Thanks to Misbah and Younis

         for their contribution in India's reaching to final. They dropped catches of great Sachin, and took so much time to settle down in the run chase and made sure that required run rate go up all the time. Younis batted for 44 minutes to make 13 from 32 balls, and Misbah never tried to hit the ball hard for most of the time, and that mounted so much pressure on other batsmen. By the time he started slogging, it was almost over for Pakistan.

                                   I am very eagerly waiting for the Saturday. I wish India will win the cup with the help of Sachin's century while chasing, and he roar like a lion after the winning stroke. This will be the perfect happy ending climax. Best of luck to India, and may Lord Ganesha bless us.

Win the toss and bat first

               I am not talking about our semi final match against Pakistan. I am talking about South Africa's nightmarish run in the major events. One thing is sure that they cannot perform better under pressure in big matches in  major tourneys. They will play like champions in the league stage, and will become clueless overnight when it comes to the knockout stage. I think they have a problem in chasing, and the below stats will prove that to an extent. 

Tournament           Year    Opponent    Lost By       

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

World Cup            1992    England     19 Runs
hero cup             1993    India        3 Runs      
titan cup            1996    India       35 Runs
world cup            1996    West Indies 19 Runs       
world cup            1999    Australia    Tie     
champions trophy     2002    India        10 Runs      
world cup            2011    Newzealand    49 Runs

Good team work

           50+ scores from Sachin, Gambhir, and Yuvraj, and 2 wickets each taken by Ashwin, Zaheer, and Yuvraj. This is called sharing the responsibility. Nobody has crossed 60, still they are able to chase down 260. That one irresponsible shot from mindless Dhoni could have cost us the cup, but fortunately Raina hasn't played like his idiot captain, and stayed till the end. And this is the right time to bring back sree santh and kick out lazy munaf.

All we need is a slow pitch

to make it into the last 4. Actually this should have been the finals. Unfortunately we are facing Australia in very much advance. Still i don't forget the 2003 humiliation. Now, this should be our turn. Win the toss (bit difficult for dhoni), bat first, and put 270+ score on board. Chasing this much score on a slow pitch is near to mission impossible. Handle Johnson and Lee with care, and try to make 90-100 runs from their 20 overs. Don't be scared of Tait. He bowls fast but leaks so many runs.

                                                                          Dhoni should think about sreesanth's inclusion in the final XI. Zaheer should not bowl more than 4 overs in his first spell, and should come back when the ball gets old. Zaheer, Aswin, and Sreesanth should be bowling the first 15 overs, and try to get rid of watson and haddin, and will get out-of-form ponting as a free gift (take 2 wickets and get 1 wicket free). Then Bhajji and Yuvi will take care of the middle order.

                                                                               

Dhoni - lacking of ideas?

         You will feel the same if u have watched India's matches against England and South Africa. I am talking about handling the death overs. In both matches Indian batting collapsed suddenly, and moreover they were unable to bat complete 50 overs. When runs are not coming easily or the batsman is new to crease, then why dont they take singles instead of going for slog from the very first ball. If they had followed this in the today's match they would have made 30 more runs than the actual one. Its clearly visible that there is no plan-b in the place. After 40th over they just wanted to make more runs by slogging irrespective of the  situation.

                                                                           In today's match vs South Africa, 99% of cricket fans, followers(including myself), and pundits  might have thought that Dhoni will give the ball to Bhajji in the last over. Because Bhajji was bowling really well till then. (Still i remember, when the fellow commentator asked Ravi Sastry whom he is going to opt at that moment, immediately Sastry replied "Bhajji" ). But Dhoni surprised everybody by choosing Nehra. Only god knows how Nehra  is going to bowl a over.

Tourney is becoming exciting day by day...

                     Initially i thought this is going to be a boring event till the knock-out stage. Unlike 1996 where we predicted 80% of matches very accurately, this one is unpredictable. Nobody would have thought that India-England will end as a tie (just ignore warne), nobody would have predicted South Africa's defeat against England, Kevin O'Brien's breath taking and match winning 100, Bangladesh's collapse vs West Indies for 58 runs, or New zealand humiliating Pakistan. I hope we will get a chance to watch more of this kind.

                        Right now New Zealand are at 1st in group A, and South Africa are in 4th position in group B. Quite interesting!

Yuvraj is back...

                This is a great news to India and to his fans. Two 50+ scores and one 5-wicket haul enhanced chances of winning the cup. When he gets going nobody can stop India from winning. I still remember the winning streak of India between Oct'2005 and Mar'2006 where they won 85% of their matches, and Yuvraj won two back-to-back man of the series awards. I smell that it's going to happen again if he maintains the current form. I would like to see either Yuvraj-Dhoni or Yuvraj-Pathan combo to bat in the last 10-15 overs.