Here is the Schedule (Fixtures) for the ICC World Cup Cricket 2011.

1st Match will be on the 29th Mar 2011 Where-in Sri Lanka will be taking on New Zealand at Columbo 14:30 local.
2nd Match will be on the 30th Mar 2011 Where-in India will be taking on Pakistan at Mohali 14:30 local.

Watch the LIVE Streaming of semi-final matches here.
1.  New Zealand vs Sri Lanka Live streaming. (Sri Lanka vs New Zealand)
2. India vs Pakistan Live Streaming. (Pakistan v/s India)

Colombo: Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar will retire from international cricket after the World Cup, bringing an end to one of the most colorful careers in the sport. He is one of the fastest bowlers of world. But his career was also filled with controversies and injuries which led him to have variations in his career graph. People still love Shoaib Akthar for his application on field. Anyone can applaud Akthar the way he used to charge down almost from boundary rope towards the pitch & deliver the ball which would result in one of the fastest devilries in the world would really be missed.

"I have decided to say goodbye, This World cup is my last and the coming matches in the tournament would be last few of my international career. I would have loved to continue, perhaps forever, but I must make way for the youngsters to take over, With this announcement it feels like it's my first death". said Akthar being emotional.

This retirement decision was announced before the practices session for Pakistan's next match against Australia this Saturday at  R Preamadasa Stadium, Columbo.


Shoaib Akhtar has played in 46 Test matches taking 178 wickets, where as in the 163 one day internationals akthar has taken 247 wickets.

Also see:

What happened to the Blistering batsman in Dhoni?

Defeating the Australian team will serve dual purpose : Waqar

What happens when Sachin hits a six?

India winning the World Cup? Tell M S Dhoni he is dreaming! - Dean jones.

Does India loose the match whenever Sachin scores a century ? 

What do Kamran Akmal and Michael Jackson have in common? 

No doubt the captain of Indian team Mahendra Singh Dhoni is one of the successful captains of Team India. He has won the T20 World cup for India & also has managed captaining the Indian team to stay as the #1 team in ICC Test cricket rankings. But, has failed to keep himself consistent as a batsman. MS Dhoni's career started in a very decorated manner with some blistering innings which led him to be the Captain of Indian team. Who can forget Dhoni's 183* against Sri Lanka. Cricket lovers felt Team India has it's own Adam Gilchrist.

But, the Indian skipper has not been playing his natural game & hence has not been so consistent with the bat in the recent times. Looking at his last 10 One Day International track record, Dhoni has managed to score a total of 171 runs which includes of 12*, 19*, 34, 31, DNB, 5, 2, 5, 38 and 25 respectively. It has been 11 innings since he scored a half century and 26 innings since he scored a hundred. Dhoni's last century was against the Bangladesh team in Jan 2010 (Which was over a year now!).

As a Wicket keeper he is still giving his best by involving himself in 36 dismissals which includes 28 catches and eight stumpings in the last 28 ODI's. But the batting has not been the best upto the "captain cool's" potential. Earlier Dhoni had to face criticism from former World Cup winning captain for India: Kapil Dev who had slammed dhoni for not playing his natural game.  

A Leader has to lead the team from the front being an example. That was exactly what Kapil did in the 1983 World Cup. In order to win the world cup it is important for the skipper to get back to the form and to perform well with his bat too. Hope dhoni will play his natural game & comes back strong to lead India to another World Cup victory. 

Also see : 

Defeating the Australian team will serve dual purpose : Waqar

What happens when Sachin hits a six?

India winning the World Cup? Tell M S Dhoni he is dreaming! - Dean jones.

Does India loose the match whenever Sachin scores a century ? 

What do Kamran Akmal and Michael Jackson have in common? 

Former Australian cricketer Dean Jones in his article to the Australia's'The Age' felt that India winning this World cup would just remain as Indian captain Mahendra Singh dhoni's dreams. 

Dean Jones had some interesting points which pointed out towards the history of the World Cup. Analyzing the past nine Cricket World cups & the skills and composition of the World cup winning sides, Jones came up with the three main qualities of the World Cup winning side:

"1. Your top four batsmen must be of a high quality. They must have the technique to play the new ball, as well as have the power and stroke play during powerplays. They also must have the fitness to bat through the whole 50 overs.

2. Your top four bowlers must be of high quality, able to absorb pressure and bowl defensively in powerplays.

3. If you can't field, don't bother turning up!."

He felt considering these points India cannot win the world cup with the current form. He also had praise for Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag saying he has no doubt that these two can rip any bowling attack apart. But that alone cannot win the World Cup.

He also pointed out that though 'Dhoni has pointed accepted the fact that some of his fielders are slow. But, if he thinks he can win the World cup with the bowling line-up of Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Piyush Chawla and Harbhajan Singh? Tell him he is dreaming. - added Jones.

Jones also pointed out the names of the bowling attack of the World Cup winning sides from 1975 which helped those sides in winning the World Cup, which included 1983 World cup winning side which included Kapil Dev, Balwinder Sandhu, Madan Lal, Roger Binny nd fifth bowler Jimmy Amarnath (who managed to take three wickets in the final). Jones felt that the current bowling attack (with having just 4 specialist bowlers) is nowhere equal to the World Cup winning champion bowlers. His points included with the questions like "What if one gets injured or smashed?"

He also penned "Harbhajan has struggled in all World Cups and has only take six wickets in eight matches against the Test countries at an average of 58. His 10 overs are going for around 50". He suggested  The team needs the attitude to get wickets and not just defend!. 

In the End his hopes said "but let's hope India does OK because it will be a nightmare for all concerned if it got bundled out in the first quarter-final."


Also see: 
Does India loose the match whenever Sachin scores a century ? 

What do Kamran Akmal and Michael Jackson have in common? 

Sachinism - All about God of Cricket

Australia win by 60 runs after giving their best against Kenya

South Africa win the thriller match by 3 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)

There are so many good players in every team. But, there would be one key player who tend to turn the game most of the time. The one player who comes in aid to team when everyone fails. A Player whose presence in the team can shake the opposition. The one whose loss cannot be filled by any one else. Yes!! loosing one such key player can make the favorite teams look simple. Injury is one such thing which can change the fortunes of the teams. 

This time England has lost it's key player Kevin Pietersen.  Pietersen is going to be out of the World Cup tournament to undergo hernia surgery. He also had to play a new role of being an opener & build the innings from the front for England in the World Cup. 

It has been a shocker for England fans as Kevin pietersen had to exit the World Cup & will be missing the experience of KP. However, with Ian Morgan being replacement England are seeing a ray of hope.

But on the other side Australia had to loose one of the most experienced player Mike Hussey due to injury before the World cup could start. But now he has now been declared match fit & will be replacing Doug Bollinger. 

This can be termed as one of the big gains for Aussies. Dirk Nannes will also be joining the Australian World Cup squad as a standby player. Hussey played exceptionally well in the 2007 World Cup & helped aussies in winning the World cup for consecutive 3 times. 

"It's been overwhelming really. Not just from the media, but also my team-mates have been really supportive and also family and friends, It seems like every day, someone has come out and shown their support for me. I thought my dream of a World Cup was over. Now it's alive, I just can't wait to get over there." - Hussey said.

Also see :    Kevin Pietersen Out of World Cup 2011
                   All round performance by Yuvraj singh leads team India to victory

                   Watch the Highlights of India vs Ireland World cup match.

                   Bengaluru to have a new cricket Stadium

                   England win an absolute thriller against South Africa by six runs 

Colombo: Crowd present here wanted to spend their weekend with rain of runs!. 35,000+ Crowd present here in the Preamadasa stadium were expecting the match between the 1996 World Champs Sri Lanka & the Four Time World Champs Australia to be a thriller. But it looked as if the Rain Gods had other plans!.

Since the match was abandoned both teams will be sharing 1 point each with Pakistan topping the table with six points.

"It's a shame. It looked like it was going to be a terrific game. Sangakkara was controlling the match for them," said Australian skipper Ricky Ponting.

Initially Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara won the toss & elected to Bat. With Kumar Sangakkara smashing 73 & Thilan Samaraveera's 34 the partnership was into recovery mode when the Rain gods decided to join the game. With heavy rains there was no other options for umpires to abandon the game. Australian captain expressed his disappointment as rain spoiled a terrific game. The match seemed to be interesting as the team combination of hosts having three spinners looked pretty interesting.

Also see :     The real fans will be with you when you are not doing well - Dhoni

                    Bengaluru to have a new cricket Stadium

                   Kevin O'Brien warns his team to beware an India World Cup backlash

                   3 All-Rounders, 2 Genuine Bowlers Ideal for India : Kapil Dev

                   We would not like to play quarterfinal in India - Wasim Akram

Bengaluru: Is Team India deaf? That's the question everyone should be asking. Considering the fact that there was huge crowd support for India in the Garden City, for the India vs England Epic Encounter in the World cup thrilling match which ended up to be a tie. But did team India go deaf in a match which England captain dreamt off? Seems Yes!! 

This was the match where Team India went on to score a mammoth total of 337 & almost failed to defend. England were 280-2 With Andrew Strauss 158 & Ian Bell 69. England looked favorites to smack another 60 runs with ease. But then when the power play came into picture, India was back strongly in the game with some brilliance by Zaheer.

There might have been some blunders in the UDRS as Dhoni said. But, Why Did not Team India come to know that the Man of the Match Andrew Strauss had nicked two deliveries (once he was on 13 & the second time on 111) off Zaheer straight to Dhoni?. Strauss went to his career best score of huge 158 & cost India to compromise to tie. If Dhoni's boys (at least the guys who were standing near the pitch) should have heard the nick & made an appeal, Strauss would have had to walk to pavillion long back!.


So is this "deaf" incident because of the huge crowd noise? or The pressure inbuilt led Dhoni's boys crack? or something else?

But as a result India have compromised the game into a Tie. 

Also see :  Historic Thriller between India & England Ends in a Tie                 

                 I cannot change everyting in just 2 months - Anil Kumble
   
                 Breaking the television set was not intentional and it was just an accident - Ponting

                 Sachin Tendulkar bats left handed

Watch India vs England Tie Highlights
Bengaluru: England's decision to take the batting powerplay in the 43rd over backfired them, as Indian Spear-head Zaheer Khan managed to show the way of pavilion for a huge 150+ Run partnership pair of Ian Bell (69) and Andrew Strauss (158) off successive deliveries to bring India back in the Game & then it was drama all over the park & the thriller climaxed with a TIE.


So, both the teams will be sharing 1 points each!.

Earlier, Indian Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss & Elected to bat first.

Good looking partnership of Sachin & Sehwag came to an end when Sehwag was caught behind by a beautiful catch by England wicket keeper Matt Prior on 35 before which he had given England 3 half chances in the first over which England couldn't capitalize.

After Gambhir Walked in he managed to take the pressure of Sachin by ticking the scoreboard and after that it was altogether Sachin's show!. Sachin Tendulkar managed to get his 5th World Cup Century, 98th overall in the international cricket. Sachin just need 2 centuries to complete 100 centuries in World Cricket. Gambhir also managed to get 50 before he was bowled by Graeme swann & India were still cruising at 180-2.

One of the positives Dhoni chose was to promote the out of form Yuvraj Singh up the order since Indian scoreboard looking good & with Sachin already settled at the other end. Yuvraj did not put down the opportunity given by his captain & managed to score half century as well before which Sachin had to dismiss for Anderson delivery playing with cross bat & giving a catch to Michael yardy on 120.

Yuvraj Singh (58) and MS Dhoni (31) then took England bowlers on!. They both managed to get India past 300 & just when India trying to take the game away completely from England, the English men sticked back with two consecutive wickets of Yuvraj & Dhoni. Then wickets kept on falling for India as Yusuf pathan (14) was the only man to reach double figure. There was some funny run outs in the End of Indian innings. India was all out for 338 with 1 ball to spare.


In Reply to India's score Pietersen started of well along with struass but failed to capitalize his 31 to a big score when he was caught & bowled by Munaf Patel. Trott was out LBW which was an easy decission to umpire & England was 111-2.

Then, Captain Andrew Strauss was joined by Ian Bell which led to 150+ Run partnership between them. Strauss managed to get to 150 & it looked like England are gonna cruise to victory.

But then, England took the power play in the 43rd over. With Zak managing to take 3 wickets in quick succession & also supported by Harbhajan Singh & Munaf patel with one wickets each, the goddess of victory seemed to be marching towards India. But Bresnen & Swann stuck two sixes off chawla over . But in the last ball of that over chawla had the last laugh as he dismissed Bresnen. Shahzad managed to hit a six in last over & Match seemed more thrilling. with 2 runs required for the win, England managed to get a run & tie the match in the last delivery of Munaf Patel Over.

Andrew Strauss was named man of the match.

Points: India : 1 Enland : 1

Score card : England 338/8 in 50 Overs R.R:6.76 In Reply to INDIA's 338/10 in 49.5 Overs R.R:6.78 (Sachin 120)

Man of the Match: Andrew Strauss

Also see :   Pakistan win by 11 runs

                   Playing India in World cup on their own turf is a dream & we would love to spoil India's party - Andrew Struass

                   I cannot change everyting in just 2 months - Anil Kumble
 
                  Sehwag fit to play India vs England encounter!

                  Yuvraj picks up an injury just before the India England World Cup Clash.
      
                  Breaking the television set was not intentional and it was just an accident - Ponting

                 Sachin Tendulkar bats left handed, smacks 7 sixes of 8 deliveries!

England captain Andrew Strauss has said that he is quite confident to rise to the occasion & pull up a victory against India tomorrow in Bangalore. England have not beaten India in any form of cricket for almost four years despite which Strauss reminded the pressure on India & also their T20 World cup victory last time.


"In some ways, perhaps there's more pressure on India than us in this game, We've played a lot of good cricket in big games in the last 24 months or so. That's something we're very proud of, that in high-pressure games we've performed well. This is one of those games, and we're very confident of doing well again. I think there's a real vibe and excitement and enthusiasm about our guys. If you can get a couple of breakthroughs early and put the Indian batting order under pressure they're obviously carrying a lot of expectation on their shoulders. Playing against India is always a big challenge. But we're up for it and think we can do well. It's not something we're overawed about; it's something we're very excited about." - Strauss said.


He also felt that players like Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar & Mahendra Singh Dhoni can be dangerous & was confident to establish the mark against the hosts. "This is a huge occasion. It's going to be a great atmosphere, and I think it's one of those games that everyone dreams of playing - against India, in the World Cup on their home turf." - he added.

Speaking about Kevin pietersen & his promotion as an opener Strauss said this kind of matches brings the best out of him & he would certainly a match-winning player and one other sides will fear. He also felt that England should improve their fielding standards after a poor fielding performance against Holland in their first encounter.

Also see : I cannot change everyting in just 2 months - Anil Kumble
 
             Sehwag fit to play India vs England encounter!

                Yuvraj picks up an injury just before the India England World Cup Clash.
      
                Breaking the television set was not intentional and it was just an accident - Ponting


            Sachin Tendulkar bats left handed, smacks 7 sixes of 8 deliveries!

Bengaluru: Former Indian Captain Anil Kumble has said that he cannot change the legacy that has been from decades in just two months. Speaking to CNN-IBN the Spin Magician said he is aware of the expectations on him & he would definitely change things gradually.

"I know what people expect. people expect lot of things from me. i can't change everyting in just 2 months. It's realy sad thing whatever happened earlier (referring to the canning incident). I am hopefull all the cricket loving crowd will love the game on Sunday." - Kumble said.

Speaking about his efforts - "From our side we've been realy honest & all the tickets available have been given to public. Solution to this problem is not easy when demand is such. There are lakhs of people want to watch, with thousands of tickets available. we will try to resolve it in the best way possible." - he added.

Earlier only 7,000 tickets were sold to the public through counters at the stadium, out of 40K+ capacity stadium. which resulted chaos & canning by the police on the cricket fans gathered. KSCA secretary Javagal Srinath had expressed his helplessness saying the tickets was reserved for ICC & Kolkata(Since the match was shifted from Edens) Fans .

Also see :    Sehwag fit to play India vs England encounter!

                   Tweets by Legends of Cricket like Sachin, Shane Warne etc. in a single place
                   Yuvraj picks up an injury just before the India England World Cup Clash.
       
                   Breaking the television set was not intentional and it was just an accident - Ponting

                   Sachin Tendulkar bats left handed, smacks 7 sixes of 8 deliveries!