Game on...

First test - Australia won by 10 wickets Second test - Australia won by 120 runs Third test - Australia won by an innings and 41 runs Fourth test tomorrow at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. A very popular ground as is. With Australia on a roll, the ground is going to be supercharged with the joy and the excitement. Especially with Boxing day happening. The day after Christmas. It is a public holiday. It is an unusual name, yes. Even though the series has been decided, the locals will come to the stadium in big groups to support their team. That is the beauty of this game. It will call out to the true cricket fans, come what may. Back to cricket. England is hoping not to fall apart again. They have had a rough season so far. The question has been raised and is floating all over the internet though. What would have happened if the match was taking place in England. News. Root said that Wood and Crane were considered to be in the team. Fast Bowler Tom Curran will ma

Records tumbling. Sparkling knocks. Slew of new records. No short of adjectives. The score of 260 might make you even wonder if it was a 20 over match or a 50. End of the day, India proved that they were still on a roll and ready to take on South Africa with their brilliant performance last night. It was a pleasure to watch for anyone who appreciates good cricket. For a passionate Indian fan, it was a treat. India nearly broke the word record of most runs scored in an innings. Fell short by three runs. That’s really really alright. In the fantasy lineup, I had four of the five top performers. Kusal Perera did not figure in my lineup. The rest were brilliant performances. As expected. L Rahul topped the list followed by Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni. Y Chahal was fifth. These are the currently consistent players and must have even when you are playing against South Africa. Point to be noted. I expected more from Shreyas Iyer. Once Kohli comes back to the team, he might get the axe

A 93-run win in a T20 match. This is India’s biggest margin of the shortest form of the game. The match was exactly how the creators of the T20 version of the game envisioned. The reason why T20 came about in the first place. Short. Exciting. Thrilling. As I said in my previous blog, the dew factor is nothing to worry about. In fact, it played a positive role. India made the most of it in both sessions. The batsmen scored a very good 181 and the spinners defended it fabulously. Wristspinning Y Chahal’s 4 for 23 scored a massive 65 on the Fantain Fantasy app as well. Dhoni and L Rahul are the other two who guided India to a flying start in the T20 series with a 93-run kickoff. 68 runs in the last five overs are bound to rattle the opponent - both the batsmen and the bowlers. End of the day, India’s domination over Sri Lanka continued with the first T20 match. KL Rahul did very well to place him on the map. He is bound to be taken seriously if he continues this form. And no

Test series draw. ODI Series won. Next is the T20. Starting today, we have three T20 matches coming up. And then we meet South Africa. Lots of exciting cricket coming up. And for those playing on our app. Wait and see. Back to the T20. Uncapped players are in the game. With IPL experience backing them up, they are good and raring to go. Sometimes weddings and babies being born have more positive advantages. The ones who normally do not get the chance to get onto the international platform and represent the country now have a bright chance. It is up to them to use this effectively and efficiently. Scoring high and making a mark will make them first choice and not a backup. The match is being played at Cuttack. Good venue. Packed stadium. Electric atmosphere. And Dhoni. All the good makings of a fantastic match ahead. New faces. KL Rahul. Manish Pandey. And then we have Washington Sundar. He made a big mark in the TNPL. Basil Thampi too. We need to bring in fresh blood. Esp

Indian cricket team fans can be divided into different categories. After India wins, one category will be so relieved it's almost insulting to the Indian team. Another would say ‘yeah ok they won’. They are the ones with steadfast faith on the team and believe that they lived up to their potential. This is a compliment. Another would have promised to break a million coconuts in temples and all. This is most definitely an insult. They have more faith in the Gods than the men in blue. Please comment which category you belong to and why. The wittiest reply will win a coupon from us. Moving on to what happened at the match. This was a thumping victory for the Indian team doing their best to literally erase what happened at the first ODI. The team ensured that Sri Lanka will never win a One Day International Series in India. Yup. The chase was quick and efficient. There was no stopping India as the partnerships held. The match slipped away from the southern neighbours fast

After the amazing comeback by the Indian Cricket Team levelling the series to one all, the third match has been made all the more exciting. While I am a die-hard fan of the Indian Team, I am logical enough to say that the match could go either way. The final ODI of the series is set to take place in Visakhapatnam, also known as Vizag Stadium. Sri Lanka is making plans for the T20 team simultaneously. Malinga is out. Lakmal is rested. Lahiru Thirimanne too. Vishwa Fernando and Dasun Shanaka are in. Coming back to the ODI on 17th December. Angelo Mathew is in. He has been cleared fit. The pitch at this stadium tends to be a friend of the batsmen. A batting paradise more often than not. Probable Indian XI : Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal. Probable Sri Lankan XI : Thisara Perera (c), Danushka Gunathilaka, Upul Tharanga, Dha

We Won !!!!!! We don’t do subtle, do we? When we lose we lose quite badly. When we win, we make sure everyone sits up and takes notice. Yesterday’s match was won with a bang. Everything from the batting, the bowling, the wicketkeeping and the fielding all take the cake. I don’t even know where to start. The series has been leveled. The next match decides the fate of the series. That makes the series all the more exciting. Let’s see how the match yesterday was. Rohit Sharma. The man. He was the hero of the day. He made spectators out of the the fielders of the opposition. They could do nothing but watch the ball make its way to the boundaries and across it. All Sri Lanka did was bowl and then bring the ball back from outside of the stadium to bowl some more. It was his third double ton. And the only player in the history of the game to have done so. India bounced back after what was considered as a debacle in the first ODI. And we are more than l

I almost do not want to write this blog. I just wanna go straight to the lineup I want for the next match on 13 th Dec and be done with it. I will just write a few words. If you saw the match you would know exactly what I am feeling and why. You would think with the Indian Captain away getting married and all, the players would wanna make him proud and prove that they are good. They behaved exactly like how unsupervised toddlers would. Saying that it was not a happy day for India is putting it as lame as possible. It was honestly heart-breaking. 112 is always difficult to defend, even in a 20 over match. Sri Lanka used the conditions of the ground and the weather to their advantage. The weather report almost confirmed rains. The Indian Batsmen were made to play in fairly uncomfortable areas. Straight lines. Good lengths. No catches dropped. Catches win matches as the famous proverb in cricket goes. It was an easy target. Sri Lanka were never in any trouble. Course had they

After having won the test series ( you know how I feel about the test series) India now looks forward to the first ODI taking place tomorrow - 10th dec 2017. Which also happens to be World Human Rights Day ( just a trivia). A lot of changes are expected in the ODI lineup. Especially with rumours regarding Viruksha breaking the internet massively, we are really curious what’s going on in Italy now. Virat is not part of the ODI team adding fuel to the hot hot hot fire. The match is taking place in the cool regions of Himachal Pradesh. Not to get you upset but weather reports say that it is more than likely to rain. Yeah, I am also wondering why on earth does it happen to most matches. Anyway. Assuming the match does take place. Rohit Sharma wears the cap of the captain. Just a temporary thing cos Virat is taking off for what he’s claiming he’s not. I do wish it was true. They make a very nice couple. The ground has seen some high runs with the highest total made by India agai

India has won the test series 1-0. Well honestly I expected a score of 2-0 in India’s favour. India declared both innings in the third and final match of the three match test series. The fact that they declared showed the incredible confidence they had in themselves. Sri Lanka managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat and made their way to a draw. In fact for a teeny tiny moment, they looked like they had their eyes on a win. The TV channel kept saying that India needs five wickets to win. And then towards the end they said SL needs so many runs to win. That was quite scary for a bit except that there really was not much time. In the end, I am sure many Indian die-hard fans were disappointed. An Indian victory was very much on the cards. In the eyes of many, India lost. So here’s what happened. India came in to bat and they did bat marvellously. 536 for 7. And then declared. Virat Kohli’s 243 along with Murali Vijay’s 155 took the total off the charts. Sri Lanka came in and they d

We are back with the third test match that begins tomorrow, December 2nd. While the first test was drawn, the second test was absolutely thrilling. Especially if you are an Indian cricket fan who sat watching the Sri Lankan wickets fall and keeping an eye on the clock and the clouds hoping the rains stay away. And India won. By an innings and 239 runs. It really does not get bigger and better than this. The Indian players were absolutely outstanding. I did rather well in my lineup too and was ranked 85. Yeah. Everyone happy. It is time for the third and final test. India currently leads with the win. The match takes place at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. It is an outstanding stadium with a capacity of 48000. The average first innings score is 346 and second, 322. With the highest total of 644 and lowest 75 ( ironically this total was hit by India, but moving on) this stadium has seen some brilliant cricket in the past. ( Hint Kumble’s 10 wicket haul) News: Herath is ruled out of th

Refer to our previous blog http://blog.fantain.com/2017/11/blog-time-ashes-to-ashes.html to know more about the tournament. We are now gonna talk about who we would like on our fantasy team of the lineup. The two teams - England and Australia - have made quite a name for themselves in the world of cricket. All this does not matter when they face each other. The rivalry that they have between themselves is almost special. Teams: England (From): Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Joe Root(c), Dawid Malan, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow(w), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Mason Crane, Ben Foakes, Jake Ball, Craig Overton, Tom Curran Australia (From): Cameron Bancroft, David Warner, Steven Smith(c), Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine(w), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers England won in 2015 with the scores 3-2 in their favour. Australia have a factor in t