The Indian - England ODI series had started getting interested with each ODI being played. If you can recollect, the first ODI was very one sided. The second got interested with India struggling at 3/29 and Yuvi managed to rescue India and win. The third, the fourth and the fifth got even more balanced to the extent that England was expected to win at least one or more of the last three ODIs.
And then the hell break apart. With terrorist attacks in Bombay(Mumbai), England decided to cut short the series and call back their players. Which is obvious considering the security aspects of the English players - Security must always come first.
"The Test series will go ahead, and there is no problem with that,"
Modi sais. "We are sure the first Test will go ahead as
scheduled in Ahmedabad (from December 14). But there is a problem over
hosting the second Test in (troubled) Mumbai (from December 19). The ECB wants the
Test to be shifted to southern India, we are exploring all options."
Indian cricket schedule is always jam packed. Cricket being the defacto national game (Actual national game is Field Hockey). Before the pockets of Indian cricketers go empty or close to empty they have decided to tour NZ.
India and New Zealand will be playing two Tests, 5 ODIs and only one Twenty20.
The full schedule :
March 6: T20 International at Westpac Stadium, Wellington
March 8: 1st ODI at McLean Park, Napier (Day/night)
March 11: 2nd ODI at Seddon Park, Haminton (Day/night)
March 14: 3rd ODI at Eden Park, Auckland (Day/night)
March 17: 4th ODI at Westpac Stadium, Wellington (Day/night)
March 20: 5th and final ODI AMI Stadium, Christchurch (Day/night)
March 22-24: vs New Zealand XI at Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln University
March 26-30: 1st Test, Seddon Park, Hamilton Apr 3-7: 2nd Test, Basin Reserve, Wellington
Indian ace spinner Harbhajan Singh is in the news again. This time, he is in the news for, obviously, good reasons, unlike his usual image of bad boy.
On his return to active cricket after a ban for slapping Srisnath, Harbhajan paved the way for India's victory againt Sri Lanka in second Test. He claimed 10 wickets in the pair of series to crush the home team.
Hope to see Bhajji sizzle some more during the series and the ODIs.
Harbhajan Singh returns to international cricket after completing his
five-match ODI ban. If you recall, Bhajji was banned from Internation Cricket for slapping Sreesanth during IPL fixtures. He will start with Tests against Sri Lanka
