Ground blue, MS Dhoni and his men will get the much-needed motivation to beat Australia in its own backyard. Rohit Sharma appeared confident before this important clash, as he spoke to the media, “Of course we can win, no question about it. We know how to play big games. Spinners have been vital, responsibility will be on openers.”

India will rely on its openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan for a steady start, making batting simpler for the middle-order batsmen including Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan’s opening partnership will be crucial

Australia, on the other hand, would be confident playing at home and try hard to get one step closer to winning their fifth World Cup.

The Aussies bowling spearhead Mitchell Johnson has vowed to sledge Indian batsmen at the SCG tomorrow. The audience at the ground and the one watching from home can anticipate a few verbal spats between players of the two squads.

Mitchell Johnson said he would take up sledging against Indian players

It was the recently concluded tri-series when Australian opening batsman David Warner engaged in a verbal duel with India’s Rohit Sharma during an ODI match, for which he was penalised by the ICC. The outcome of it was Warner keeping out of any kind of heated verbal interacting with his opponents. This was when Mitchell Johnson put his hand up saying he won’t withhold from exchanging heated words.

India, too, are said to be fine with sledging during the match, but vowed to not cross the line.

Former Australian pace bowler Stuart Clarke has predicted Ravichandran Ashwin as being the most difficult man to tackle for Australia in tomorrow’s bout against India.

Ravichandran Ashwin’s 10 overs against Australia would be crucial

After its win against Bangladesh in the quarter-finals, India successfully managed to bowl out an opponent for the seventh consecutive match. Indian bowlers would be looking to take the tally to number eight tomorrow against one of their bitter rivals.

The Australian opening pair of Aaron Finch and David Warner has not performed at its best potential, which would be a plus side for India. Nevertheless, their middle-order batting has risen to the occasion whenever needed and getting them out would be the key.

Australian opening partnership of Aaron Finch and David Warner has not really clicked

India’s pace attack comprising Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami possess the ability to get ten wickets and they have shown it in the prior seven occasions. Knowing whether they would be able to repeat the feat tomorrow will have to wait.

Though Australia, as hosts and a much superior team as compared to India, looks likely to win this match, India will definitely put up a strong fight and hope to retain the World Cup for the first time.

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Sunday’s matches – West Indies vs. UAE and Pakistan vs. Ireland – decided the line-up for the ongoing ICC World Cup quarter-finals.

Where West Indies convincingly beat UAE, Pakistan took their own time to strike the final blow against Ireland.

Though it was an easy win for West Indies, they had to chase whatever the target set inside 36 overs. They managed to do that in the 31^st over after losing 4 wickets.

Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, was extremely pleased with the result and must have revelled in his own individual performance of 4 for 27.

West Indies captain Jason Holder celebrates a wicket

“We needed to win by a certain margin. We had to show positive intent. We knew we had to finish the game inside 36 overs and we did it”, is what he said during the post-match presentation ceremony.

The final Pool match between Pakistan and Ireland saw Pakistani wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed become the first man since 2007 World Cup to score a century for his team in this major tournament.

Sarfraz Ahmed scored an unbeaten century against Ireland

The conclusion of yesterday’s matches meant that the World Cup has its eight quarter-finalist teams – South Africa, Sri Lanka, India, New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and West Indies – that will compete against one another for the coveted prize.

CONFIRMED, We have our 8 quarter-final teams & 4 brilliant #cwc15 matches coming up! MORE – http://t.co/4toFMH6x0q pic.twitter.com/oUYBeFnfEV

— ICC (@ICC) March 15, 2015

The first quarter-final match will be played on 18^th March between Sri Lanka and South Africa. Defending champions India will take on their Asian adversary Bangladesh on the 19^th in Melbourne. Australia, the four-time former World Cup champion, will face Pakistan on March 20. The quarter-finals will end with co-host New Zealand taking on West Indies on the 21^st of March in Wellington.

Where the post-match programme Cricket Live yesterday saw the cricket legends predicting winners of the quarter-finals as South Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand, it will only be on the match day when we get to witness as to which teams handle the pressure better.

In case any of the quarter-final / semi-final matches gets abandoned or tied, the team that finished in a higher position than their opponent would move on to the next stage of the competition.

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Cricket, in India, is religion and Sachin Tendulkar is God.

Hockey, unfortunately, took a backseat long time ago and cricket entered into the life of the youth and nothing has changed much.

Even to this day, parents prefer handing their children a plastic bat and plastic ball as toys than small cutlery items.

As you age, cricket grips your soul like no other sport. Here are signs that your love for cricket can never experience demise –

Obviously, as a child and in the teenage, you played a lot of cricket within your residential compound, where you broke many windows and got yelled at.

Gully cricket is a trend among the youth

Whenever you did not play cricket, you watched cricket on TV with your family or with your close friends. When with family, you had the Indian flag; with friends, beer and something to complement it.

Watching cricket match with friends and family members is fun

If you work on the day India played a cricket match, you have one tab on the computer showing the live match score. In case you had a cooler office, you watched the live telecast of the match with other employees.

Watching cricket with office colleagues is thrilling

The doors or walls in your house have posters of Indian or international cricketing legends. Obviously, you had an argument with your parents about it, but they eventually gave in.

Your doors and walls have posters of cricketers

Other than posters, you have Indian team jerseys, probably ranging by different eras.

Indian team jerseys of different era

You also collect cricket stubs of the matches that you have attended personally. Carrying them in wallet could be risky which is why you have a secret stash at your home.

Collecting cricket match tickets pave way for good/bad memories

Location does not stand as a barrier when it comes to your love for cricket. You make it a point to travel to different Indian states or even overseas to watch your favourite players in action.

You travel long distances to watch a cricket match

During a high profile cricket match, your social media profile contains a series of updates. This tends to annoy people in your friends list, who are as enthused but do not promote their excitement online.

You upload social media updates during high profile cricket matches

Whether you own a smartphone or an iPad, cricket is one of the first games that you download. The game becomes your travel companion if you have to commute long distance for work.

Your smartphone and iPad devices carry cricket games

You make it a point to never miss a cricket event. You even watch the pre-match and post-match sessions, for you consider them informative. The statistics that the panel provides get registered in your brain forever.

pre-match and post-match sessions are informative

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Team India’s lacklustre performance in the recent past has made it vulnerable and other teams confident to put on a great show in the upcoming ICC World Cup.

That being said, many teams are already counting out the defending champions and focusing on their own strengths. India not looking confident enough presents other teams an opportunity to win the most coveted prize in cricket.

England, New Zealand and especially South Africa would be fancying their chances this year. South Africa, who are also referred to as chokers because of their inability to pull off matches later in the competition, would have their sights on the World Cup.

15-member squad for South Africa

They have had a phenomenal cricketing year thus far (also 2014) and they would want to get rid of the ‘chokers’ tag once and for all. So what exactly are South Africa’s chances at winning the trophy?

In the ICC rankings, team South Africa is placed at number three in ODIs. Eight members out of their 15-member squad have appeared in the previous World Cup matches.

Out of these eight men, two players – AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla – are in sublime form. Where the former recently recorded the fastest century in ODI history, the latter cannot let go of his habit of playing consistent innings, regardless of the opponents.

Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers will play a key role

Other teams cannot ignore their bowlers either. Dale Steyn is still one of the most ferocious bowlers in cricket (ODI, Test and T20). Supporting him are Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and Imran Tahir.

Basically, the squad is full of match-winners. However, their habit of crumbling under pressure situations is something that needs working. South Africa has already risked it by including half-fit wicketkeeper Quinton De Kock.

The team is gelled well together and is seen as one of the frontrunners for winning the World Cup. South Africa played 19 One-Day Internationals in 2014 of which they won 12 matches. Such a result means that the players are physically and psychologically strong and can bring home the trophy for the first time since their inclusion in cricket.

South Africa is placed in Pool B. Other teams competing alongside them in this pool are West Indies, India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Ireland and UAE. They play their first match at Hamilton against Zimbabwe, which they are slated to win.

Pool B in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup

If the team manages to rid the psychological barrier that has often resulted in them being labelled as ‘chokers’, South Africa can really take home the trophy after participating in the tournament on prior six occasions.

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The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is going to be like no other!

Why you may ask?

Amitabh Bachchan Cricket Commentary!

Well, Big B just decided to promote his upcoming Hindi feature film, ‘Shamitabh’ in a very unique style that is set to enthral audiences worldwide!

Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan, 72-year veteran actor, who needs no introduction for his unsurpassable contribution to Indian Cinema is set to join seasoned commentators like Harsha Bhogle, Kapil Dev and other noted commentators for the highly-anticipated February 15 cricket match between India and Pakistan.

Kapil Dev

Big B as we all lovingly call him is already flustered at this sudden development, and is spending most of his time cramming cricket terminologies to get things right.

He will be making a commentary debut along with retired cricketer and fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar. Both these men are also famous for their deep toned voices that are a delight to listen to.

‘I am very excited about the live commentary sessions and I will be joined by Mr. Harsha Bhogle and Mr. Kapil Dev. I am already taking cricketing tips from them and getting all the ‘mid-off and mid-on’ terms right,” Big B told reporters during the promotion of his upcoming Hindi film ‘Shamitabh’ in the capital.

Harsha Bhogle

The entire stint is a promotional method devised by the director of the movie R. Balki, which is slated for release on February 6, just a week ahead of the cricketing World Cup. In the film too, Bachchan lends his baritone voice to actor Dhanush, who plays a mute actor with impressive acting skills who takes the help of the aged superstar to make it big in the Indian film industry ‘Shamitabh’ is a visual explanation of our film industry and the life that revolves around it.

The film will see many Indian directors and experienced actors who will be playing themselves in the movie. The film specifically revolves around Big B’s voice.

The promos of the cricketing event feature Kapil Dev and Shoaib Akhtar, who sound exactly like the superstar after they decide to pop a lozenge (called Shamitabh) / grace a Star Sports microphone respectively which simply emulates the combination of their cricketing jargon delivered in Big B’s inimitable voice.

What we would love to see is if Mr. Bachchan agrees to impromptu recitation of lines from Madhushala (his father’s iconic contribution to poetry) or some of his famous movie dialogues. It would be even better if Shoaib Akhtar decided to join in, singing some of his favourite songs, we all remember how lovely his voice sounded when he sang for Shahrukh Khan at a promotional event for Sahara India.

This duo would be a delight to see!

The ICC Cricket World Cup India Vs. Pakistan match slated for 15^th of February, 2015 will be on air from 8.30 a.m. onwards, on Star Sports Network channel only. 

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