Cricket... over Chai!

Where do I start.... I am an avid follower of cricket and as with most cricket enthusiast, the topic of 'cricket' inevitably comes up over lunch, dinner or a cup of coffee. Often friends and I exchange emails on various aspects of cricket - news, rule changes, ongoing matches, exciting players and what not. So, I picked up an idea floated by one of my friends and decided to try penning a Blog.

As 2009 begins, the cricket world has been turned topsy-turvy with South Africa having just beaten Australia at the MCG and taking series winning 2-0 lead. India beat England at home 1-0 and went upto 2nd in the ICC Test rankings, a position that India will lose to South Africa once the rankings are next revised.

West Indies are currently in New Zealand where both teams waited through a rain-interrupted 1st Test, followed by an interesting relatively evenly-fought, yet drawn 2nd Test. The 1st T20 saw International cricket's 1st ever Super Over contest after a thrilling tie. The 2nd T20 was more one-sided and both teams were level in Test & T20s as they headed into the 5 match ODI series.

Having beaten the World Test Champs in the 1st 2 tests, South Africa continue their stay Down Under hoping to make it a 3-0 whitewash at Sydney and become the new World Test Champs.Soon after, they will compete in the first international T20s of 2009, followed by the battle for the World ODI Champ title - a 5-0 whitewash in the ODIs will see South Africa regain the #1 position in ODIs, a title they are the only team apart from Australia to have ever held; last held in April 2008.

Sri Lanka have have travelled to Bangladesh where the teams have just finished a 6-day Test. No, they are not playing for 6 days, but instead have a rest day in the middle of the Test. This game was far more interesting than expected as Bangladesh went into Day 6 dreaming of victory and the Tigers stayed in the game all the way until past lunch on Day 6. A sad case of so-near-yet-so-far. The 2nd Test follows in the new year.

Early 2009 will see some more exciting cricketing action:

• In Jan, Zimbabwe travel to Bangladesh and join the hosts and Sri Lanka in a tri-series.
• Zimbabwe stay on in Bangladesh for the clash of the ODI minnows.
• Sri Lanka travel to Pakistan after the Indian government refused to approve India's tour.
• In Feb, New Zealand travel back across the Tasman Sea to complete their tour of Australia.
• From Feb onwards, England clash with hosts West Indies in 4 Tests and 5 ODIs.
• And most importantly, the top 2 Test nations will clash again.

With so much to look forward to, we sure have a lot to talk about Cricket... over Chai!