m.s.dhoni and india

india beat the west indian team which had dominated cricket for nearly a decade to win its first world cup in lords under kapil dev. many thought that this day could never be reciprocated. came in m.s.dhoni mainly for his batting skills with his unorthodox style of playing shots.

india were humiliated in the 2007 world cup when they were expected to avenge the defeat inflicted upon them by the ruthless australian team. instead of posing any serious challenge they were knocked out of the world cup in the group stage itself after losing to minions bangaldesh. this was by far the worst performance by the men in blue in the world cup.   BCCI had to make amends to the team. dravid was immediately stripped of his captaincy and it was handed over to m.s.dhoni who by then established himself as a regular wicketkeeper for the team. the team was in deep turmoil and was no serious threat to the 3 time champions australia. next came the inaugural t20 world cup. dhoni was given a team of inexperienced and was sent on a experimental trip to south africa. without the experience of sachin,dravid or ganguly. india were placed in a relatively easy group with scotland and pakisthan. a win against scotland and a bowl out win against pakisthan saw them sail through into the super 8's where they had to play new zealand, south africa and england. they started with a loss to new zealand. after a magnificent disaplay of ruthless hitting yuvraj ensured that india remained as contenders. next up were the formidable proteas. a great spell from sreesanth not only made sure that the africans lost the match but also took them out of the tournament. the semifinals saw india take on australia. this was a day of redemption for india.. a day to avenge 2003.after picking up both gilchrist and hayden sreesanth sent india into the finals against arch nemesis pakisthan. dhoni was stuck in a terrible dilemma when he had to decide whom to bowl in the last over of the final. he finally chose joginder sharma as his knight. sharma repaid his captain's faith in him by taking the wicket of misbah-ul-haq. many said that india winning the t20 world cup was pure luck but this was just the beginning of a new era

after winning the t20 world cup the BCCI replaced the defunct icl with the ipl. ipl was a stepping stone for BCCI's dominance among the cricket bodies.hence it was necessary for dhoni to prove himself in the ipl too.
the inaugural season of the ipl saw dhoni(the player with the highest bid)steer his team to the finals of the ipl but losing to the rajasthan royals in the finale in a tight encounter which saw the royals win on the last ball.the second ipl saw dhoni's team chennai super kings lose in the semifinal to the royal challengers bangalore.the third ipl saw chennai super kings take on the defending champions deccan chargers in the semifinal. a good display by australian speedster doug bollinger took them to the finals where they comfortably won against the mumbai indians at mumbai.ipl season four saw chennai take on royal challengers bangalore in both the playoff and the final.they demolished the bangalore side in the final to give m.s.dhoni his second consecutive ipl trophy.until the start of the fifth season dhoni was only known for his tactics as a captain. but dhoni proved that he can bat when he carried chennai into the playoff's after a memorable innings against punjab. being the 4 team in the group stage they had to play three matches to win the cup. such was the schedule that even a team lead by m.s.dhoni was overwhelmed in the finals. the 6 th season witnessed the dominance of chennai where they comfortably cruised to the finals.they were unlucky to have been beaten by the mumbai innings side despite a captains knock from the man himself. dhoni was by far the most successful captain in the ipl with 6 consecutive semifinals and  2 consecutive trophies

champions league had never been won by an indian team .At the Champions League, the Super Kings were placed in Group A along with champions of Twenty20 competitions from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. The Super Kings topped the Group table with three wins and a Super Over defeat to the Victorian Bushrangers. In the semi-final at Durban, the Super Kings comprehensively defeated IPL rivals Royal Challengers Bangalore by 52 runs. Raina won the Man of the match for his unbeaten 94 off 48 balls.^[31] The Super Kings played their first CLT20 final at Johannesburg where they beat the Chevrolet Warriors by 8 wickets, becoming the first IPL team to win the CLT20.Murali Vijay won not only the Man of the Match in the final for his 58 but also the Golden Bat for scoring the most runs in the tournament and Ashwin, who was the leading wicket-taker, was adjudged the Player of the series.this made dhoni the first captain to complete a ipl champions league double

football dream team

football has been a game of legends for years and as a football enthusiast one would only love to see them play together. many clubs have tried to assemble teams with the greatest collation of players. some have given them results while the others failed miserably. here at dream football team we take a look at some of the legendary teams which took to the football pitch in the 20th century. please do cast your votes in the comments below.

coming in at 1 we have the los galacticos from real madrid. they broke all records when they entered the transfer market and assembling a team of ronaldo(brazil), zidane, beckham, raul,figo, carlos, owen and many more.though they didn't have much success with trophies they managed to entertain their fans

at number two come in the invincible arsenal squad spearheaded by thiery henry that which saw them play an english season without a loss. winning the english title without losing in a league dominated by the likes of manu, chelsea and liverpool could only be achieved by arsene wenger

                         

at number three comes in the brazil team which destroyed the germans in the finals of the 2002 world cup toclinch a record fifth title. with the partnership of ronaldo and ronaldhinio up front they were unstopplable in korea

manchester united is known to be the home for growing several legendary playmakers. the best of them came in between 2008 and 2010 when they managed to play two comsecutive finals of the uefa champions league. boasting of a midfield of cristiano ronaldo, wayne rooney, carlos tevez, ryan giggs and scholes they were a team to beat.there only humiliation during this tenure was at the hands of a ruthless liverpool who hit them for a four at old trafford

barcelona of 2006 saw a rejuvenated barcelona rise to clinch the champions league title away from thiery henry's arsenal.the squad also saw a young messi team up the legendary ronadhinio up front. this was only the beginning of what was yet to come. with the additions of eto, ibhrahimovic, henry pep guardiola managed to turn this side into one of the finest teams in the world

no one gave spain a chance during the euro's of 2008 and the world cup of 2010. they charged like bulls with their mighty midfield which saw them not only clinch a world cup but also two european cups in succession.spain is home to the most formidble midfielder's : iniesta, xavi, alonso, silva, fabregas, busquets, cazorla , mata, navas, ...and the line goes on.

after choking in the penalty shootout of 2012 bayern munich came back to play a season for which they would be remebered. they were the all conquering champions by winning the bundelsliga in record time, inflicting heavy defeats on their road to clinching the german fa cup and ending an era at barcelona to win the champions league cup

dc vs marvel

the age old rivalry between the comic book giants is renewed here. over the past five decades they have manged to be at the top.but with their reboots will they be able to remain the undisputed creators of every child's fantasy?? both the reboot's marvel!now and the new 52 have been about redesigning their respective universe's. the rivalry took to comic books when dc and marvel organized a massive comic book event for the first time ever.this crossover event saw the marvel characters beat the dc charcters 3-2. the result was decided by the fans who cast their votes

set after the event flashpoint the new 52 has gone into its stride with darker stories and mind-blowing drawings while marvel just undergoes sort of a transition after the event x-men vs avengers.

the new52 has seen dc rectify the problem of having a very few recognised teams on their side compared to marvels avengers, x-men and fantastic four. with no room for expansion among any of their teams, dc has made sure that there is  no room for confusion which led to the making of crisis on infinite earth's

the new 52 also see's the dark knight take over two of the worlds most diabolical teams:the justice league and the batman incorporated. cashing in on the batman trilogy of movies,dc has gone to the extent of providing a comic series for each and every member of the bat family while batman himself stars in batman and the detective comics. justice league got a boost with the promise of trinity wars from the beginning. this inturn helped dc with the inception of justice league of america, justice league dark and the league of super villians. the initial arcs from batman the death of the family and the night of the owls only strengthened batman's grip over the pole position as the biggest superhero of all time. many would have wanted to see heath leadger portray the role of the joker from the death in the family had he been alive. with grant morrison( the only guy who managed to kill batman and get away with it) writing the all new action comics, the release of the much awaited nolan's man of steel and by dating the princess of amazon superman's not far away from dethroning the knight. with its affiliation with the vertigo comics(boasts of an incredible line of comics with watchmen, v for vendetta) dc has they have managed to reach out to the adult audience as well

marvel!now is set in the aftermath of the a vs x. the series itself being a major hit ,the new marvel promises a lot for the younger generations.but, with jean grey and the professor already dead the relaunch of marvel's best selling series faced a huge task. the legendary jean grey no longer lives. with the x-men divided in opinion and being shown as their darker sides marvel has abandoned the x-men ship and taken to avengers for help. the entire team  x family has been distributed with wolverine, rogue and havoc joining the already converted witch at the uncanny avengers. with cyclops starting his own school with emma frost and magneto on his side kitty is left with the old school and the responsibility of taking care of the young time traveled original x-men in the all new x-men. the all new x-men also oversee's the return of mystique in a negative role. with sabertooth on her side setting up the cyclops against cyclops she does what she does best, create havoc. uncanny avengers starts with magneto turning his back on the leader cyclops due to his incompetence. the battle of atom certainly promises a lot with three generations of mutants facing against each other

meanwhile the other half of the marvel universe has their own problems with new born mutants. captain america forms the uncanny avengers with havoc as the leader while simultaneously heading both the avengers and the new avengers. the age of ultron returned pride to marvel comics with a mind blowing tale of the avengers. with new events predicted in the future of both avengers and the x-men marvel might become the force they once were.the infinty event was launched by marvel with the sole purpose to counter the sales of the trinity wars.with the trinity wars and the supervillian month of dc and infinty and battle of atom of marvel comic book fans are in for a good summer

watching football for beginners

tried watching football??...found it too intimidating and gave up on the beautiful game ??...here is a chance to understand the game

firstly football is never played between manu and brazil. matches between clubs and countries are a rare site and even if they do take place, they occur only as friendlies or in fifa games.the last one took place between bayern munich and netherlands. one thing that you might have already noticed about football is that people are much more crazier about the clubs rather than the country soccer teams (for more on this please check out steven gerrard's( the english captain's) penalty against manu )  as opposed to what we see in other sports and an another hilarious fact is that it's called soccer in the usa while football in the us is played with the hands.

for much more interesting stuff on football do check our other blogs http://comapresports.blogspot.in/

football is mostly famous in europe and south america. it's been one among the richest sports for a really long time. in europe the leagues held in england, spain, germany and italy are considered to be the biggest leagues. all the countries have 4 or 5 tier's of leagues. the position of where a club plays depends on the performances of the club invoking either relegation or promotion. different leagues employ different strategies for deciding the promoted teams and relegated teams with some leagues organizing playoff matches

the first division league in england is called the barclays premier league and is considered to be the most visually appealing league in the footballing world followed by laliga of spain and bundelsliga of germany. most of the english teams employ the strategy of pairing a holding midfielder and a good finisher while the other teammates assist them.some of the famous ones are gerrard and suarez for liverpool, lampard and torres for chelsea, bale and  adebayor for spurs.the biggest teams in laliga and probably the best in the world, barcelona and real madrid employ contrasting strategies, yet they choose an all-rounded compared to their english compatriots.  while barcelona play a passing game centered around xavi , iniesta and messi , madrid rely on speed and clinical finishing of their strikers. italy sees most of the clubs take to a defensive and physical approach while german teams rely on speed.

the best teams from each of these domestic leagues in europe then qualifies for the uefa champions league while the second best qualify for the uefa europa league. depending on their ranking in the uefa club ranking a particular country can send only a  particular number of teams to the tournament. as of now england(1), spain(2), germany(3), can send in four teams each while italy(4) can send only 3 teams each. the champions league has  seen some extraordinary matches, recently witnessing the demolition of an era that had been dominated by barcelona. barcelona were beaten mercilessly by a staggering 7-0 in a two legged semifinals by the eventual champions bayern munich. real madrid still remain the most successful in europe with 9 titles edging ac milan of italy who are on 7. the most successful among the english clubs has been liverpool(4 titles) while bayern(5 titles) has been the best for germany.

the country which wins this league is then eligible to play the uefa super cup and the club world cup. the uefa super cup is more like a exhibition match played between the winners of champions league and europa league. this tie is similar to the community shield match played in england( b/n winners of premier league and f.a cup ) and to the other super cups held in other countries. for the world cup one team from each continent progresses with one team from the host country making a total of eight teams

for much more interesting stuff on football do check our other blogs http://comapresports.blogspot.in/

football vs cricket(a tussle for the top spot)

Since it's inception in the land of the Queen, cricket has traveled predominantly east to Asia and Australia while football stayed back in Europe to establish itself as one of the premier sports. comparisons were drawn between the two games as cricket began its ascent to become the best sport.this rapid development could be attributed to the introduction of the ipl by the BCCI. the second season of ipl saw it reach second in the entertainment bracket while beating the likes of bpl, nfl , etc

with the madness for the t20 madness at a record high and with the new test world cup replacing the champions trophy, cricket will definitely survive for a decade or two, but will the indian tycoons be able to push the game and take it to the clubs that  have been established for over hundred's of years like manu, madrid, barcelona, milan , liverpool??...that is a question that only time can answer

the ipl has had it's up's and down's which included the suspension of it's chief and yet gaining worldwide fame with increased viewership.recent revelations haven't helped the sport much. 

when it comes to countries playing matches both the games have deployed different strategies. football has managed to keep the patriotism going by organizing a world cup every four years and a continental cup in between them. now imagine the state of a fan who has been deprived from watching his country. football has cashed in on it by making the football world cup the biggest attended event in the world. football grew on the backbone the brazillian pele and the argentinian maradona in the latter half of the 19th century when they destroyed their opposition's and lead their teams to world cup glory.it grew with notable contributions from brazillian ronaldo , the french striker zidane , the english play-maker beckham to name a few. 

the new generation of football has seen people across the world take sides not only during the world cup but also during the euro's organized by uefa. people saw a different kind of game, the one's which gave importance to planning and strategy. while germany, one of the most consistent teams has made it their trademark to outrun the other teams spain has been using a possessive midfield, while the ever resurgent italians have gone for a much more physical approach. england and france continue to rely on it's legendry midfield playmakers while brazil has managed to stay up there with their sheer passion for football

cricket has evolved over the past 40 years from the first 60 over match world cup to the new t20 world cup. the tall, ultra fast west indian bowlers got the cricket fan's going in lord's in the 1970's. cricket has gone through a lot since then from being england's game to becoming india's adopted child. the late 90's saw australia take over cricket from west indie's and rule the world of bat and ball.  they had player's like gilchrist and hayden who could tear apart any bowling attack. a very productive middle order with ponting being the best captain the game had ever seen. the bowling gave physicists all around the world a run for the money with the extraordinary swing and seem. the turn of the century saw india take over cricket led by the calm ms dhoni. having conquered the t20 world cup he made the implausible possible by seeing out austalia, pakisthan and sri lanka on the road to the finals

cricket has evolved over the past 40 years from the first 60 over match world cup to the new t20 world cup. the tall, ultra fast west indian bowlers got the cricket fan's going in lord's in the 1970's. cricket has gone through a lot since then from being england's game to becoming india's adopted child. the late 90's saw australia take over cricket from west indie's and rule the world of bat and ball.  they had player's like gilchrist and hayden who could tear apart any bowling attack. a very productive middle order with ponting being the best captain the game had ever seen. the bowling gave physicists all around the world a run for the money with the extraordinary swing and seem. the turn of the century saw india take over cricket led by the calm ms dhoni. having conquered the t20 world cup he made the implausible possible by seeing out austalia, pakisthan and sri lanka on the road to the finals

with legends like sachin,dravid,laxman,ponting,gilchrist, ..... retiring from cricket the game is tumbling down the road it once took to reach its best. many are tired of the same matches being played through out the year and with an overdose of cricket leading sports enthusiasts turn towards football, cricket might not survive the impact of football. football, meanwhile continues to draw all the younger generations towards it with its high octane action which leads to a serious question....will cricket survive??

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