A year ago, the hangover of the World Cup had barely ended before another exhausting tournament started. Fans dehydrated by the emotions of India’s World Cup victory were now expected to show up in those numbers for the IPL. The fans and players had one thing in common – both were knackered. The scenario this year is not entirely different. India’s horrific season must have drained them mentally. Their followers are tired of defeat. The next two months will reveal the fans’ true faith in their own players.

Indian cricket has come a full circle in a year, and the man at the epicentre is MS Dhoni, who’s back to leading Chennai Super Kings tomorrow in the IPL opener against Mumbai Indians. Public memory is short, and all it could take is a few victories for his fans to restore their faith. The reshuffling of squads last year didn’t affect the defending champions Super Kings. They thrived on a power-packed batting line-up, backed by a competent spin attack. They spent their auction purse in getting hold of a spinning-allrounder in Ravindra Jadeja. Dhoni, unfortunately, found himself shouldering too much burden as India captain, which affected his performances. If Super Kings are to succeed again, this squad, with varying degrees of experience, need to rally around him.

His Mumbai counterpart, Harbhajan Singh, was largely disconnected from India’s plunge because he was dealing with a slump of his own. Poor form and injury kept him on the sidelines, but he regained pride by leading Mumbai to the Champions League title last year. He finds himself in the same role this year, after Sachin Tendulkar decided to step down as captain. Mumbai may be missing Andrew Symonds, but the squad’s intimidating enough without him. It’s fitting that the defending champions are taking on the team to beat in the opener.

Mumbai are lucky to have their entire international contingent available for the season. Super Kings have a couple of injury concerns, but the core of their squad – barring Michael Hussey who is to join at the end of the month – is available.

Chennai Super Kings squad
MS Dhoni*†, S Anirudha, R Ashwin, S Badrinath, GJ Bailey, DE Bollinger, DJ Bravo, F du Plessis, BW Hilfenhaus, MEK Hussey, RA Jadeja, SB Jakati, Joginder Sharma, S Randiv, KMDN Kulasekara, VY Mahesh, JA Morkel, A Mukund, SK Raina, WP Saha†, SB Styris, S Tyagi, K Vasudevadas, G Vignesh, M Vijay

Mumbai Indians squad
Harbhajan Singh*, AN Ahmed, Amitoze Singh, AC Blizzard, YS Chahal, JEC Franklin, HH Gibbs, DJ Jacobs, MG Johnson, KD Karthik†, Kuldeep Yadav, DS Kulkarni, RE Levi, CJ McKay, SL Malinga, SH Marathe, SS Nayak, PP Ojha, MM Patel, NLTC Perera, RJ Peterson, KA Pollard, AT Rayudu, JN Shah, RG Sharma, R Shukla, RP Singh, TL Suman, P Suyal, AP Tare, SR Tendulkar, AV Wankhade, SA Yadav

Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians IPL 2012 Live Streaming

The decision to rest MS Dhoni has given Parthiv Patel an opportunity to stake his claim for a place in the limited-overs side to Australia, where he toured as the first-choice wicketkeeper in 2003-04. He didn’t have the best home series against England, getting starts but not going beyond 38 in four games. His recent form, though, has been good. He scored centuries in successive games for Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy, and will hope to extend this run into international cricket.

Lendl Simmons didn’t play in the Test series against India, left out of the squad after Adrian Barath returned from injury. An attacking batsman upfront, Simmons, while not an automatic pick in the longest format, has been in good touch in the 50-overs version. In 2011, he averages 56.41 in 13 games with seven half-centuries and one ton. He took a while to get going in Cuttack before falling for 19.

India squad
V Sehwag*, VR Aaron, R Ashwin, G Gambhir, RA Jadeja, V Kohli, A Mithun, PA Patel†, AM Rahane, SK Raina, R Sharma, RG Sharma, MK Tiwary, R Vinay Kumar, U Yadav

West Indies squad
DJG Sammy*, AB Barath, DM Bravo, DP Hyatt, A Martin, JN Mohammed, SP Narine, KA Pollard, KOA Powell, D Ramdin†, R Rampaul, KAJ Roach, AD Russell, MN Samuels, LMP Simmons

India vs West Indies 2nd ODI Live Streaming

Match Details:
India vs West Indies 1st Test
6th Nov – 10th Nov 2011
9.00 IST to 16.30 IST
Delhi

This could be a special and not forgotable match for sachine because he is very near to 15,000 runs as well 1 century short to reach 100 centuries in his career. Two persons likely to be debute in this match namely Ashwin and Yadav. On the other side West Indies are in good form and looks very confident after they won both ODI and test series agianst Bangladesh before they came to India.

India vs West Indies 1st Test Live Streaming

There could hardly be a better place for India to underline their recovery from the disastrous summer tour. Though it seems like it has been an eternity since, it was only six-and-a-half months ago that Mumbai witnessed one of India’s biggest wins.

But England have had a couple of special moments in ODIs at the Wankhede Stadium too: back in 1987 they beat India to go through to the World Cup final, and in 2002, Andrew Flintoff famously ripped his shirt off and did a victory-lap around the ground after bowling England to a series-levelling five-run win.

Since then England have lost 13 of 14 completed one-day internationals in bilateral series in India, and the frustration is beginning to show in the body-language of their players. There have been a few verbal confrontations between the players during this series, and Tim Bresnan was fined for snatching his cap from the umpire in the third ODI. Andy Flower, the England team director, has defended his team’s attitude but will know a win is the only tonic for some hurt egos.

India squad
MS Dhoni*†, VR Aaron, S Aravind, R Ashwin, G Gambhir, RA Jadeja, V Kohli, P Kumar, A Mithun, PA Patel, AM Rahane, SK Raina, R Sharma, MK Tiwary, R Vinay Kumar

England squad
AN Cook*, JM Bairstow, IR Bell, RS Bopara, SG Borthwick, TT Bresnan, JC Buttler, JW Dernbach, ST Finn, AD Hales, C Kieswetter†, SC Meaker, G Onions, SR Patel, KP Pietersen, GP Swann, IJL Trott

India vs England 4th ODI Live Streaming

India are a much-changed team from the outfit that won the World Cup back in April, but in their first home campaign since that momentous achievement, they have tapped into the same well of confidence. England faced trial by spin in the first game, and trial by seam in the second, and while their batsmen faltered on each occasion, India’s have gone from strength to strength.

From MS Dhoni’s blistering assault in the final 16 overs of the first match, to Virat Kohli’s crushing double-century partnership with Gautam Gambhir in the second, the defining feature of India’s performances to date has been the fluidity of their run-scoring. Whereas England’s innings have been staccato at best, with occasional boundary shots punctuated by long periods of failed strike rotation, India’s ability to create gaps in the field has been nigh on impossible to match, and even harder to stop.

In that regard, the absence of Eoin Morgan has been critical for England. His nominal replacement, Jonny Bairstow, hits a long ball given half a chance, as demonstrated on debut at Cardiff last month, but he has yet to learn the versatility required to dominate on Indian pitches. He’s not alone in that regard. Craig Kieswetter has managed one boundary and seven runs in 13 balls so far, and while Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott have looked at ease in the conditions when they’ve got in, neither man has been able to put pedal to metal in the manner of their India counterparts.

England’s problems extend to their bowling attack as well. Steven Finn and Tim Bresnan have impressed in an individual capacity, even though their figures hardly reflect their efforts, but Jade Dernbach’s variations have been collared, while Samit Patel has struggled as a spin-bowling allrounder. Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and even Kohli’s leg-rollers have all proven more effective. It will take a considerable swing in fortunes for England to prove greater than the sum of India’s parts in the coming contests.

India: Gautam Gambhir, Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen Kumar, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar

England: Alastair Cook (capt.), Craig Kieswetter (wk), Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara, Jonny Bairstow, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, 10 Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn

India vs England 3rd ODI Live Streaming

However, despite the positive signs for the hosts, this series isn’t yet beyond England. They have shown, time and again, their ability to bounce back from disappointment. This is a team made of stern stuff. But they need to play smart cricket and think on their feet. The fast bowlers didn’t react to Dhoni’s onslaught in Hyderabad, while the middle-order collapse against spin wasn’t a new phenomenon. The batting order continues to vex minds – for, example, where is Jonathan Trott’s best position and should Ian Bell play? – while Samit Patel hasn’t really done enough since his return to the team. Flower has made tough calls in the past, but he has also remained calm under pressure. This situation calls for both traits.

Kevin Pietersen has insisted he knows the secret to turning around his one-day form and England need him to prove it in Delhi. Shuffled back up to No.3 on Friday with a tough target to chase, he never settled while making 19 and appeared more troubled by the pitch than many. When the ball bounced, or kept low, Pietersen’s reactions made sure everyone knew the ball must have done something alarming. Throw in his poor fielding display, where he let through three boundaries, and it was a performance to suggest all is not quite right.

India (likely) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Parthiv Patel, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ajinkya Rahane, 5 MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Vinay Kumar

England 1 Alastair Cook (capt.), 2 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ravi Bopara, 6 Jonny Bairstow, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Jade Dernbach, 11 Steven Finn

India vs England 2nd ODI Live Streaming

cricinfo.com:India’s winless tour of England has not been without what initially seemed like positives. At least the admen had moved on from the Lagaan theme that has been the easiest way to sell an India-England series in India. Except that colonial references have now made way for war ones. “There’s no weapon deadlier than vengeance,” says one in all caps. “India takes on England. The war resumes this October.”

To give the marketing machinery generous benefit of doubt, India and England haven’t exactly offered them much by the way of close series. India last beat England in England in September 2007. The corresponding date for England in India is April 2006. India have whitewashed only two Test series (longer than two matches); one of those victims was England. Four out of their seven whitewashes (in series longer than two matches) have been handed by England; the last one earlier this year now invokes the deadly weapon of vengeance.

Except that this is no revenge series. For one of your three worst tours of all time, including the 4-0 Test whitewash for the then No. 1 side, is not avenged over five ODIs. It will, however, be an opportunity to know what a win feels like. India last enjoyed that feeling in June in the West Indies. It will be an opportunity to arrest a slide, stack up some victories and regain confidence before they leave for Australia, their next really big assignment. It won’t be easy, though, playing as they are without Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel. Given their schedules, though, they better get used to this, at least in limited-overs formats.

It will be an opportunity for their opponents to set a record right. That they have won only one of their last 13 completed ODIs against India in India is enough to justify England’s remarkably early arrival and long preparation. Most of those defeats suggest the lack of the power game required in the subcontinent, which along with Test series wins in India and Sri Lanka stands in England’s way of their aim of all-round domination.

England can’t quite claim to know the grammar of subcontinent ODIs well. They entertained in the World Cup, but their batsmen tried to win it through cute dabs and paddles. When England were sleepwalking through a 5-0 ODI series defeat in 2008-09, David Lloyd told the story through the way the respective sides’ batsmen prepared to face a delivery. The Indians, he observed, had higher back lifts, ready to impart power into the shots and also trusting the pitches, looking to play down the ground. The England batsmen didn’t lift those bats as high in preparation, they often pre-meditated, the crookedness of the face either way to run the ball behind square for a single, at times two, stood out.

England, though, are in a much better mental state than their two previous trips to India. In 2008-09 the captain and the coach weren’t quite moving in the same direction; in the World Cup they were tired, injured and possibly longing for home. They will also gain from an Indian XI weakened by injuries. Still a major part of responsibility to prevent this from being yet another one-sided India-England series lies with their batsmen – crucially missing Eoin Morgan – and their response to the conditions.

India (likely) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Parthiv Patel, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ajinkya Rahane, 5 MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 R Ashwin, 10, 11 two out of Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Vinay Kumar

England (likely) 1 Alastair Cook (capt.), 2 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ravi Bopara, 6 Jonny Bairstow, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Jade Dernbach, 11 Steven Finn

India vs England 1st ODI Live Streaming

Mumbai Indians vs Somerset Live Streaming

This is the less glamorous of the semi-finals by a country mile. Barring a few names, you are left with either journeymen or cricketers before or after their prime. The pitch will be slow and low. If the league games were any indication, there will be no atmosphere at the ground because the home team is not playing. Even the cheerleaders’ legs will be covered. That, though, is not the story here. The story is the odds these two sides have beaten to come so far.

Mumbai Indians haven’t exactly endeared themselves to the watching public. When faced with a spate of injuries, they played an extra overseas player as opposed to picking an unknown name from among thousands of cricketers in Mumbai, the city they claim to represent, or the tens from the Mumbai Ranji team. Moreover, one of their “injured” players has been scoring runs in Under-22 matches in Mumbai.

Loved by the public or not, it should not be forgotten that a team that struggled to put an XI on the field has made it to the semi-finals. It can also be argued MI have hardly gained form all this. Their extra overseas player, Andrew Symonds, was clearly not expecting a call-up, has not been in shape, and has yet to make any impact in the tournament. Even after the start of the tournament, they lost opener Davy Jacobs. Yet they have refused to go away. They have bowled a side out for 98, and they have chased two targets through lower-order work, mainly from Lasith Malinga, who has nearly doubled his T20 runs aggregate.

If Somerset had an advantage over MI in that they had played as a team through a long home season, they had more obstacles. Jetlagged and nursing two heartbreaks from the two limited-overs finals back home in England, they had to go through the qualifying phase, not being, of course, from one of the three countries that co-own the Champions League. Two of their big T20 players were then picked for England to play against West Indies. Yet they kept winning, once through a third-choice keeper, once through the hefty hitter who never realised his potential at international level, once through a feisty South African, once through the journeyman South African captain. Along the way they have warmed people to the tournament, not by screaming for attention ala Trinidad & Tobago two years ago, but gently nudging people to watch them.

Mumbai Indians squad
Harbhajan Singh*, AN Ahmed, AC Blizzard, YS Chahal, CRD Fernando, JEC Franklin, DJ Jacobs†, S Kanwar, SL Malinga, KA Pollard, AT Rayudu, R Sathish, TL Suman, A Symonds

Somerset squad
AC Thomas*, AWR Barrow, JC Buttler, NRD Compton, AJ Dibble, GH Dockrell, GH Dockrell, L Gregory, JC Hildreth, CR Jones, M Kartik, C Kieswetter, SP Kirby, SD Snell†, AV Suppiah, PD Trego, RE van der Merwe

Champions League T20 2nd Semi Final Live Streaming

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs New South Wales Live Streaming

Both the teams are on winning streaks. Ideally it should mean no changes to the XIs, but both have two places to debate.

Stuart Clark’s cutters were always going to be effective on the slow Chennai track, but can NSW risk his medium pace on this quick pitch with short boundaries? Nathan Hauritz, though, could be just as big a risk. Will they punt on the young Josh Hazlewood who has played just three Twenty20s? Another slightly adventurous move could be to bring in Philip Hughes at the expense of Daniel Smith. Hughes was a wicketkeeper-batsman at beginner levels, but this might be too left-field for a big match.

The Royal Challengers have S Aravind to be worried about. On Wednesday he was given shows of trust after shows of trust despite the presence of such part-time bowlers as Gayle and Dilshan. He went for 69 in four overs. Abhimanyu Mithun could be a direct replacement. They also need to get a decent contribution from the middle order. With Saurabh Tiwary struggling, it’s almost as if it’s the top three, a hole, and then Vettori. They can’t really manufacture a valuable batsman at this deep end of the tournament, and might still go for the big, albeit unreliable, hitting of the likes of Tiwary and Mayank Agarwal ahead of Mohammad Kaif’s slower reliability and better fielding.

Royal Challengers Bangalore squad
DL Vettori*, MA Agarwal, S Aravind, KB Arun Karthik, RR Bhatkal, TM Dilshan, CH Gayle, M Kaif, V Kohli, A Mithun, DP Nannes, AUK Pathan, J Syed Mohammad, SS Tiwary, JJ van der Wath

New South Wales squad
SM Katich*, SR Clark, PJ Cummins, NM Hauritz, JR Hazlewood, MC Henriques, PJ Hughes, NJ Maddinson, SNJ O’Keefe, BJ Rohrer, DLR Smith†, SPD Smith, MA Starc, DA Warner, SR Watson

Champions League T20 1st Semi Final Live Streaming

Mumbai Indians squad
Harbhajan Singh*, AN Ahmed, AC Blizzard, YS Chahal, CRD Fernando, JEC Franklin, DJ Jacobs†, S Kanwar, SL Malinga, KA Pollard, AT Rayudu, R Sathish, TL Suman, A Symonds

New South Wales squad
SM Katich*, SR Clark, PJ Cummins, NM Hauritz, JR Hazlewood, MC Henriques, PJ Hughes, NJ Maddinson, SNJ O’Keefe, BJ Rohrer, DLR Smith†, SPD Smith, MA Starc, DA Warner, SR Watson

Mumbai Indians vs New South Wales Live Streaming

The Cobras will have to recover quickly from the defeat but can take heart from their fluent victory against New South Wales in their first game. They won’t mind the true bounce and the quick outfield at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, but will first have to shake off the slow-and-low hangover from Chepauk. Dale Steyn, who got clobbered by Bravo in his final over in Chennai, will look forward to a fresh start at his erstwhile IPL home venue, too.

Mumbai Indians have already played a game in Bangalore, the madcap low-scoring thriller against Trinidad & Tobago, and would have picked up valuable lessons from that outing. They will be hard-pressed to explain their position in the points table, given how abysmal their batting has been. In the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and now Davy Jacobs, the top order is bereft of quality and confidence. Their bowling has been incisive, though, with Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh doing the damage, with the support cast doing an adequate job.

Mumbai Indians squad
Harbhajan Singh*, AN Ahmed, AC Blizzard, YS Chahal, CRD Fernando, JEC Franklin, DJ Jacobs†, S Kanwar, SL Malinga, KA Pollard, AT Rayudu, R Sathish, TL Suman, A Symonds

Cape Cobras squad
JM Kemp*, JP Duminy, HH Gibbs, RK Kleinveldt, CK Langeveldt, RE Levi, J Louw, JL Ontong, RJ Peterson, VD Philander, AG Puttick, MJ Rippon, OA Shah, DW Steyn, DJ Vilas†

Mumbai Indians vs Cape Cobras Live Streaming

This match is very importnat for both team because both team played one match and till now there is no win for them.

Match Details:
Competition: Champions League Twenty20 2011
Game: Kolkata Knight Riders vs South Australia
Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Time: 14:30 GMT

Kolkata Knight Riders squad
G Gambhir*, L Balaji, R Bhatia, MS Bisla†, SP Goswami, BJ Haddin†, Iqbal Abdulla, JH Kallis, B Lee, YK Pathan, Shami Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, RN ten Doeschate, MK Tiwary, JD Unadkat

South Australia squad
M Klinger*, CJ Borgas, DT Christian, TLW Cooper, CJ Ferguson, DJ Harris, TP Ludeman†, NM Lyon, AW O’Brien, GD Putland, AU Rashid, KW Richardson, CJ Sayers, JD Smith, SW Tait

Kolkata Knight Riders vs South Australia Live Streaming

This match is most likely same as last qualifier match in same venue. We all know in the qualifier match one team lost and one team won though both teams get qualified for the main matches.

Match Details:
Competition: Champions League Twenty20 2011
Game: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Somerset
Date: Sunday, September 25, 2011
Time: 14:30 GMT

Kolkata Knight Riders squad
G Gambhir*, L Balaji, R Bhatia, MS Bisla†, SP Goswami, BJ Haddin†, Iqbal Abdulla, JH Kallis, B Lee, YK Pathan, Shami Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, RN ten Doeschate, MK Tiwary, JD Unadkat

Somerset squad
AC Thomas*, AWR Barrow, NRD Compton, AJ Dibble, GH Dockrell, JC Hildreth, CR Jones, M Kartik, SP Kirby, CAJ Meschede, SD Snell†, AV Suppiah, PD Trego, RE van der Merwe

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Somerset Live Streaming

Royal Challengers Bangalore is going to play with Warriors in the opening ceremony match. Both teams have enough strong hitters who can give more entertainment for the audience. CLT20 2011 Opening Ceremony Live Streaming will be available in ESPNStar.com.

Champions League T20 2011 Opening Ceremony Live Streaming

Match Details:
Leicestershire vs Ruhuna Qualifying Match
Champions League T20 2011
21st Sep 2011
10.30 GMT

Leicestershire, the Friends Life t20 champions, were expected to do better than the comprehensive defeat they suffered at the hands of Trinidad and Tobago. Going down by 51 runs leaves them precariously placed in the qualifiers. Nothing less than a resounding victory in the clash against Ruhuna will leave them with any chance of progressing.

Ruhuna were beaten in a tight game by T&T – who are already through – and are slightly better placed, but defeats for either team will send them back home. Much hinges on the final qualifier contest between Somerset and Kolkata Knight Riders; both those teams, with a win already in hand, might qualify in the event of a close clash where the net run-rate of the losing side may end up superior to that of the winner of Leicestershire v Ruhuna.

Losing wickets in a cluster at the death and being unable to check an onslaught by Sherwin Ganga in the company of Darren Bravo were the decisive factors in Ruhuna’s defeat and they can ill-afford another slip-up against a side determined to make amends for a letdown. Leicestershire might be the senior citizens in this qualifier phase – their average age is 30-plus – but are loaded with experience. Their batting failed them against T&T, and while a win won’t guarantee them a place in the next round, they can still crush Ruhuna’s hopes.

Leicestershire squad
MJ Hoggard*, Abdul Razzaq, MAG Boyce, NL Buck, JJ Cobb, J du Toit, HF Gurney, CW Henderson, WI Jefferson, AB McDonald, JKH Naik, PA Nixon†, GP Smith, JWA Taylor, WA White

Ruhuna squad
ML Udawatte*, DNA Athulathmudali, LD Chandimal†, LJP Gunaratne, JGA Janoda, ST Jayasuriya, MS Kamileen, KPSP Karunanayake, AKKY Lanka, GACR Perera, MDKJ Perera, PBB Rajapaksa, TN Sampath, AAS Silva, TAM Siriwardana, OLA Wijesiriwardene

Leicestershire vs Ruhuna Live Streaming

Champions League T20 2011 Live Streaming

Match Details:
Auckland vs Somerset Qualifying Match
Champions League T20 2011
20th Sep 2011
14.30 GMT

Auckland squad
GJ Hopkins*†, AR Adams, JHK Adams, MD Bates, C de Grandhomme, MJ Guptill, RM Hira, AK Kitchen, BP Martin, CS Martin, KD Mills, C Munro, RJ Quiney, DR Tuffey, L Vincent

Somerset squad
AC Thomas*, AWR Barrow, JC Buttler, NRD Compton, AJ Dibble, GH Dockrell, JC Hildreth, GM Hussain, M Kartik, C Kieswetter†, SP Kirby, CAJ Meschede, SD Snell†, AV Suppiah, PD Trego, RE van der Merwe

Auckland vs Somerset Live Streaming

Champions League T20 2011 Live Streaming

Trinidad & Tobago are one win away from securing a place in the Champions League main draw and a big financial boost after their victory over Ruhuna on September 19. The track at the Uppal Stadium has plenty to interest the spinners, which suited T&T who played only one genuine quick bowler in the attack, and a raft of slower bowlers. Their captain Daren Ganga will have few complaints about the bowling and fielding, but the top-order batting would have been less satisfactory, with only Darren Bravo showing the judgment necessary to thrive on a difficult pitch.

Standing in their way will be Leicestershire, surprise Twenty20 champions of England. A county in financial difficulty, coming off a dreadful first-class season and having few crowd-pulling stars may seem like an easy opposition, but as Paul Nixon and Co. showed in the Friends Life t20, Leicestershire have the ability to upset star-studded teams. With losses of around £400,000 last year, the big money on offer for teams qualifying to the main draw will provide an added incentive for Matthew Hoggard and his team.

Leicestershire squad
MJ Hoggard*, Abdul Razzaq, MAG Boyce, NL Buck, JJ Cobb, J du Toit, HF Gurney, CW Henderson, WI Jefferson, AB McDonald, JKH Naik, PA Nixon†, GP Smith, JWA Taylor, WA White

Trinidad & Tobago squad
D Ganga*, S Badree, AB Barath, DM Bravo, K Cooper, RR Emrit, ST Gabriel, S Ganga, D Mohammed, JN Mohammed, SP Narine, WKD Perkins, D Ramdin†, R Rampaul, LMP Simmons

Leicestershire vs Trinidad & Tobago Live Streaming

Champions League T20 2011 Live Streaming

Kolkata Knight Riders finished fourth in IPL 2011 and, having come to the qualifiers with the least favourable result in their domestic league among the participating teams, will be eager to prove they belong with the Twenty20 elite. Injuries to their captain Gautam Gambhir and Eoin Morgan, and Brad Haddin’s unavailability – he’s with the Australia Test squad in Sri Lanka – will affect the quality and balance of the side. Even so, a team featuring the likes of Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Pathan and Brett Lee should post a stiff challenge.

Auckland, New Zealand’s champions, have reached the finals of the domestic Twenty20 competition in four seasons out of six. Batsmen Jimmy Adams, Colin Munro, Lou Vincent and Colin de Grandhomme were solid in this year’s HRV Cup campaign. In Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Daryl Tuffey and Andre Adams the team enjoys vast international experience on the pace front. Areas of concern would be a lack of match practice – it’s the winter offseason in New Zealand – and minor shoulder and dental issues for Martin and Tuffey.

Auckland squad
GJ Hopkins*†, AR Adams, JHK Adams, MD Bates, C de Grandhomme, MJ Guptill, RM Hira, AK Kitchen, BP Martin, CS Martin, KD Mills, C Munro, RJ Quiney, DR Tuffey, L Vincent

Kolkata Knight Riders squad
JH Kallis*, L Balaji, R Bhatia, MS Bisla†, G Gambhir, BJ Haddin†, Iqbal Abdulla, B Lee, EJG Morgan, YK Pathan, Shami Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, RN ten Doeschate, MK Tiwary, JD Unadkat

Auckland vs Kolkata Knight Riders Live Streaming

Champions League T20 Live Streaming

India achieved a victory of sorts at Lord’s last week, insofar as they managed not to lose the fourth ODI – a match that was decreed to be a tie by Messrs Duckworth and Lewis after rain wrote off the final seven deliveries of the match. As had been the case with the wash-out in Durham, the arrival of rain probably did India a disservice at that particular moment in time, given that with Stuart Broad injured, England would have struggled to rustle up 11 more runs with one fit tail-ender still in hand.

Given the vast improvement in their performances in this one-day leg of the tour, it is perhaps a pity that India do not have at least a share of the series to fight for on Friday, not least for the sake of the hardy Welsh souls who will brave the autumnal conditions in Cardiff – and with any luck there will be more than 922 punters in the ground, which was the number that turned out to watch England’s astonishing victory over Sri Lanka four months ago.

England squad
AN Cook*, JM Anderson, JM Bairstow, IR Bell, RS Bopara, TT Bresnan, SCJ Broad, JC Buttler, JW Dernbach, ST Finn, C Kieswetter†, SR Patel, BA Stokes, GP Swann, IJL Trott

India squad
MS Dhoni*†, SK Raina, VR Aaron, R Ashwin, S Badrinath, R Dravid, RA Jadeja, V Kohli, P Kumar, A Mishra, MM Patel, PA Patel†, AM Rahane, RP Singh, MK Tiwary, R Vinay Kumar

India vs England 5th ODI Live Streaming

Kings XI Punjab need to win all their remaining games to stay in the hunt for a place in the final four. Their captain, Adam Gilchrist, is familiar with this feeling. During his tenure as captain of Deccan Chargers, he had to lead his side out of the depths and take them to the semi-finals. He has to do it again. Back then, he was leading from front with the bat but he hasn’t been able to reproduce that kind of form this year. As he himself put it, in a lighter vein, reacting to being hit on the helmet by a bouncer from Lasith Malinga, “He has come of age; I have just aged.”

You can’t rule him out yet but the onus shifts on to the other batsmen in the side to do the job – that might even allow Gilchrist to relax and re-discover some batting joy. There are couple of good signs for Punjab. Dinesh Karthik, who didn’t have a great time with the bat in the first half of the tournament, has found his mojo and Shaun Marsh continues to be consistent.

Delhi struggled with Virender Sehwag and were absolutely listless without him. They are left with that eternal cliché in sport of ‘playing for pride’. Only time will tell whether they have any fuel left in them.

Venugopal Rao has always proved to be a valuable contributor with the bat. The crowd might not scream his name, the media might not shower their arc lights on him, the bowlers might not have sleepless nights thinking about him and yet, he has nearly always played the bit-part role really well.

It’s amazing how consistent Shaun Marsh has been in Twenty20. He has ten fifties and one hundred from 26 games in the IPL. The technique is simple: he stays still on the leg-stump line, nearly always remains adjacent to the line and plays late. It has worked like a charm.

Kings XI Punjab squad
AC Gilchrist*, L Ablish, Amit Yadav, BA Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, PP Chawla, SD Chitnis, P Dogra, RJ Harris, DJ Hussey, KD Karthik†, P Kumar, R McLaren, VS Malik, Mandeep Singh, SE Marsh, DA Miller, AM Nayar, NJ Rimmington, N Saini, SJ Srivastava, Sunny Singh, PC Valthaty

Delhi Daredevils squad
V Sehwag*, JR Hopes, VR Aaron, AB Agarkar, TR Birt, R Bist, U Chand, A Chandila, AB Dinda, AJ Finch, R Frylinck, CA Ingram, AB McDonald, M Morkel, S Nadeem, Y Nagar, PT Naik, NV Ojha†, IK Pathan, RV Pawar, AM Salvi, S Sriram, RE van der Merwe, Y Venugopal Rao, Vikas Mishra, MS Wade, DA Warner, TP Yadav, U Yadav, Vivek Yadav

Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils Live Streaming