Game on...

India completed the test series by winning the last and final match. Didn’t win the series yes, but made sure that the morale was boosted and that seemed like the takeaway for the men in blue. The sensational fast bowling brought India to an excellent win. Taking 60 wickets in three matches is indeed more than just a record. It is something that truly lifts the spirits of the boys. Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah helped cause the dramatic collapse . "This is one of our sweetest wins," skipper Virat Kohli said. "This day will be remembered for a long time for us as a team." The best part is that India now ranks number one in the ICC test ranking. We have overtaken South Africa. That is the icing on the cake. India is second on the ODI rankings too, with SA on top. Will we see that change too? Time will tell. The Virat Kohli led India can top the ODI table if they win the series by 4-2 or better, while to retain the top spot, South Africa will just have

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka meet for their first of two test series. Bangladesh earlier lost what they felt was a sure-fire win against Sri Lanka in the tri-series. Bangladesh were defeated in yet another final. And lost an opportunity to win a trophy for their nation. It was a comfortable win for Sri Lanka.  Right-arm pacer Shehan Madushanka became the fourth bowler in history to claim a hat-trick on debut as Sri Lanka bowled out Bangladesh for 142 runs in 41.1 overs after they were restricted to 221 runs. News : Shakib ruled out of first test . After four years, Razzaq has been added to the Bangladesh squad. That is a pity. The newly appointed test captain was doing a bang-up job for the team. Thanks to the injury in his left hand, he was forced to leave the field and now the first test match against Sri Lanka. No fracture. That is a good sign. Mahmudullah will take over the captaincy responsibilities. The first Test will be played from January 31 to February 4 in Chittago

It is a pleasure to write a winning blog like this when our team is visiting a tough pitch such as South Africa. Us winning in India is actually no big deal seeing as our pitch conditions are designed to suit our needs and preferences. Winning in South Africa is a fantastic. Take a bow. To beat South Africa on that wicket was really really something. A tremendous effort by the men in blue. We have taken 60 wickets in three test matches. This is a rare event in away from home series. Looking at how the lineup on Fantain Fantasy App worked. In my lineup, I had picked Virat Kohli as the captain. He earned 69.5 points giving me almost 140 (the captain is awarded twice the points he makes on the app). The winner who played in the 250 rupee pool and won a whopping thousand rupees - he made Bhuvneshwar Kumar as his captain and Vernon Philander as the VC. A very smart move seeing as this pitch is the playground of fast bowlers. The pitch can clearly decide not only the bowle

The fifth and final ODI between Australia and England takes place tomorrow. England’s tour of Australia has been quite successful. They have won the 5-match ODI series, having walked away with the first three matches. Australia came back to the series winning the fourth by three wickets. Not a fabulous win but it was something, I guess. England did crash and burn in the beginning. Australia won on Australia Day. A consolation win, after having lost home series. That has to hurt. It was an ordinary display of batting. Head managed to salvage whatever little pride left. Head is in to replace an injured Finch, proved that he was the right choice indeed. The rest of the batsmen were just there. They reached the target of 197. Earlier in the day, England’s batting was also fairly abysmal with Chris Woakes hitting 78. It was a day for the bowlers, with Pat Cummins taking four wickets. Josh Hazlewood and Andrew Tye took three each. Adil Rashid of England also had a three wicket haul.

The finals are finally here. Bangladesh meets Sri Lanka leaving Zimbabwe out. You might think that being home series for Bangladesh, it is really no big deal. But it really is not so. Sri Lanka lost home series. Now Australia is facing severe defeat by England. There is no such thing that it is normal for the home team to win anymore. Plus I would really like to appreciate Bangladesh for the way they are making into the big league of cricket today. If you look at the points table, you will see that Bangladesh won three out of four matches. Their points - 15 - are almost four times the score of Zimbabwe. Sri Lanka, with 9 points, made it to the finals. The last match saw Sri Lanka Beat Bangladesh. The only match that the home team ever lost. Makes you wonder if Bangladesh peaked a tad too early, doesn’t it? It was a comprehensive win for Sri Lanka. Bangladesh were 82 all out in 24 overs. Sri Lanka hit the target in less than 12 overs and won by ten wickets. It was really a o

Australia and England have two more matches of the five match ODI series left. England have so far dominated over the English by winning all the three matches. This is inspite of the fact that the matches are taking place in Australia. Sri Lanka will know exactly what I am talking about. Australia beaten like this at home will most definitely not go down well. Not with the Aussie team and not with the Aussie fans. They are looking to have a consolation victory in the fourth ODI tomorrow to avoid a complete whitewash. The Australian team are in trouble in reality. A big blow took place when in-form opener Aaron Finch was ruled out due to hamstring injury. On the fantain app he has scored a massive 220.50 points. The first ODI saw 107 runs off of his bat, the second, 106 and 62 from the third. The Aussies will more than just miss him. So instead of him, you might want to consider Travis head in your lineup. The word out there is that he will play the fifth ODI too if Aaron Finc

Yup. We lost the series. We have lost two matches out of a three match test series. We hope to win the third test. But that is not all that we have to look forward to. Fantain Fantasy Cricket is here to provide you with various lineups that you can pick from. There is a 250 rupee pool that will win you a thousand rupees if you come first. Second and third places are 750 and 250 rupees respectively.  Other pools are just as lucrative where you can play with Rs 100, Rs 50, Rs 30, and so on. IF you win the free pool, you can win FanCash that you can use to play the paid pool. It’s a win win situation isn’t it? So let’s see which players you can have on your lineup that will improve your chances of winning. It is a bright and green strip. More trouble for the wicket-keeper.  The highest total on this pitch is a massive 450. Scored by SA against India. Hmm.. Must have players R Ashwin Hardik Pandya Virat Kohli Vernon Philander Good-Form Players / Reliable Lungi

Having started on 15th January 2018, four matches have taken place in the tri-series between Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. I am not surprised at the status of the current points table. Bangladesh is at the top with two wins from both matches played. Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka have played three matches each with just one win to their credit. The run rates are miserably low. Bangladesh on the other hand has an astounding 2.9850 run rate to their credit. I have always maintained that this team - Bangladesh - should not be written off easy. They have all that it takes to make it up the ICC world ranking. It is just a matter of time. Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe have met each other twice in these series. 1-1. Bangladesh has beaten Zimbabwe in their first encounter by eight wickets . The second is tomorrow. In a very low scoring match, Zimbabwe hit only 170 and lost all wickets. Bangladesh smoothly made it to the target in less than 29 overs. That is the secret of their astoundin

I played the Sri Lanka – Zimbabwe match and I won more than six times what I put in. That is a really good investment, isn’t it? I have been asked by Fantain to share what I did and how I planned my lineup. This is how. Kusal Perera  – I made him captain. I won a massive 120 points. My vice-captain was Dinesh Chandimal .  So I got 43.5. In hindsight, I could have picked Perera. He did fabulously well and earned a whopping 89 on the app. The other player in my lineup who helped me win was Sikandar Raza . He got 88.5 on the app. These four players are a must be in the next match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.  Dinesh Chandimal is one good consistent player that I always have. So it’s like this. I have four categories when I play fantasy cricket. One is the must-have players who will be on my team no matter what. For this match that I played, they were Kusal Perera, Dinesh Chandimal, and Upul Tharanga. For me, old is gold. Experience speaks volumes. The second category is ba

I won. This is a big deal for me. I have never won any money on any online competition or game ever. Until now. When I heard Fantain Fantasy Sports was coming up with a new version of the game - the paid version, I thought, “I have only managed to win a few coupons here and there. Wonder how much money will I have to pay?” And I saw that they were issuing FanCash. Does that mean no money to be deposited at my end? That’s right. I applied the code that I saw on their FaceBook page and used it in my updated app. And voila. My credit went up by 25 . I went through all the games that were showing up on my page. I did my research on the players and created various lineups. The process was just as simple as it was before. I submitted my lineup in various matches, playing both free and the paid pools. I was eagerly waiting for my results. And I tell you, the wait is just as exciting. I had won every paid match that I played in. The beautiful words “ Congratulations, you have won ” i

Five ODI series lined up for the two biggies this month. The first one took place on the 14th. England came out on top winning by 5 wickets. A high scoring match, the Aussies hit a massive 304 runs in 50 overs. England hit the target with an over and a delivery to spare. It was a mind blowing performance, simply put. Jason Roy, the man of the match, broke a few records on the way. - Highest individual score by an Eng batsman Highest individual score at the MCG Highest individual score by a visiting batsman in a run chase in Australia Highest individual score in a run chase against Australia This is England’s highest successful run-chase in Australia. No better way to start a five match ODI series, is there? This was the playing squad for the first OD Austraia :Aaron Finch, David Warner, Tim Paine (wk), Steven Smith (c), Mitchell Marsh, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Adam Zampa, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye Bench:Cameron White, Josh Hazlewood, Jhy

The best way we can move on from a defeat is to learn from it and not make the same mistakes. Easier said than done. And quite preachy at that. And from the pictures that are breaking the internet - the ones that Virat Kohli has posted on his Instagram all laughing and the usual thumbs up to a sign - it shows that they are not going to let the defeat in the first test match get to them. They did after all know that it was not going to be a walk in the park. Far from it. "Touchdown Joburg, what a City! Gearing up for the next one and very excited about it." is what he wrote. Kohli is aware that the batsmen have to step up now. While the bowlers did a fair job, the rest of the team need to pull up their socks and share the burden. They are the ones who failed while chasing what was a rather mediocre target. Pandya’s brilliant knock should knock some confidence and inspiration to the team. The seam movement at the pitch of Newlands, combined with Philander’s bowling at

Fantasy Cricket is one of the best parts of Fantasy Sports Genre. In this online game, you get to create your virtual team on real players and score based on their performance in real life matches. This match is based on your skill, not luck. The players that you select should be based on facts and figures not just whims and fancies. In this game, the skill with which you select your players predominates over the elements of luck and chance. There are a few things you can keep in mind while preparing your best lineup for Fantain Fantasy Cricket. ·          The players you pick for Fantasy Sports is purely based on the individual and not the team he plays for. ·          The type of cricket being played matters. Players selected for a test match could be different from those in a T20. Batsmen tend to walk away with the game in a T20 more often. ·          Read the pitch report and the weather conditions of the venue of the game. ·          Based on the above, decide the t

Had we won, I would have said we did something really really awesome. Now that we lost, I can say “yeah we tried. It was a tough pitch. The boys did their best”. But what they can do is leave the ball outside off stump. Just leave her alone. Not to mess around. Also, another fact - India had better second innings batting conditions at the pitch. We still fell short by 72 runs. That is a fairly big margin. Batting was relatively poor. Most of the runs were scored by the lower order players. Matter of nerves too, I guess. Our batting let us down. The bowlers, in comparison, didn’t do that bad. Historically, our batsmen have struggled in South Africa. That is a fact. That is why Kohli opted out of the warm-up matches insisting on more practice for the players. Well, all is not lost. We still have two more test matches apart from the ODIs and T20s. Let us hope to make a difference. As it happened. South Africa came in first. And they did quite well considering that

Playing fantasy sports is no longer an individual game. If you have played it, you will know exactly what I am talking about. It has become a social experience. It’s just as fun as going to the stadium and watching the players play. Even better because you are now more involved in the game than ever. The stakes are personal. If the player on your team hits, you win. If the player is doesn’t play well, you miss out on your points. It is extremely personal. The concept of opposition party does not arise. Even if you are a steadfast patriot of your country, a part of you would want the members of your fantasy line up to win. This is despite them playing for another country. Fantasy Sports is now bigger, better and more exciting. Be it football, cricket or any other game; as long as you are passionate and knowledgeable about it, you will have a ball yourself. The results shown on the scoreboard and on the app in your phone will keep you really busy. Let’s ask the deeper que

Three tests, six ODI and three T20 matches. The teams are at the venue. The first test begins on Jan 5th. There were supposed to be two warm-up matches. But India preferred training sessions. Wonder why. Didn’t want to reveal a few tricks? Because India has not only been playing quite a bit recently but also playing well. The reason is the tough conditions in South Africa that the Men In Blue are not quite used to. They may be the champs when it comes to venues in the Indian Subcontinent. The real test is while playing in Conditions that are totally new to them. Like South Africa. Possibly, the matches played in India and in Sri Lanka were their warm-up matches. Dhoni is not on the test team. He will join the team to play in the ODI.  He totally agreed with Kohli on the decision to prepare. With so many matches, teams are made to just play instead of prepare. Well, I agree. While Kohli and team have 9 successive series victories, the key will be to win on a pitch that is

As far as I can remember, I have never had negative feelings while watching an India - South Africa match. I have loved quite a few of the Proteas. The nineties team especially. Yes, they had quite a few that I absolutely loved. I have talked about this enough in my past blogs. Let’s get on with the teams. When the two teams meet, there is a lot of healthy competition and rivalry in the air. Both teams respect and admire each other. The negativity that seems to fill the air in case of an India - Pakistan match or India - Australia is missing here. The bond between India and South Africa is indeed very special and respectable. Both on the field and off of it. I am not even going to bring Mahatma Gandhi into the picture. I am strictly sticking to cricket. India welcomed South Africa with open arms after the apartheid came to an end. India took the lead and played against the team the moment the boycott came to an end. South Africa was welcomed into India in 1991. This was Sout