Moments after the West Indies team bus left the Mirpur stadium, on their way back to the hotel, the buses were stoned leading to two cracked windows.

In today’s match between Bangladesh and West Indies, Bangladesh were all out on a me score of 58, by some sensational yorkers from the West Indian bowling trio. While chasing West Indies, only lost  1 wicket, and easily reached their target. Angry Bangladeshi cricket fans took out revenge on the team, by throwing stones at it.

Two windows of the team bus got cracked, and none were shattered, as the West Indian team reached their hotel safely. Moments after the West Indian team reached the hotel Chris Gayle tweeted “This is some bullshit…..Bangladesh stoning our bus!!! Freaking glass Break!!! This is crap,can’t believe..what next bullets!!!! Kiss teeth”.

Will this incident have an impact on the future matches in Bangladesh during the world cup, is a question that pops in our minds.

Various bollywood celebrities posted tweets to support the Indian cricket team against a young and promising Bangladesh side at the inaugural match of the Cricket World Cup 2011. India went on to win the match with a comfortable 87 run margin, backed by centuries from Delhites, Virender Sehwag (175) and Virat Kohli (100*). Some bollywood wishes for the India cricket team on twitter were:

• Amitabh Bachchan – Gutsy fight back by Bangladesh ! But good start to the world cup for India .. well begun, half done !! Congratulations India !
• Jackky Bhagnani - ‘Jeetege bhai jeetege india jeetega! What’s d score guys, I am dubbing!’
• Neha Dhupia – ‘Long day at work and i’m only half way through… envy those who are home, watching the match!’
• Bipasha Basu – ‘Big day today! India will win for sure! Wishing Mahi n his team to do the magic:) We want the Cup!!! Let’s cheer for them’
• Asha Bhosle – ‘I don’t know about you but I’ll be glued to the idiot box this afternoon for 1st match of The World Cup. JAI HIND!’
• Akshay Kumar - ‘Da Greatest Festival of evry Indian has finaly arrived’ da Cricket World Cup’ All da Best 2all da teams, especialy INDIA. Ps: Husbands do not neglect ur wives’.
• Diya Mirza – ‘Too much happening with our shoot on right now. Going to miss watching all the world cup action! Keep me posted! INDIA! let’s go for GLORY,’

India’s next match in the cricket world cup 2011 is against England on the 27th of February, providing them a comfortable 8 day rest.

With the cricket world cup 2011 all set on its way, here is a list of players from ODI  history which have ruled the ODI format, but were never part of a world cup winning squad.

Sachin Tendulkar (IND)

17629 ODI Runs

Centuries – 46 ; Half Centuries – 93

444 Matches

154 Wickets

Jacques Kallis (SAF)

11002 ODI Runs

Centuries – 17; Half Centuries – 80

307 Matches

259 Wickets

Brian Lara (WIN)

10405 Runs

Centuries – 19; Half Centuries – 63

299 Matches

4 Wickets

Waqar Younis (PAK)

416 Wickets

262 Matches

5 Wicket Innings – 13; Best BI – 7/36

Bowling Average – 23.84

Shaun Pollock (SAF)

393 Wickets

303 Matches

3519 Runs

Bowling Average – 24.50

Rahul Dravid (IND)

10765 Runs

339 Matches

Centuries – 12; Half Centuries – 82

196 Catches

Mahela Jayawardene (SRL)

9119 Runs

332 Matches

Centuries – 12; Half Centuries – 55

170 Catches

Stephen Fleming (NZL)

8037 Runs

280 Matches

Centuries – 08; Half Centuries – 49

133 Catches

Anil Kumble (IND)

271 Matches

337 Wickets

Econ Rate – 4.30

BBI – 6/12

It’s cricket season in India, with the world cup starting In under a week. This would mean the Indian audience caught up in The world cup fever. This would play bad for Bollywood movie producers, as releases around this time are expected to take expect a fall in viewership of around 40%.

Things are actually much worse for Bollywood, because it’s not only a cricket world cup in India, but it also has the IPL 4 to follow. The IPL will have two new teams, which must increase the interest in viewers, especially in Pune and Kochi. So, India has non stop cricketing action up till early May, starting this week.

Bollywood biggies tend not to release movies during this time period. Small budget movies although do make their way on to the big screen, to take advantage of the empty cinema screens. A classic example to this would be Bheja Fry being launched during Cricket World Cup 2007. Bheja Fry went on to be a hit, which might not have been much recognized if big budget cinemas would have been running.

There are no major Bollywood releases in the coming moths, although there are certain small budget releases like Shagird, Chillar Party, Happi, Yeh Dooriyan and Run Bhola Run, which will hit the cinemas during all the cricket. After the end of IPL, I.e. Starting May, big budget movies like Rockstar and Double Dhamaal will hit the silver screen.

The opening match for the 2011 world cup on the 19th of February is India vs Bangladesh at Mirpur, Bangladesh. Every single Indian and Bangladeshi being crazy about cricket, realize how important this game is. It was India vs Bangladesh in the 2007 world cup which provided to be the upset of the tournament. Bangladesh beat zinnia comprehensively to make sure that they reach the Super Sixes. Indians on the other hand had to take the flight back home to face a billion broken hearts.

Once again we have an India Bangladesh battle, and this time India has a point to prove, while Bangladesh realize that a win would help their chances for the quarter finals. Both India and Bangladesh have played some amazing games over the past 1 year. On the one side there is the Worlds top ranked all rounder Shakib Al Hasan, and on the other we have a side determined to win the world cup for Sachin tendulkar.

All in all it’s a game to watch out for, and both India and Bangladesh are going to be taking it very seriously.

The big question on where Gary Kirsten would be heading after coaching India in the World Cup, has got its first lead. Gary Kirsten, the current Indian coach had initially mentioned that he would like to spend more time with his family, back in South Africa. More time with family meant an absence from the world of cricket for Gary.

Recent reports coming in state that Gary Kirsten might be heading to Mumbai Indians for one of the senior positions, which should be coach. An involvement in the IPL would give Gary ample time with his family for most part of the year. The report said Indian cricket had hoped to persuade Kirsten to change his mind about not renewing his contract, but gave up on it this week. Future options for Kirsten could involve the Indian Premier League,”. A London daily added to this report, saying “Kirsten could easily take up such a position while still developing his international academy that is in the planning stage at Claremont Cricket Club in Cape Town.”

Gary Kirstens close ties with Sachin Tendulkar may lead Gary to Mumbai Indians, if he plans to move towards the Indian Premier League.

The 15 member final world cup squad for the 2011 cricket world cup was decided today. Chairman of the national selection committee, Kris Srikkanth was confident that this squad would end India’s 28 year wait for a world cup. The Indian world cup squad goes as follows:

1. MS Dhoni (Capt/Wicketkeeper)
2. Sachin Tendulkar
3. Gautum Gambhir
4. Virender Sehwag
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. Virat Kohli
7. Suresh Raina
8. Yusuf Pathan
9. Praveen Kumar
10. Zaheer Khan
11. Harbhajan Singh
12. Ashish Nehra
13. Munaf Patel
14. Piyush Chawla
15. R Ashwin

The big surprise for everyone was the inclusion of Piyush Chawla, who last played an ODI in July 2008. Three big names which were expected to make the cut but couldn’t were Sreesanth, Rohit Sharma and Pragyan Ojha. Piyush Chawla being picked over Pragyan Ojha comes as a surprise, but Srikkanth says that this is a well balanced side, and is good enough to achieve the world cup dream led my MS Dhoni.

Sachin Tendulkar fought against a strong South African bowling attack to complete his half century of centuries. Sachin Tendulkar started his innings when India were very likely to face an innings defeat in the first test against South Africa at Centurion. He kept on losing partners in this historic innings, when the Indian skipper MS Dhoni walked in. Dhoni and Tendulkar scored half centuries together thereby raising a century stand for the seventh wicket.

Sachin Tendulkar hereby becomes the first batsman to complete 50 centuries in the test format of the game. With this century Tendulkar also takes his tally of centuries to 96, with 46 centuries coming in the ODI format of the game. Sachin now stands at over 32000 runs in International cricket. Next in the list if most test hundreds is the Australian skipper, Ricky Ponting at 39, who is having problems with his form and injuries.

Sachin averages a mammoth 211 runs per innings at a strike rate of 60 when he scores a century. This is his 7th century this year, and the year has simply not ended for him.

There had been speculations on ex-cricketers becoming a part of the fourth edition of the IPL. Cricketers like Ajay Jadeja, Brian Lara and Vinod Kambli were set to make a comeback with two new teams being a part of the fourth edition of IPL. Although, quite recently the legendary cricketer Brian Lara has gone to confirm the same on record. Lara says that he has put in his name in the upcoming auction hat, and looks forward to getting selected in any of the teams. Brian Lara has not been part of International cricket for over 3 years now, although he has been playing T20 cricket at the domestic level in Zimbabwe. He will be playing even more T20 cricket in the days to come, to get fit for the IPL 4, in 2011 April and May.

Brian Lara has said that he is not looking forward to the role of a strike batsman in a team, but as a mixed role of a normal player, mentor and coach. Lara wants to do much like what Warne has been doing for Rajasthan Royals. It would be sensational to see Brian Lara back in action and that too in the IPL. It would also be interesting to see how franchise owners evaluate Brian Lara and how much they bid for Brian.

It was sensational match, where two well deserving teams reached the finals of the cricket tournament at the Asian Games to fight for the gold. On the one hand there was a full strength Bangladesh side, which has done wonders off late. On the other was s surprise package of newcomers Afghanistan. Both teams had played big teams like Pakistan and Sri Lanka on the way to the final. Although the Sri Lankan and Pakistani sides were not at their full strength, since their main squads are representing are currently playing International tests. But still the Sri Lankan and Pakistani sides were good enough to handle Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

In the finals of the Asian Games cricket tournament in the T20 format, Afghanistan and Bangladesh fought out a thriller. Afghanistan scored a modest 118 in their given 20 overs, giving Bangladesh an easy total to chase. Bangladesh in pursuit of 119 runs, met some amazing bowling by both the fast bowlers and spinners from the Afghanistan side. At one stage Afghanistan seemed clear favorites. At around 17 overs in the Bangladeshi innings, Bangladesh needed a run rate of 9 runs per over with 5 wickets in hand. The next over was given to Sadeq, the Afghanistani opener, who had bowling figures of 2-0-10-2. The first ball in the third last over by Sadeq, Shabbir seemed dead plumb, but the umpire turned it down. In the same over Shabbir went on to hit 2 sixes to seal the fate of the cmpetition. Bangladesh went on to win comfortably at the end, stealing yet another Gold medal in the Asian games 2010.