The year's just about started and already it is resonating with the thrill of the upcoming cricket events. The cricket frenzy in India has now reached a fever pitch. The hardcore cricket fans have already made space on their respective planners and diaries to accommodate their cricket watching schedule. Neither rain, nor sleet and apparently nor work will pry a true cricket fan from his television set or in some extreme cases the cricket auditorium. India gears up for not one but three cricket tournaments, set to take place one after another, and this is without taking into account the Ashes series, and the country tours.
So we have the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup which will be the tenth Women's World Cup and the third to be hosted by our country. Even though controversial involving the Pakistani players hovers over the event like an ominous black cloud, our female athletes are practicing real hard to make sure that India's faith in them is justified. The Women's cricket World Cup is set to start on January 31st and end by February 17th. The second in the lineup is the Indian Premier League 2013, scheduled from the 3rd of April through 22nd May. The starting match is slated to be a nail biter as it will be played last year's IPL trophy winners- the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Delhi Daredevils. Last but not least is the ICC Champions Trophy organized by the International Cricket Council.
The ICC Champions Trophy schedule will see India battling it out with South Africa on 6th of June at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff followed by Pakistan clashing against West Indies, on 7th of June. Eight teams are set to participate in the championship and they will be pooled into two groups of four. Each team will face every other team in their group once with the two top teams proceeding to the finals. The winners of either group will face the runners-up of the other group and the corresponding winners will progress to the finals which will take place at Edgbaston on Sunday 23 June.
The money is on India, even if most of her stalwarts are either retired or injured. On the brighter side, apart from the regulars like Dhoni, Sehwag, Kohli and Sharma, we have some promising talents such as Pujara, Ashwin et al. The ICC Champions Trophy news and events will be covered and followed up by Star Cricket and ESPN.