India vs Pakistan

The match is named as the mother of all clashes. India and  Pakistan  over the years produced cricket matches which always remain fresh in the minds of every cricket lover.Who can forget Sachin's upper cut against Shoaib,Javed miandads last ball six to win the match for Pakistan,Virinders 300 with a six,1996 quarter finals ,T20 finals(the list keeps coming).With a berth in the finals of the world cup at stake,we can expect nothing less than an exciting  encounter. With all the hype around the match and political aspects coming into it, one can not expect the pressure that the players go through.
I only request all the cricket fans to understand that, IT IS ONLY A GAME OF CRICKET.It is not a war between India and Pakistan. At the end of the day,let the game of cricket win.

I cheer for team India. I back Sachin to get his 100 100's. Will you?

The end of an era of domination

The quarterfinals between India and Australia marked the end of complete  domination of Australia in world cup cricket. The defending champs crash out of the mega tournament.
Pointing did the Aussies a great  favor by winning the toss and batting first.The pitch was slow and assisted the spinners from ball 1 and it would only get worse for batting as the day went by.What fallowed after the toss was a visual treat for any cricket lover. Irrespective of which team you support,you just put your hands together for a champion like inn gs from a champion who did it time and again for Australia. The hall mark of his inn gs was the way he crafted and pushed the ball into the gaps on a slow track where the ball was just not coming on to the bat. D.Hussy provided the icing on the cake with a fantastic finish. 260 on that track was a match winning target in my view.
On a slow and sluggish track chasing 260 under lights was never going to be easy against the Australian team.
So it was imperative for Indians to get off to a steady start . The Indian top order had to ensure that they do not get the fast bowlers into the game by giving their wickets away.The strength of the Australian attack was their fast men, who could bowl at 150 clicks  and get wickets by sheer pace in the air.Sachin and Sehwag got of to a perfect start before the later was bounced out by Watson Every Indian batsmen got off to starts and got out. There was no one big 100 by anyone,but instead everyone contributed.In all fairness 260 was a winning score on that track if they had a certain S.K.Warne on that track.The spin department of Australia could never take advantage of a surface that helped them.Kreja dropped the ball either short or bowled full tosses which leaked the pressure.It also meant that Ricky was never in a position to attack the batsmen to get them out. But it was only self destruction of Indian middle order (kholi getting out to a full toss,Gautam getting run out and Dhoni) that got them back into the game.At one stage it looked as if they would run away with the game but Yuvraj the man of the moment for India and Raina had other plans. I think the 2 overs between Lee and Tait which yielded 25 runs was the turning point of the run chase. It inverted pressure back on the bowling and the chase gathered momentum Raina symbolizes the change in Indian cricket. Batsmen of the past would have defended under pressure,but Raina walked out and counter attacked which gave  the momentum for the finish. Yuvraj was the man for the crisis for  India again. The way he handled pressure was one the factors which helped India chase the runs down.
I believe that the real difference between the 2 teams was their spin attack. Indian spinners got the ball to grip the surface and made the batsmen drive the ball. They tossed the ball up and got purchase from the track.Not to forget Zaheer who got two wickets to slow the Aussie onslaught. The aussies however found ways to leak runs. The spinners never looked threatening, and Ricky had to rely on his fast men to get him wickets on a slow track. "Form is temporary and the class is permanent".This statement was proved right again where two champion batsmen who were woefully out of form stood up for their respective nations( Ricky and Yuvraj). This match reminded me so much of cricket in the late 90's where 260 was a respectable score and the team chasing had to bat well to get it.Finally it is the team which held their nerve that  won the match.
P.S It sets up what i call a mother of all encounters.Ind vs Pak.Can it get any better?

Ind v windies

The so called dead rubber between Ind and windies left the indian team with a lot of positives to carry forward into the quaters. For starters Yuvraj was pleasing to the eye to say the least. And india seemed to have found their best combination against the mighty aussies.The most heartning postive to have come out of the match is the performance of Ashwin. He added a new dimension to the attack with the new ball, and gave no free bees to the batsmen.But i think the match turned on its head , when Harbhajan came to bowl his second spell. There was a lot said and written about the turbunator in the media.And the way he bolwed in the second spell must have answered his critiques. There was loop striged to the ball, and spin of the track which made it hard for windies to get him away. And as always the talisman man of indian bowling Zaheer was at his best.
But there are some issues that Indians have to sort out.To begin with , the middle order  has to understand the essence of the power play and learn how to close an inn gs on a positive note. And Dhoni again today for a brief while was chasing the ball on the filed with his bowling changes and filed placements.Just to highlight the same fact, it is worth noting that Munaf didn't get to bowl until the 5th bowler finished his 10 overs.I also personally felt that there were far too many easy singles available for the batsmen against the spinners . He was more inclined to get the part time bowlers done and dusted with ,rather than trying to pick up wickets when the partnership was going strong between Smith and Sarwan.( Althou Raina did pick up one wicket,and having Zaheer for the old ball did make sense).One must admit that windies batted themselves into a winning position and batted themselves out of it aswell.
After everything ,it is now safe to say that India were the better team on the day and deserved to win. But i stil feel that the quality of the bowling in the mandatory power play has to improve and wicket taking abailty with the newball has to be looked at.
A special bow for yuvraj for his splendid century .

Hai friends

hello friends,
Finally here i am with my own blog. As i am just new to the  entire system of blogging,i would take some time to get used to it. I promise my self that i will be active and give my fair comments about the matches hence forth.
Cheers