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It was indeed a spectacular start for Netherlands in the ICC Twenty 20 World Cup. I don’t think Netherlands will have to wait for a long time to attain ICC recognition for playing in one day international matches. This match would have surely made a lot of critics sit back and take note of the exemplary performance of this team against England. The Dutch captain termed that the stunning victory symbolized one of the biggest days in Dutch Cricket history and hopes that his team makes it to the semi finals. The moment the winning run was score the entire team sprinted to the outfield to celebrate their winning performance.  “Without doubt, the biggest day in Dutch cricket history, and now we are looking to qualify for the Super Eights and maybe the semi-finals.”I said to the boys in the dressing room we are going to do it today, play hard, play your shots, we have got nothing to lose. It’s a massive boost for Dutch cricket, I’m really proud of the boys” said captain Jeroen Smits. The ICC twenty 20 world cup turns out to be more exciting than the Indian Premier League with a lot of surprises.

Australia’s loss to South Africa in the fourth one day match has enabled India to climb to the second spot in International Cricket Council’s ODI rankings. Australia lost seven out of nine matches it had played against South Africa this year and this had caused Australia slip to the third spot. The current Australian side’s ranking is considered as the lowest since rankings were introduced by ICC in 2002. There is still a slim chance for Australia to retain its second spot. This can happen only if they win the last match in Johannesburg on Friday. South Africa leads the table with 127 points while India is on 122 points and Australia on 121. This is the highest position India has attained in the ODI Rankings. Currently India holds the third position in test rankings. Indian cricket has reached great heights under Dhoni’s formidable leadership in the recent years. Let us just hope and pray that India reaches the top spot sometime soon in the near future.

It is pretty clear that Kolkata Knight Riders will be the first team to be eliminated from the Indian Premier League this year. There a lot of pending issues that needs to be addressed if Kolkata Knight Riders aspire to win the IPL next year. From nowhere the fake player issue cropped up and has created enough controversies thus far. Speculations were rife that Shahrukh was going to sell the team after the IPL ends. Shahrukh came to India to cast his vote in the elections. Shahrukh is terribly upset with his team’s performance that he has decided not to go back to South Africa unless they start winning. He has even started avoiding the media with whom he is otherwise very friendly. This is what Shahrukh had to say about his team’s performance. “ We haven’t lost motivation. What we have to see is where we can take the team from here. Some matches were close and almost broke our hearts. But the others were complete losses. We had nothing to prove. So I had asked the boys to have fun” I am sure that Shahrukh will bring about a lot of changes in the team and is just waiting for the IPL to end.  Any critical move is definite to create panic and dampen the spirits of the already demoralised team.

Well, it is official now. The second edition of the Indian Premier League has been shifted to South Africa after government refused to spare adequate security for this much publicized event. This is definitely a severe blow to all the million die hard cricket fans in India. It is obvious that the enthusiastic fans made the first edition of Indian premier League a big hit. Without them it would have been just another tournament. All this confusion should have been sorted long back. The IPL core committee should have consulted the government on the possibility of IPL tournament being held in India. Before the relocation could happen South Africa and England were the top contenders for hosting this event.  Engalnd  was initially tipped to be the front-runner but weather played spoilsport  leaving the IPL officials with not many options. After much thought it was decided that South Africa will host the second edition of Indian Premier Leaue. Lalit Modi, IPL chairman and commissioner, said at a press conference, “The tournament would run in the same format and on the same dates. Even the match telecast will be at the same time for the Indian audience. The tournament will remain a domestic tournament being staged at an international venue.” The tournament begins with the inaugural match at Cape Town on April 18. Shifting IPL out of the subcontinent would have disappointed many but a few are happy and relieved that the IPL is at least on.