Preview: India vs Pakistan

Stage is all set in Mohali for the grand match between two arch rivals India and Pakistan. This semi final seems more important than a final of world cup. Both the nations are geared up to watch the match. In Mumbai Taxi and Auto unions have called off for match. Many offices in India will remain close and swapped their holiday with tomorrow. Many have called half day. The excitement of match is getting on its highest. Just hold your heart guys, Its gonna be a heartthrobing match between these two countries. The same situation is their in Pakistan also.

India have beat defending champoin in a neilbitting game in qurter final while Pakistan got very unexpected easy win against West Indies. Both teams are practicing very hard to win the contest which is the most excited game in this world cup. A lot has been said in last few days on news paper and news channels. Former cricketers are giving their views and helping the team to win the contest. It is been always close match between these two sides when they meet on the ground. Not only two nations but players of both team are also always excited to play with each other and beat other team. Sledging and clashes will also be there on the ground between players.

It seems the clash between Indian batting vs Pakistan's bowling. India have won almost all of their matches with batting while Pakistan won with their bowling strength. India's Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag and Yuvraj are on top of batting list while Pakistan's Afridi, Gul are on top of bowling list for this world cup. Fielding will be big concern for Pakistan. India have improved their fielding level in last match against Australia. If we look at the past records it fevers India as they never lost any game against Pakistan in World Cup. At the same time Pakistan is excited to break this chain of loosing match against India. The word war is already started between two sides as Afridi has made statement about Sachin's 100th century.

Mohali pitch is batsmen friendly with some bounce in the pitch. It will help seamers more than spinners. Many of former cricketers have suggested to play three seamers and one spinner. If India want to go with this they Nehra will make come back in place of Ashwin. I dont think any change needed in the team from last match. Pakistan's speedstar Akhtar has already annonced his retirement after world cup. Lets see if he get chance to play his last match against India.

It is going to be very exciting game. Just cross your finger and pray that we can see India playing in Vankhede stadium.

Key players:

India: Sachin, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Harbhajan

Pakistan: Younis, Misbah, Afridi, Gul, Umar Akmal.

Head-to-head record: Pakistan lead 69-46 (NR: 4)

In the World Cups: India lead 4-0

Bye Bye Kangaroos!!: Review India vs Australia

It was a nailbiting game yesterday and a perfect example of what quarter final match should be played like. The winning ball was passing from Indian basket to Australian basket. India have shown really good patience in the end as they were chasing the target which was never achieved by team batting second on the ground of Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad. First innings average score before this match was 258 and Australians have scored satisfactory 260 at the end of 50 overs. The highest score chased on this ground was 238 which should have put some pressure on Indian team.

It was the skipper Ricky Thomas Ponting who has led the team from front in batting and hit first century in this world cup. He is been very consistence against India, specially in big tournaments. It was probably his last world cup game and he has finished it with style. He is really good player but not good sportsman. He had lot of controversies and even before the match against India, Australian media have written lot about his captainship. Australians were looking good till the end and finished it with reasonable 260. The thing attracted in first innings was the way Indian fielders were playing. It was the best fielding I have seen from Indian team in this world cup. Everyone was giving their 100% on the field. Bowling was also descent except Munaf Patel. At the time of toss it has been said that 270 around would be descent score to defend and with the spinning track I was also thinking that India should restrict Australia below 270. The score was good but still not best to defend.

Sachin and Sehwag has started the innings really well with some patience and good shot around the ground. The only winning key for Indian team was their patience and all the players knew that they have to stay at wicket and at the same time keep the scoreboard moving. After Sehwag's wicket, It was time for another Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir to contribute some runs and get the scoreboard moving with Sachin. He played really good innings and build good partnership. Once Sachin nicked the ball and caught behind in the gloves of Haddin, another Delhi player made his entry in the Ground and it was Virat Kohli. Both this played have good partnership records in past and team was expecting them to continue. Kohli played a very poor cricket shot and the same time one of my favourite sports journalist G Rajaraman(Raj Sir) has twitted very good line, "ah virat.. what have you done! a whole ground to put that full toss away and you found Clarke!"

The complete responsibility came on the shoulder of Yuvraj who has very good tournament and already had 3 man of the match award before yesterday's match. Gambhir and Yuvraj were playing very descent game and getting singles. No risk needed as required rate was below 6. Gambhir looked like to looking for the chance to get himself runout. He missed it two times and finally the time has came when he got opportunity to get himself run out. There was no co-ordination between them. With that run out again pressure came on India and Indian skipper come to the ground. He has played some good shots but he has also given a very good catch to Clarke at point area. At that time India needed 70 runs and with only last recognized pair left.

Raina the key man of match who has just got chance to make it in playing eleven because India have not completed their 50 overs in previeous few matches. He is technically more sound than Pathan. I was also expecting the same change here as Raina is one of my favorite finisher of game. He played some defencive shots and set himself with the wicket. Meanwhile Yuvraj has completed his half century. They were playing good cricket but worry for me was powerplay. Indian team collapsed in last few games when batting powerplay came into action. Ball has been given to Lee for first over of powerplay, Raina has just lofted the first ball over mid-on and it went in to the crowed for six. That has broken down Lee's confidence. 13 runs in that over has put India in driving seat and there was no chance for Australia to come back in the game. Finally Yuvraj has finished game with cover drive which went for four. Ponting was stunned by what had happened. It was end of tournament for the team which won it for last 3 times.

The most enjoyable moment for me was to look at Ponting's face when India score winning runs. It was just message from India that he should concentrate on game rather than making statements on opposition. Though I was very happy with his face there was one Cricket fan in me who was feeling bad about the bad end of a really good captain and player. He is really good cricketer but at the same time not a good sportsman at all.

It was really great match we have seen and it seems India got their perfect team combination here. It will be really good game in Semi Final against Pakistan at Mohali. If India continues with same form, they will definately lift the cup.

Time to give answer to Mr. Arrogant Ponting: Preview India vs Australia

Before the start of world cup arrogant captain of Australia just said that "Sachin wont be a part of world cup winning team" and started the word game between India and Australia. This was the time when entire Indian team were giving their comment and mentioning one thing "We want to win this world cup for Sachin Tendulkar". I dont know what Ricky want to prove here. I think this is the time to give him answer by throwing punters out of this world cup at Ahmedabad. Sachin Tendulkar is always better than Ponting than why he is not just accepting this thing.

It will be great clash between these two teams and India have upper hand on this while playing at home. Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Harbhajan have good record against Kangaroos. It is good opportunity for India to take revenge of world cup final 2003 where Australia have beaten them by big margin of 125 runs. If India beat Australia then they will be thrown out of this tournament as it is knock out round and after world cup of 1996 this will be the first time when they will be thrown out before semi final. With the advantage of home conditions India will be strong contender to win this contest while the performance Australian team has shown in the big tournaments will give them some confidence although they have been beaten by Pakistan in their last league match. Ashwin has proved in the bowling department that he is better choice for playing elevan. Many experts have adviced India to play with 3 spinners. There will be some confusion in the mind of selectors between Raina and Pathan. I prefer Raina over Pathan as he can play good in all type of condition and team can rely on him for making the middle order strong.

Australian team has performed well in this tournament with Watson, Ponting have good tournament while come back of Mike Hussey has made their middle order bit strong. Lee, Johnsan and Tait are doing well with new ball but Steven Smith failed to impress in any of the matches. Michael Clarke has played couple of good inings but still it is not good tournament for him. Krejza will have chance to get place into playing elevan as Ahmedabad's pitch may help spinners.

A lot has been said by Australian media for Ponting's captainship, so he has to play and win the game to save his captainship although Mike Hussey has supported him and said he is the best person in the team for the captain. He deserves to be lead the team. IPL experience will give some advantage to the team.

Key Players:

India: Sachin, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Ashwin

Austrailia: Watson, Haddin, Clarke, Hussey, Lee, Tait, Johnson

Head-To-Head:

Total: 104

India: won 35 Lost 61 NR 8

Australia: won 61 Lost 35 NR 8

Preview: Pakistan vs West Indies

After the end of very exciting games in the league stage, now we are heading towards more exciting and important matches. Knock out round is going to begin from tomorrow with the first match between Pakistan and West Indies. All the teams reached to this round is capable to win the cup. It will be the day which belongs to one of them and that team will head to semi finals. All the teams have performed really well to reach to this round, specially teams from Group B had to fight till the last match for the position in the group.

For tomorrow's match my favorite is Pakistan. They have played very good games in league round including the end of continues victory of defending champions Australia in world cup tournaments. Opening and fielding is still worry for them but still they got success to clinch some very close games by really good bowling by Umar Gul and the skipper himself Shahid Afridi. Afridi failed to get runs with the bat but he has very good tournament with bowl so far. Yougsters like Umar Akmal and Ashad Shafiq have shown some confidence in opening and middle order. Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-haq are using their experience in middle order. Bowling department is complete with confident Umar Gul, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Abdur Rehman. The game will be played at Mirpur, Bangladesh and the condition will be suitable to Pakistan. They will have lot of support there.

West Indies have been beaten by England and India in their respective group matches. After back to back defeats they are expected to recall most experienced batsman Chanderpaul. Gayle will make come back after the game against India which will give some confidence in top and middle order. The worry for them is sudden collapse in batting which we have seen in both of thier last games. After a great start their batsmen failed to gain victory for their team. They have improved their fielding standard in last few games. In the bowling, tema management will get confused after impressive performance of Ravi Rampaul against India. Keamer Roach will come back in the match while there is chance of Russel to get replaced by Rampaul. In spin department Suleman Benn is still not in good form which caused some worry in the camp.

It will be a great first game in knock out round with Pakistan have upper hand to win this match. It is 70-30 game with Pakistan have good chance to win.

Semi finalists from my view will be India, Sri lanka, Pakistan and South Africa by looking at the home condition advantage the asian teams have.

Key Players:

Pakistan: Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Younis Khan, Abdul Razzaq

WI: Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, Keamar Roach, Kierron Pollard

Stats: West Indies is ahead by 64-48 games from the 114 games played between them

Preview: India vs WI

The last game of league stage will be played between India and West Indies tomorrow on Sunday. Till the time I am writing this blog the situation of group A is still uncertain for position in the group while group B's 4 teams are decided but their position is also very much dependant on tomorrow's match. It is going to be very good contest to fight for second spot in the group. Same thing is for group A. If Pakistan win the game against Austrailia then they will get second number in the group and if Austrailia win the contest then they will top the group.

India have last chance to gain confidence in the bowling and fielding department while they need to tune up their batting line up too. After this match, every game will be important and must win game to be in the tournament. Opening is really good and they are giving very good start in all the matches but in some matches middle order failed to get good total inspite of very good start which we have seen in last match where they lost 8 wickets in only 28 runs. Batting powerplay has been big problem in the tournament for India. They lost many wickets in the batting powerplay without getting more runs. I was impressed with the statement made by Indian skipper after last match that we are playing for country and not for crowd. We can see some changes in bowling line up. Sreesanth may come back in the team while Ashwin can make his debut in the world cups. Dhoni need to also decide batting order as he has changed it in almost all the matches.

West Indies played really well in the tournament. Their last game against England was very close and they loose it very unfortunately. At the start of tournament it seemed that the new skipper is not much aggressive to take the team ahead but he has improved eventually and take the team in the position to get spot in next round. Gayle has been really explosive when get good start while middle order has also done well apart from last match. Bowling is not concern for them as their bowlers have did really good job for them. Bishoo was really impressive on his debut against england.

The situation here is, if India win this game then they will be on second position. If they loose it will depend on the margin of defeat as the difference of run rate between India and England is not more. So defeat can throw India on 3rd or 4th position. So guys cross your finger as it will be a super sunday with India's match.

Key Players:

India: Sehwag, Sachin, Zaheer, Harbhajan

WI: Gayle, Sarwan, Benn, Bishoo

Group of death: Group B in World cup 2011

Group B - The group of death in world cup 2011. We have seen lot of close matches and upsets in this group as Ireland and Bangladesh have beaten England which was considered as one of top team to win world cup after their performance in Ashes and till yesterday there was uncertainity for England to reach to next level of tournament.

After yesterday's win England has gain there chance to reach to the next round. It was one of really good game we have seen in this world cup and England have performed really well in this match. Now they can only get out of this world cup if Bangladesh beat South Africa and India beat West Indies with lower margin.

Lets talk about top 5 teams in this group and their chances for knock out round. First of all South African team which is on number one position in the group with 8 points and NRR as +1.606. They played each and every game fantastically and booked their berth to knock out round. They are the first one to reach to next round with one match left. Apart from England game, they performed really well and consistentaly in this tournament. They have better chance to win the world cup too but it is too early to predict this.

Position number two is occupied by Indian team with 7 points and +0.768 NRR. They lost only one close game against SA, won 3 games against minnows and tied one with England. So far they had very challenging tournament. Though they have faced lot of criticism for bowling, poor fielding and weak captaincy, I can say they still have chance to lift the cup and to do so they have to win four consicutive games. R Ashwin has not been used till the day and fast bowling and fielding is the department they have to improve. They have last chance to get good combination in WI match. Nehra may have to seat on bench while Ashwin and Sreesanth may get chance to fit in playing eleven. If India beat WI then they are clearly going to next round but if in case they loose this game then they have to be dependant on NRR. All permutation and combination are depends on the match between Bangladesh and South Africa.

England have landed on 3rd position after yesterday's match. They have had tough world cup and they are also looking for good bowling combination. Yes, but we can not ignore the fact that even they are defeated by minnows like Ireland and Bangladesh, they won or tied against the big teams like SA, WI and India. So we can not underestimate this team lead by Strauss. James Tredwell performed really well yesterday by picking up 4 wickets and it seems England got the right bowling combination too. Luke Wright is ready to take place of Collingwood.

Fourth position is for yesterday's looser West Indies. They have also performed really well under new captain. Gayle is playing really good and no concern with bowling combination too. All they have to worry is batting. From yesterday's match we can say their middle order need to contribute more to get thier chance higher to win the cup. I am really impressed by the bowling of debutant Bishoo yesterday. They can get out of the world cup if Bangladesh win tomorrow's match and India beat them on Sunday.

Fifth position is for Bangladesh. The co-host have played good tournament and beat England which has put England under threate for some time. They are really good side to compete on their own ground. If they win against South Africa then the match between India and WI will be decider of group B.

Group B has provided many good and competitive games with tie between India and England. This group of death has still kept interest in league matches. Everything now depend on the result of SA vs Bangladesh match on Saturday. Hope we can see good game in next two days.

Preview: India vs SA

After winning back to back games against minnows, India is heading towards game against one of the favorite team to win world cup. It will be good test for India as they played only one game against top level team and that is also tied. It will be good contest between India and South Africa. Nagpur is waiting for a great game.

Though India won both the matches against minnows, they didnt get right bowling combination. Only Zaheer has impressed with new ball and in death overs while other seamers failed to impress. In spin department also none of main spinner get the rythem to get wickets. Lead spinner Harbhajan also failed to get wickets while part time bowlers have done good job. Fielding is also big problem for them. Batting is only strength of Indian team. Looking at South African bowling line up, India have to work hard on bowling and fielding department. Ashwin can get chance for this game. Nehra who just came back in last match expected to share new ball with Zaheer. In the batting Sachin and Sehwag have given good start but failed to convert it in to big partnership. Both have one century in their account. Tendulkar doesn't played against SA after his historic innings of 200 runs.

On the other hand South Africa have started very well in the tournament in their games against WI and Nedhrtlands. They were just fantastic in all the departments and played like champions but defeat against England must force them to think about the game and game plan. Amla and skipper Smith have given very good start in opening while ABD and Duminy played really well. In bowling department their spinners have done very well. Specially Imran Tahir has bowled really good spells in all the matches but he has injured his left thumb in last match. However, the team management may just take a chance since the injury is not in the right thumb. The only concern for SA is their batting line which failed in last match. In bowling department if Steyn gets the rythem he could be the danger for India while Morkel has bowled really well in last few games with new ball.

On the whole it is going to be a very good match, both the teams have to give their best to win it and to boost their confidence.

Player to watch:
India: Sehwag, Sachin, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Zaheer
SA: Amla, Kallis, ABD, Steyn, Tahir

Preview: India vs Ireland

After such an exciting game with England which resulted in to tie, India is now moving on in the tournament with back to back games with minnows. One of them will be played on Sunday 6th of March with Ireland at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Indian team might have thought that they will easily win this match but the big upset from Ireland against England has forced them to think twice about the match.

India have very good batting strength as they scored 696 runs in last two matches while bowling is big worry for them as they have given away 621 runs. I was really surprised by the statement made by skipper after England's match which says "we have couple of games to check for best bowling option for us". Is this time to check for bowling combination? what they were doing before world cup started? Well, they dont have very good options on the bench too. Piyush Chawla was expensive in last game so if they want to go with 2 spinners, there is only one option available R Ashwin. Otherwise as former skipper Ganguly suggested they will have to go with 3 seamers which includes Ashish Nehra. Bangluru pitch seems more batsmen friendly as all the games played there have more than 300 runs scored by both sides. We have already seen what bad bowling can cost in the match between England and Ireland. Fielding is also area of concern for the team. Hope they have worked out on both of these things in the big gap of 7 days they got between last match and the next one.

On the other end, Irish team is full of confidence by beating England in last match. It was first upset of this world cup. They have chased a big total which is the highest run chase in world cup history. O'brian brothers are their main strength while John Mooney has impressed with his all round performance, Alex Cusack has also played wonderful inning. They have passed the message that they are not the side to be ignored. They have amassed 227 runs in 154 balls which shows how powerful their batting is. They will have benefit of weak bowling and fielding of India If India have not worked out on these departments. They will not have anything to loose by this game. Kevin O'brain will be center of attraction as he has smashed century in just 50 balls against England.

All I can say India have to work out on fielding, bowling and of course they have to bat well too.. :)

Players to watch:

India: Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Zaheer, Harbhajan.

Ireland: Kevin O'brian, Alex Cusack, John Mooney, Porterfield.

Head to head: India leading by 1-0.