The ill-timed lonesome test match is over and all the excitement is shifted to the three one-dayers to be played between India and Bangladesh. Excited?

Looking forward to some interesting cricket since the minnows (read: Bangladesh) have grown up and becoming a challenge in the local neighbourhood?

Well, next few days will prove how big a challenge they are if challenge is the right word to be used in their context, that is! What’s more interesting is that there are some surprises in store and the best surprise is that this India Bangladesh series will not benefit India at all!

Let’s share how this did happen:

1) Right now India is place at the second place and the gap between leading side Australia and India is quite huge. Therefore even a 3-0 win over Bangladesh will not help India to reach the top of the charts!

2) On the other hand, even if Bangladesh loses the series 2-1, they would still qualify to participate in the 2017 Champions Trophy from June 1-19 in England and Wales! Only way they can lose out on the chance is if they lose 3-0 and lag behind West Indies with both the teams tied at 88 points, but the Caribbean team leading on the eight spot!

3) For India, a 2-1 loss would mean we equal the points with New Zealand but still lie under them given how excitingly they are playing against England right now!

4) While Virat Kohli is on fourth spot on the list of best batsmen, Shikhar Dhawan is at 7^th spot and M.S. Dhoni is at 9^th spot!

5) Coming to Dhoni, this will really test his equation with Virat Kohli. After taking over test captaincy and right during the test match conference, Virat gave a statement that the era of learning is over and it is time to play to win the test matches! This is stark opposite to what Dhoni has been saying for all these years about learning from every game and taking home the lessons to prepare for next game.

Virat’s aggressive attitude and change in body language was clearly visible during the match and his approach towards the game might come across as contradictory to Dhoni’s style of captaincy! Can they work on it or will it create internal secret feuds?

There can be many more surprises going into the game, but we really hope that things remain smooth and beneficial for the ultimate benefit of the game.

Let the best team win. However, we really wished if this series mattered to India more than it matters to Bangladesh!

No ways we are saying that the team should be taken lightly, but then our cricketing heroes got to play some difficult teams to come out shining rather than taming the minnows!

Let the game begin and with that, the fun!

The post Some Surprising Truths of Upcoming India Bangladesh One-Day Cricket Series! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

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.

The post And The Eight Teams To Qualify For The ICC World Cup Quarter-finals Are… appeared first on Youngisthan.in.