World Cup Match Reports, Articles & Interviews

[Switchblade]

England have 3 tough matches now they might get over the line against Bangladesh but the remaining two matches are tough for them

[NareshK]

South Africa may prove to be too strong for them but England Vs Bangladesh will be the crucial game. If they lose that one, it may prove a little tricky for them to qualify. In all probability, they should make it to the last 8.

[Switchblade]

Even Windies may beat them

[Sachin=GOD]

I am Sachin: Tendulkar introduces himself to blind children

BANGALORE: In a rare sight, Sachin Tendulkar on Friday introduced himself to a bunch of visually impaired children after the Indian cricket team's training session at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. "Hi, I am Sachin," the champion batsman, whose popularity knows no bounds in the cricketing world, said to a group of visually impaired children who came to the stadium to wish luck to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men ahead of their World Cup match against Ireland on Sunday. "How old are you?" asked Tendulkar to one of the children. "I am 12 years old," pat came the reply. "You are 12 years old and you are so strong," Tendulkar said with words of encouragement to the child. All the Indian players met the visually impaired children, shook hands and got clicked with them after team training that lasted for more than two hours. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the first to welcome the children, followed by opener Gautam Gambhir. The rest of the players followed one after another. Yuvraj Singh, too, was seen interacting with the kids who were seated in a single row near the ground. But as always, Tendulkar was the one who turned out to be their favourite. "Our prayers are with you all," said one of the children. It was on the initiative of Karnataka Welfare Association for the Blind that the children could meet their favourite stars, about whom they have heard a lot, but could never see.

The Times of India

[Chandan]

This is the match report of India vs Ireland ODI y'day, from Prem Panicker . Yuvraj powers India to win against fighting Irish 06 March 2011 By Prem Panicker, Yahoo! Cricket A Man of the Match-winning all-round performance by Yuvraj Singh ensured that Ireland did not for the second straight game pull off an upset. Yuvraj Singh approaches the bowling crease with all the ponderous inelegance of that Revital ad. What he brings, especially on tracks offering some assistance, is a foxy savvy - a wicket to wicket line from close to the stumps coupled with variations in flight, length, point of release, extent of turn and, when he chooses to bang one into the deck, bounce. That combination set up a five-for, and saved India's blushes in a game where the two regular spinners went wicket-less and Ireland raised visions of compiling a competitive score despite an inspired Zaheer Khan's twin strikes right upfront. It's not often you get to say this, but it was actually an inspired bit of fielding that got the side back into the game. Coming together at a potentially disastrous 9/2, Niall O'Brien and skipper William Porterfield had, with initial circumspection and, once they figured out how easy singles were against this Indian fielding side, with growing assurance, added 113 for the third wicket off 146 balls. With 23 overs left and a few fierce hitters in the hut, Ireland could anticipate a 250-or-so score that could have been challenging under lights on a Chinnaswamy Stadium track that had been so assiduously deprived of water and baked in the heat as to turn from a flat batting track to a turner. Porterfield pushed Harbhajan towards the covers and set off for the single he had come to expect as his due whenever ball met bat and the ball went into the outfield. Virat Kohli came racing around, picked up and threw. The throw was off - wide, and in front of the stumps, but MS Dhoni anticipated superbly, grabbed the ball and broke the stumps to catch Niall O'Brien short on the run. That pried the innings open; Yuvraj did the rest, and Ireland lost its last 7 wickets for just 75 runs. His wickets were as varied as his bowling: Andrew White got a flighted, looping delivery that pitched outside off and turned sharply away to find the edge to the keeper; the dangerous Kevin O'Brien was foxed by a straighter one with just enough extra pace to take him by surprise and induce a soft push back to the bowler; Porterfield got the worst ball Yuvraj bowled on the day, a short offering turning wider still that the Ireland skipper, his concentration not back after the drinks break, slapped straight to Harbhajan Singh at cover; John Mooney was foxed by one that looped, landed outside off, and darted in to nail the pad in front of off; Alex Cusack got one just back of length that straightened and hurried on to nail the pad and, for once, umpire Rod Tucker of Australia ignored the 2.5 meter prescription and ruled the batsman out after the review process to give Yuvraj his five-for. If Yuvraj was about variety and guile, the two "regular" Indian spinners were diametrically opposite. Harbhajan had a track that turned and bounced; he had support in the form of two slips; but for the most part he stayed around the wicket to the left handers and speared it in on length, often missing his line and drifting onto the pads, and never looking likely to bag a wicket (World Cup combined analysis: 29-1-128-2). If Harbhajan could at the least boast of economy, Piyush Chawla didn't even have that fig leaf. He came on in the 18th over and gave away 15, including 5 no balls with an offering where he overstepped, lost his radar, and beat everyone including the fine leg fielder. His first spell was 3-0-24-0; he was brought back in the 24th over and took all of 10 balls to complete the 'over' - his stint today was a nightmare endured with eyes wide open. At first he found bite and turn, but no control of line; he compensated by cutting out the leg breaks and bowling an uninterrupted series of googlies the opposition picked off with ease (World Cup thus far: 25-0-159-2). Against that backdrop, Yuvraj's performance with the ball deserves all the kudos going, but the role of Zaheer Khan in setting it up merits mention. Having thumped England, Ireland would have come into this game with adrenalin pumping and, who knows, a halfway decent start could have inspired them to send India on a leather hunt. Zaheer nipped that prospect in the bud with an opening spell to die for. Having gotten a feel for the conditions with three tight deliveries, he stepped up his pace, angled one across Paul Sterling on length, and zipped it back off the track, through the gap and onto the stumps. The next over was even better. Twice, he hit the perfect length outside Ed Joyce's off stump and darted the ball away off the seam, leaving the batsman flummoxed. He then hit the exact same length with his third, but made the ball dart back the other way. Joyce, by then hypnotized into playing for the one leaving him, was left groping down the wrong line as the ball took the inside edge through to Dhoni, to reduce Ireland to 9/2 and ensure that the batting side was deflated before it could work up a good head of steam. (Zaheer in the Cup thus far: 29-1-128-8) Chasing 207 would, you reckon, be a doddle for India's batting line up - its strength and depth was what MS Dhoni had talked up in the pre-match press conference when expressing his preference to chase. In actual fact, India huffed, and puffed, to make the running against an Ireland attack made to look far sharper than it really was by incredibly committed ground fielding and very good captaincy by Porterfield, who switched eight bowlers of varying skills around rapidly to ensure that no batsman got comfortable against any one pair. Virender Sehwag had opened this tournament with talk of how he wanted to bat through 50 overs. Following his tame dismissal squaring up to Trent Johnston and popping a simple return catch off the leading edge (the second such dismissal in three tries); a wag on Twitter remarked that Viru meant he wanted to bat 50 overs in the competition. Cruel - but the team could do with an encore of the 'Sehwag V2' that was being celebrated after his knock against Bangladesh in the tournament opener. The wicket of Gautam Gambhir came in equally unexpected fashion. Johnston's delivery was innocuous - length, on leg. Gambhir looked to tuck it off his hips, and seemingly didn't realize that Cusack was posted there for that shot - in the event, he picked the fielder out with unerring accuracy. Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli - the latter returned to his preferred position at number four - then settled into a phase of calm recovery. Run-making was hard against a bunch of Irish who threw themselves around, especially in the ring, with all the verve of refugees from a circus (the fact that there was not even a single two in the partnership is a tribute to how ferociously the Irish attacked the ball), and the partnership was barely managing to keep pace with the Ireland innings (87/2 in 20 against Ireland's 82/2 in 20). But the two seemed untroubled, and the target was low enough to afford them the luxury of ambling along, until Tendulkar fell victim to his bizarre penchant for gifting his wicket to wet-behind-the-ears bowlers, particularly of the left arm variety. George Dockrell, a mischievous twinkle in his parents' eyes when Tendulkar made his World Cup debut, was brought on and immediately straightened one off length, defeating Tendulkar's sweep to hit the back pad bang in front of middle, and the resuscitating 3rd wicket stand of 63 off 89 deliveries was abruptly terminated. A disastrous run out shortly thereafter caused visions of an upset. Yuvraj cut at a ball and Kohli raced down the wicket for the single - only, Yuvraj is way past those halcyon days when he had the rep of the best between wickets in the Indian ranks. He did not budge, and Kohli was too far down the track to be able to beat even the ordinary throw to the bowler's end. With singles incredibly difficult against the Irish fielding, and boundary balls not coming as regularly as the Indians would have liked, India actually fell off the pace, reaching 120/4 after 30 overs against the Irish score of 131/4 at the same point; at the 40 over mark India had inched to 167/4 (Ireland 172/6). The one thing India had going for it was that this was around the point when Yuvraj was rolling the Irish over; the target for the last ten overs, with a batting power play available, was a mere 41. With the first ball of the 41st over, Dockrell sent Dhoni back with a straight ball on middle and leg. Dhoni, working hard to manufacture a single, looked to push it away on the on side, missed, and was hit on the back foot. At that point the teenager, into his final over, with figures of 9.1-0-34-2, likely wondered what the fuss was all about - look how he had knocked over the world's most famous batsman, and the opposition captain. He found out. Yusuf Pathan strode out, spent all of one ball getting a sighter of the wicket; then wound up and pulled the next for four. The next ball was heaved over long off for six; the one following was hit straighter, harder, further, disappearing into the crowds behind the bowler's back. What impressed was that even in the face of that unbridled brutality, the Irish would not wilt. Rankin and Stirling, backed by fielders who looked as fresh as at the start of the innings, gave Pathan and Yuvraj a mere 9 runs in the next three overs, before Stirling made the mistake of putting a ball just short, permitting Yusuf to swing his arms through the line for yet another straight six. Ireland just didn't have enough runs on the board, though, to keep the pressure up. India took the power play in the 46th (Okay, "took" indicates some choice in the matter, but at this point it was mandatory), and sealed the deal when Yuvraj flicked a full toss to his favorite spot on the wide long on boundary for four, got a single to seal his half century, and watched Yusuf pull fiercely behind square to drag India past the finish line. India walked off the park with a 5-wicket win with 4 overs still in hand; Ireland walked off with head held high, deserving of all the respect coming their way. They may be titular minnows, but for the second time in two games they played like giants. ---------------------------------------------------------- Just wanted someone to explain why Harbhajan kept on bowling on the pads of the two left handers when Ireland had the big partnership going? What was the strategy? What was Harbhajan trying to achieve? How was is trying to trap the batsmen there, or restrict them there, with no fielders there to stop the single? It was so puzzling! After some time even Yusuf caught that disease! What about Dhoni's captainship yesterday? Why could he not provide Zaheer a third slip?

[Chandan]

This is match report of India vs Holland by Prem Panicker: India huff and puff over the line against Dutch 09 March 2011 By Prem Panicker, Yahoo! Cricket India's game against the Netherlands is best viewed in context of this fact: After a superb start to their campaign with 292/6 score in the opening game against England, the Dutch crumbled for 115 in under 32 overs against the West Indies, and for 120 in 34.5 overs against South Africa. Viewed from that perspective, the game today was never going to be competitive; the question always was not whether India would win, but what the Indians would take away from the game in the form of learnings. Would we, for instance, try the likes of Ravichandran Aswhin and Ashish Nehra, to get an idea of their form and fitness ahead of the big games? The answer was half and half --- India brought in Nehra for Munaf, but persisted with Chawla while leaving Ashwin on the bench (A wag on Twitter remarked the other day: "Ashwin is Dhoni's secret weapon. He is saving him for the IPL."). "Compared to Ashwin, Chawla needs more practice," Dhoni said before the game --- a fairly bizarre statement to make. The Indian selectors and captain hadn't felt the need to play Chawla in the squad even once in the 12 months leading up to the World Cup. Which raises the question: Do you play your men into form in the run up to the World Cup, or do you use cricket's biggest stage to wet nurse your players and give them form and confidence? Back to the game, where the Netherlands can actually pat themselves on the back for having lasted longer against the Indians than they managed in the previous two games (46.4 overs) and also that they managed to score more (189) than they got against the West Indies and South Africa. Credit for this is owed to a solid if unspectacular start on a Firozeshah Kotla track that had very little in it for seam bowlers early on (MS Dhoni brought Yusuf Pathan on as early as the 4th over, after just one over from Nehra; Harbhajan came on in the 7th at the other end). Eric Scwarczynski, making his first game, and Wesley Baressi had to work to make runs especially against the slower bowlers on a slow pitch, but the 56 runs they added at a decent 3.7 put a decent platform in place. Once Piyush Chawla --- who in recent times appears to have become a googly bowler with leg spin as his surprise weapon, rather than the other way around --- struck with one of his googlies that Scwarczynski misread, staying back and making a mess of an attempted dab to be bowled through the gate. From that point on it was a fairly dismal procession. The only real point of interest was whether the likes of Ryan ten Doeschate and Tom Cooper would manage to put a scare into the bowling side. They didn't. Yuvraj Singh foxed ten Doeschate by tossing one up a bit wider and giving it more of a tweak; the batsman drove as invited only to find the ball flaring off the outer edge for Zaheer Khan in the outfield to hold inches inside the line at long off. Nehra, whose opening spell was one over, was brought back in the 30th to use any reverse possible with a ball by then scruffed by the hard Kotla outfield; he struck with his first ball, an off cutter outside the line of the stumps and going further that Cooper aimed a hit at and managed only to snick behind. Once those two wickets fell, in the 29th and 30th overs, the procession resumed thanks to some amateurish running between the wickets, a fortuitous wicket to Chawla, and another guileful display by Yuvraj Singh who yet again was the best Indian spinner on view. What saved Netherlands' blushes was a 38 run partnership for the 9th wicket between Peter Borren and Mudassar Bukhari at a hectic 9.9 runs per over. Borren began upping the ante in the 42nd over when he lashed the otherwise tight Yuvraj for ten runs including two fours. In the next over, he did Dhoni's plan to give Chawla some confidence a bit of no-good when he carted the leg spinner for two huge sixes over long on and midwicket. Bukhari got into the act as well, smashing two sixes off Nehra and one off Harbhajan, before Zaheer returned to enforce discipline, taking both batsmen out in the 47th over to ensure that India's bowling did not have to blush too furiously. Chawla's day was best summed up by an incident in the 39th over. He started with a half-tracker so horrible schoolboys would blush to have bowled it --- it was dumped half way down the pitch, it was outside line of leg, it was a horror of a ball. Kervezee took a swing at a ball he could have left alone and gotten the wide, or swept behind square; all he managed to do was pick out Harbhajan Singh on the line at midwicket. As he saw his spin partner claim the catch, Chawla reacted with an embarrassed smile that stayed on his face as his mates came over to congratulate him. It was that kind of day --- the spinner showed a palpable lack of control particularly on his leg breaks; on the few occasions when pressure was turned on, he reacted by losing even the little control he did have. As for the other spinner, Harbhajan went another game without a single wicket to show for his efforts --- this despite a helpful track and mediocre opposition. 'Nuff said. In sum, India's performance with the ball and in the field told us nothing we did not know --- the fielding remains full of holes waiting to be exploited; the bowling with the exception of Zaheer and, ironically, Yuvraj, remains club class --- and those are bad signs ahead of big games against South Africa and the West Indies. All the excitement of India's chase was confined to the first ten overs, during which the combination of Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Yusuf Pathan plundered 83 runs off the Dutch bowling. Sehwag (39 off 26) was murderous, continuing his practice of hitting the first ball of the Indian innings for a four and blasting 4 more boundaries and two sixes with stroke-play bordering on the arrogant. Sachin Tendulkar (27 off 22), in contrast, was imperious, stroking six silken fours on both sides of the wicket with little regard for the identity of the bowler or the line and length of the deliveries he chose to hit. Sehwag was particularly severe on the slow left arm of Pieter Seelar, whom he took for 11 runs off 4 balls faced (one four, one six, one single, thank you) while Sachin picked ten Doeschate for special attention, hammering his right arm medium offerings for 20 runs off 9 balls faced in course of an innings that saw him become the first player in history to cross 2000 runs in World Cups. Both openers, and the promoted Pathan(11 off 10), fell to their own exuberance rather than to any special excellence in Seelar's bowling. Sehwag moved outside the line and tried to thump Seelar over point but only managed a slice to the fielder there; Tendulkar skipped down the track to Seelar and only managed to hole out to long off; a predetermined Pathan misread a quicker one, his bat was poised already for a full swing and all he managed with a hurried defensive prod was to pat it tamely back to the bowler. The rest settled down to huff and puff their way to the target, creating artificial excitement with the loss of more wickets. Kohli playing all around a straight Borren delivery to be bowled off stump; Gambhir, who survived a run out opportunity, giving it away by moving too far across to a Bukhari delivery to be bowled leg stump off his thigh pad. Sanity returned with MS Dhoni (19 off 40) and Yuvraj Singh (51 off 73) --- weighing in with the bat yet again in a second successive Man of the Match performance -- combining in unhurried fashion to walk the team past the target, with a 52 run unbeaten partnership at a sedate 3.9. MS Dhoni has said that India's strength is batting, and that the unit feels more comfortable chasing targets rather than setting them. Since that statement, the Indians have played two lesser-rated sides. And the assessment that sticks in the mind is that of former skipper Sourav Ganguly, who in course of a commentary stint today said, "I know Dhoni prefers to chase, but the Indian team has looked far more assured batting first than chasing." Exactly. =============================== I can't fathom Dhoni's fixation with Chawla in the world cup matches. What is he going to offer against bigger team? I can only see him getting murdered for 100 or even more runs by other sides. So why are we playing him? Another of Dhoni's acts that have left me speechless are the reasons he has given to include Chawla or to leave out Ashwin or to how fielding can't be can't be improved. I think he has been talking lot of ridiculous logic these days!

[Chandan]

A bit of sensible piece here too about India's meltdown against SA: Link Is Nehra the only culprit? Why blame the left-arm pacer alone when we have the rest of the bowling attack - as well as that unforgivable batting collapse - to blame for Saturday's loss to South Africa? Venkat Ananth | MM Online Bureau Posted On Monday, March 14, 2011 India’s performance against South Africa last Saturday was utterly below-par for several reasons. It’s not doomsday just yet, but if India don’t look to improve in the next few games, this World Cup dream could remain just that - a dream. However, if you want me to put a positive spin to the proceedings, it was important for India to lose at some stage in the tournament even if it came late, at the *** end of the league stage. However, my problem with this defeat isn’t about the whole business of losing, but the manner in which they fell apart and again, reinforcing the belief that irrespective of how many runs the batting line-up looks to post, the bowling unit just doesn’t have the wherewithal to defend the total. Batting-wise, it was an OKAY performance to put it candidly. Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag did what they are supposed to i.e. give a dream start, and it was one simply for the manner in which they went about their job. At no stage were they looking to play risky shots, the South Africans looked all at sea tactically, and at times Graeme Smith looked clueless about his own bowlers, who were admittedly flat on a typical Jamtha wicket. Gautam Gambhir ran into some much-needed form, some of the most delightful inside-out shots coming through, and you could sense that the lad was an innings short of normal service. But then, the madness i.e. the batting powerplay, in which there was lack of method and foundations, a viable blueprint and of course, it showed when every batsman walking out looked in a hurry to go out and play his shots, instead of falling back, and creating a launchpad for a slog later. Losing 9 wickets for 29 runs, for a batting order of such prowess and ability has been unheard of, but it’s real. Somewhere, they should have negotiated the first two overs, like AB de Villiers did when the Saffers chased the runs down, and then start picking their gaps and going for the glory shots. And sadly, this isn’t the first time India have bottled the batting powerplay this tournament. Go back to the England game, and you’d see the exact reckless display of batsmanship. Having said that, even after the choke, 296 was a total worth defending. In the second innings, India’s weakness was at display. Ashish Nehra’s last over to Robin Peterson summed up everything about the Indian bowling. Barring Zaheer Khan, who still presents India’s best hopes in this tournament, there was nothing worth appreciating. They bowled predictable lines and lengths, complimented by defensive fields set by MS Dhoni, a classic chicken and egg scenario, where indisciplined bowling cannot be given attacking fields. Another massive problem for this unit is the form or the lack of it, in Harbhajan’s case. Apart from the first two overs, where he bowled like a dream - balls flighted outside off-stump and managed to pick a wicket (Hashim Amla) - he looked utterly clueless. AB handled him perfectly, moving around the crease, and the man had no idea where to put the next ball, sadly. And worse, he’s proving to be expensive and bleeds against the better teams, who no longer fear him or his reputation. Unless the situation drastically improves and the bowling unit starts responding to defending totals by not limiting runs, but picking wickets, irrespective of whatever runs the batsmen post (against better teams), the bowlers would struggle to defend it. Well, typically, the Indian fans and the larger ecosystem have taken to their newly found scapegoat - Ashish Nehra - blaming him for that terrible last over, which settled the game in South Africa’s favour. There are two sides to this debate, actually, and both sides are worth noting - Nehra just returned from injury and, I might be speculating here, but he’s one of India’s annointed death bowlers going by Dhoni’s faith in his abilities, or even for that matter past performances. But, with an over of Harbhajan's left, and of course a left-hander at the crease, in hindsight, the ball should have been thrown to him. India might have still lost the game, and in similar fashion, and newer scapegoats would have been found, but tactically, that would have been the better option. In sum, India have looked unconvincing right through this World Cup, and only a drastic improvement from here on, technically four games more, could lead them to glory. Equally, two bad games, and India might yet be out of the tournament. And guess what? We don’t know our best XI yet. Thankfully, it’s not too late, and if we’re serious about winning this Cup, let’s field the eleven men we think can win the tournament in the next game.

[King]

I think it is not just Nehra, the mainstream bowlers didn't do much justice with the ball vs Saffies. The part timers I reckon had better RPO than the seasoned bowlers from what I can remember which doesn't say too many good things about the mainstream bowlers in the team.

[Dark Warrior]

Found this somewhere... Worth reading....

Remember when you failed an examination. How many people recall that, your class, friends, relatives? You failed to make it to the IITs or IIMs. Who remembers. How many times have you had the feeling of being the best in your class, school , university, state….., you failed to get a visa stamped this quarter…, you missed a promotion this year…, how did it feel when you dad told you in your early twenties that you are good for nothing…..and now your boss tell you the same... You keep introspecting and go into a shell when people most of whom don’t matter a dime in your life criticize you, back bite you, make fun of you. You are left sad and shattered and you cry when your own kin scoffs at you. You say I am feeling low today. It takes a lot from us to come out of these everyday situations and move on. A lot??? really? Now here’s a man standing on the third man boundary in the last over of a world cup match. The bowler just has to bowl sensibly to win this game. What the man at the boundary sees is 4 rank bad bowls bowled without any sense of focus, planning or regret. India loses, yet again in those circumstances when he has done just about everything right. He does not cry. Does not show any emotion. Just keeps his head down and leaves the field. He has seen these failures for 22 years now. And not just his class, relatives, friends but the whole world has seen these failures. We are too immature to even imagine what goes on in that mind and heart of his. That’s why I would never want to be Sachin. True, he has single handedly lifted to moods of this entire nation umpteen number of times. He has been an inspiration to rise above our mediocrity. Nobody who has ever lifted the willow even comes close to this man’s genius. His dedication and metal strength is unparallel. This is specially for those people who would have made fun of him again last night when India lost. They are people who are mediocre in their own lives. Who just scoff at others to create cheap fun. Who have lived in a small hole throughout their lives and thought they have seen the oceans. Think about the man himself. He is 37 years of age. He has been playing almost non stop for 22 years. The way he was running and diving around the field last night would have put 22 year olds to shame. The way he played the best opening quickies in the world was breathtaking. He just keeps getting better which is by the way humanly impossible. Its not for nothing that people call him GOD. But still I don’t want to be in those shoes. We struggle in keeping our monotonous lives straight, lives which affect a limited number of people. Imagine what would be the magnitude of the inner struggle for him, pain both mental and physical, tears that have frozen with time, knees and ankles and every other joint in the body that is either bandaged or needs to be attended to every night, eyes that don’t sleep before a big game, bats that have scored 99 international tons and still see expectations from a billion people. And he just converts those expectations into reality. We watch in awe, feel privileged. Well I think its time that his team realizes that enough is enough. They have an obligation, not towards their country alone but towards sachin. They need to win this one for him. Stay assured that he himself will still deliver and leave no stone unturned to make sure India wins this cup. This is not just a game, and he is not just a sportsman. Its much more than this. Words fail here.....

God knows who? Err, I think this is written by Harsha Bhogle. Not sure though.

[Sachin=GOD]

Yes its Harsha. http://palwai.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/harsha-bhogle-after-india-sa-match/

[Chandan]

Err' date=' I think this is written by Harsha Bhogle. Not sure though.[/quote'] No. It is not. It is written by some Rohit Sharma, here: Link Read the comments.

[Sachinism]

Harsha tweeted he didn't write it Don't know why someone credited to him, maybe they thought they could get more people to read it

[Sachin=GOD]

Not Harsha

[Little_Master]

Can a copy of this be circulated to the whole Indian team before every match? Very well written :hatsoff:

[kabira]

^why indian team.. Its more for fans and critics...Guess what we had thread by some genious about India losing when Sachin scores 100

[Dark Warrior]

No. It is not. It is written by some Rohit Sharma, here: Link Read the comments.

Harsha tweeted he didn't write it Don't know why someone credited to him, maybe they thought they could get more people to read it

Not Harsha

Whoever wrote it, it's really a good piece of article.

[SachDan]

The Y and Z Axes By Siddhartha Vaidyanathan

It’s tempting to think of Johannesburg ’03. Australia v India. The grandest stage. Australia, the favorites, bat first. Sorry, Australia are asked to bat first. India’s bowlers arrive with a spray gun. Gilly and Haydos sock them. Then Punter arrives, feels the pulse of the arena and goes onto masterfully guide the innings before pounding them like they’ve never been pounded before. It’s tempting to think of the eight-year journey: from Sourav and Wright to Dravid and Chappell to Dhoni and Kirsten; from manic Ponting to controlled Ponting; from a ferociously erratic Zaheer to a nuanced, wizened Zaheer; from a Sachin 4 to a Sachin half-century; from no Raina to wow Raina; from schoolboy Ashwin to new-ball Ashwin; from destroyed Bhajji to aggressive mature Bhajji; from lying flat on the ground in anguish to lying flat on the ground in elation; from subjugation to triumph. But let that be. For now, go back three years earlier than that. An October morning in Nairobi. Australia v India. A quarter-final. Australia, the favorites, choose to field. India arrive with little expectations. A nation has just been scarred. A new captain is trying to pick up the pieces, one broken shard at a time. Tendulkar opens and he’s all firecracker. Instead of brushing off Mcgrath’s taunts, he’s responding. “**** off,†he squeaks. We can read those lips. Yes, he just pulled McGrath and said that. Lee tilts the balance with Sachin’s wicket. The same Lee, quicker than he was today but just as dangerous. Gillespie strikes from the other end. Ganguly falls after poking and fishing. Ditto Dravid. Kambli is holding fort. Or at least he’s trying. 130 for 3. In walks Yuvraj. 18-year-old Yuvraj. Boyish yet not without a swagger. A lamb to the slaughter. Or so we thought. Until he unleashes a straight-drive so powerful that Lee simply stops in his tracks. And smiles. That angelic smile. A commentator captures the mood: “The boy is pumped. Pumped big time.†Today, Yuvraj’s first ball at the Motera, when he crisply swung a David Hussey full-toss over midwicket, brought back those emotions. He was pumped. One could feel it. Pumped big time. Eleven years is a long time, a period when a potentially great career has constantly tripped up. He’s been dropped a few times, set alight a T20 World Cup, passed over for captaincy, sparkled incandescently, sleepwalked through some tours, enhanced his bowling, dropped his fielding, added girth to that waist and understood the importance of blending responsibility with bravado. Yet, the boy can still bat. He can clatter the cover off the ball; he can knock you down with short-arm jabs; he can turn that bat into an 8 iron and howitzer you out of the ground. The power hasn’t gone anywhere. You can still spot the swagger. And the hunger has returned. He wanted this one, wanted it desperately enough to give Raina a shellacking when he wafted aimlessly. At Nairobi, Australia needed 266. They stumbled along. But they were still in the hunt with SR Waugh in the middle. He had Brett Lee for company. Australia needed 42 off 48 with three in hand. The penny was about to drop. In ran 22-year-old Zaheer, in just his second ODI, and splintered the stumps. Steve Waugh castled with a ball that swung. Kaboom. Almost a yorker. More than a corker. It’s 11 years. Zak has lived several lives. He’s wilted under pressure, been dropped, been written off, introspected in rainy Worcester, rediscovered his swing, mastered his control, fine-tuned his variations and has gradually made the arduous ascent towards the pantheon. He’s not just expected to take wickets, it’s demanded of him. It’s a part of his contract. He must. There’s no other way. Anyone who’s watched him in this tournament will know how well he’s responded. Today, Ponting had reached his hundred and was ready for the launch but Zak was giving him nothing. Yorker after yorker. No length, nothing in the slot. Nothing to loft. A batsman as experienced as Mike Hussey was undone by the slower one, an outstanding piece of deception that knocked back the stumps just as Hussey was done with the stroke. Zak the magician. Zak and Yuvi. Yuvi and Zak. Nairobi to Motera and now onto Mohali. Maybe Mumbai after. Eleven years. Tendulkar is no doubt Indian cricket’s Alpha but he needs the Omegas – Y and Z – by his side for the last two legs of this glorious 11-year journey.

http://sidveeblogs.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/the-y-and-z-axes/ Brilliant write-up from Sid.

[rkt.india]

Why Kohli did not play a stupid shot http://blogs.espncricinfo.com/zaltzman/archives/2011/03/why_kohli_did_not_play_a_stupi.php Yuvraj Singh landed the final blow that decisively ended the era of Australian dominance © Associated Press The first real quarter-final was a fantastic match, taut, poundingly tense and closely fought throughout, played with an enchanting cocktail of high-level skill and intermittent outbursts of cricketing crackpottery, and ultimately won by some glorious batting by Yuvraj and Raina. Every over seemed to shift the likelihood of victory slightly one way or the other, before 27 runs from the 40th and 41st overs of India’s innings catapulted the game decisively into the blue corner. Under the pressure of the match and tournament situation, of an Ahmedabad crowd who seemed to be attempting to break the world record for the largest recorded simultaneous nervous gulp, and of a nation unlikely to respond to defeat by patting them on the back and saying, “Don’t worry, it’s the taking part that counts,†the two left-hand batsmen mixed sound defence with clinical aggression against bowling of pulsating pace. Yuvraj is one of those few fascinating cricketers who combine majesty with vulnerability. As a Test player, he has mostly disappointed, the average of 35 that you see in the record book at odds with the left-hand Wally Hammond that you see at the crease. That GraemeFowleresque, ShivSunderDasian figure of 35 is often used by atheists, when set alongside Graeme Smith’s equivalent of 49, as an aesthetic argument that proves the non-existence of god. Even Yuvraj’s distinguished ODI career had taken a pronounced downturn over the preceding 18 months. This tournament, the visual splendour of his stroke play has been matched by its assurance and determination. 57 not outs rarely glow like beacons on scorecards, but in a match that was not merely spell-binding, but presented witchcraft’s top 20 recipes boxed up in a commemorative gold-plated folder, and that was played in the tightest margins between defeat and victory with big players on both sides exerting significant impacts on the drama, Yuvraj decisively broke the Australians. Australia put up a creditable defence of their title, especially in the context of their Ashes debacle, but ultimately lacked form and power in the middle order, control and incision from their slow bowlers, and a Shaun Tait who was not a shadow of his fearsome 2007 World Cup incarnation. Thus, cricket has a dream semi-final. A dream at least for cricket fans and for English comedians on their first cricket-writing trip to Asia who have never seen an India-Pakistan cricket clash at close quarters, if not for administrators, security forces, and those who like their sport untainted by hype. India’s batsmen now average 74 against Test-opposition spin in this World Cup. Pakistan’s spinners average 21 against Test-team batsmen. Mohali, for all its atmospheric fervour and media frenzy, will be a cricketing fascination. EXTRAS ● In a game such as yesterday’s, you can look back at innumerable moments and passages of play that proved crucial to the ultimate outcome. The Australian middle order had another critical failure – Clarke, Hussey and White between them, from 110 for 2 in the 23rd over, scored 21 for 3 from 50 deliveries as India choked the innings with considerable skill. During this phase of the game, with Australia having successfully attacked Munaf early on, Dhoni put on Tendulkar (twice) and Kohli (once) to bowl one-over spells – the 30th, 36th and 41st of the innings. Australia harvested just 15 runs from these three isolated overs by unexpected bowlers whom they would have been neither expecting nor preparing to confront. They had never faced Kohli, and Sachin, once a key part of India’s ODI attack, had bowled just 27 overs to Australia in all cricket since 2004, and only 5 balls in the last two-and-a-half years. In Kohli’s case, the unfamiliarity would have been exacerbated by the confusion generated by his bowling action, an indecipherable flail of biomechanical surrealism in which it appears that the young man is attempting to simultaneously bowl and change his shirt. It was bold, enterprising and, as it transpired, brilliant captaincy, that contributed significantly to Australia’s failure to accelerate. ● If Kohli the bowler has put the MCC Coaching Manual through an industrial shredder, as a batsman he has style and poise. He had played with admirable assurance amidst grindingly oppressive tension for 24, before splatting a David Hussey full toss straight to midwicket. Splatting a David Hussey full toss straight to midwicket is seldom advisable. Most cricket sages would caution strongly against it. Particularly at a pivotal stage of a World Cup quarter-final with an entire nation thinking: “I tell you what I hope Virat Kohli does not to: splat a David Hussey fulltoss straight to midwicketâ€. In the list of Iconic Wicket-Taking Deliveries Of Cricket History, alongside Waqar’s inswinging yorker, Murali’s doosra, Warne’s hard-spun legbreak, McGrath’s off-stump nagger, and the rest, few would include David Hussey’s full toss. It would probably rank just below Mike Atherton’s googly and just above Inzamam-ul-Haq’s bouncer. Kohli was hammered in the TV commentary for playing “a stupid shotâ€. This criticism was erroneous. There was nothing stupid about it. It was a full toss onto which Hussey might as well have written in luminous ink: “Please hit me for 4â€. In the circumstances, a “stupid†shot would have been a forward defensive. Kohli played a sensible shot. He just played it carelessly. Gambhir’s run out, on the other hand, was as stupid as a fossilised egg after a frying pan to the head. ● On my ZaltzCricket twitter feed, I was asked just before the start of play to predict what would happen. I thought I would attempt something more specific than the standard, “India/Australia will winâ€. So I foresaw Australia scoring 265 for 7, and India chasing successfully with 266 for 6. My phone lines are currently being tapped by the ICC. For today’s match, the following will 95% happen: if South Africa bat first, they will score 288 for 9. New Zealand will then be bowled out for 235. If New Zealand bat first, they will post 204 all out, which South Africa will chase for the loss of three wickets. You read it here first. (Please bear in mind that, despite yesterday’s success, my career predictive punditry rating is on a par with Phil Tufnell’s ICC Test batting rating.)

[Aaku]

:WTF:

[Chandan]

Wonderful write-up by Sidharth Vaidyanathan, comparing the "Yuvi-Zak" pair of 2000 with that of 2011. Now this one is the match report by Prem Panicker: India seal semis spot even as Ponting bows out with his head held high 24 March 2011 by Prem Panicker, Yahoo! Cricket It is the lot of the cricket reporter's life, especially when there is a big tournament on, to go through days, weeks even, celebrating the mediocre. Someone gets runs against ordinary bowling, and you overdose on the superlatives - it is the World Cup, after all. And then - very rarely, but just often enough to wake us all up - a champion comes along and shows you what this game is really all about. And what it is not. Irrespective of the outcome of the game, Ricky Ponting's century at the Motera is one for the ages - the kind of knock 'motivational speakers' will want to draw on. What Australia's batting has lacked through this tournament is the towering tentpole that can hold its edifice up. Once Shane Watson and Brad Haddin are done doing their thing, the rest of the innings has been about the odd cameo, the occasional bravura performance - it wouldn't be unfair to say the porous Australian middle order has begun at number three. Today, with Watson gone aiming a wild slog sweep at Ashwin to try and break his bonds, Australia needed its best, most experienced batsman to stand up and be counted. And just to up the ante, some joker leaked the news that Cricket Australia had already decided to sack Ponting from the captaincy. What resulted was a display of grit; an innings as diametrically opposed to, but as valuable, as the century Ponting hit in the 2003 WC final against India. That one was scintillating, arrogant; this was hard manual labor by a batsman fighting, simultaneously, the demons in his mind, the surprises of a wicket baked dusty, a bowling that for once was in no mood to give much away, and a fielding side that, for once, showed some awareness of the value of saving the single. Through this innings, Ponting was a rock - and the Indian bowlers and other Australian batsmen flowed and eddied around him. He was never entirely comfortable - but equally, barring a brief period at the start of his innings, there was never a time when he was vulnerable. That was when he squared up to Harbhajan Singh, who has had the wood on the Australian skipper since the time they first squared up. The wicket had turn and just the hint of uncertain bounce; there were fielders close in, and it was set up to be a contest - till Harbhajan backed off. Ponting's problems against off spinners has largely had to do with how he leads with his bat, early in his innings; once Bhajji went around the wicket, the risks were reduced, and Ponting found he could close the bat face down, and just working the spinner away with minimal risk. At the other end, Brad Haddin played the perfect foil. For someone who came in to the side with the reputation of a berserker, Haddin has matured remarkably in recent outings. Early on, he took on himself the onus of facing Ashwin after seeing his partner struggle against the off spinner who, yet again, opened for India (and it is noticeable that when MS Dhoni switched the bowler to the other end, Watson ended up facing him, got fuddled, tried to break free, and got out). Once Ponting joined him, Haddin batted with monumental calm, knocking the ball around the park, playing largely in the V to counter spin, and latching on to the odd loose ball with fierce intent. The partnership (70 in 12.5 overs) wasn't electric, but it was very effective in keeping the Indian bowlers pegged. One critical difference in the Indian side on the day was the entry of Suresh Raina, who teamed up with Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh (and Ashwin out on the long boundaries) to finally give the fielding some legs. And this factor was what resulted in the wicket: Haddin, who had single-handedly shamed Munaf Patel in front of his home crowd, was consumed by his own exuberance for once and against Yuvraj, chanced his arm to a ball that was floated, hit off, and spun away. Haddin tried a drive of sorts but failed to account for the spin; the ball went off the toe of the bat, and was dying on him when Raina dived headlong and held. And Yuvraj, feeling his oats, got another one quickly when Clarke played as ugly a slog sweep as you want to see. That was the cue for the game to turn on a dime. Again. And Zaheer Khan - again - started it with as perfect a set up as you will ever see. Scratch that - as perfect a set up as you have seen, over and over, from the left arm seamer. He took the ball out, had Michael Hussey fishing, then he produced his now famous knuckle ball - the one that slows down, and shapes in off the deck. Hussey, playing for it to go away, opened a gap as wide as all outdoors; the ball lazily crept through it and onto the stumps, and the batsman's bemused look said it all. The next time he produced a variation was when he held one back on Cameron White - again, the batsman was foxed, and could merely pat it back to the bowler. David Hussey walked in - and proved that his selection was spot on, with an innings of explosive power that took the onus of run-scoring from his captain, allowing Ponting to continue his calm accumulation. 55 runs at a tick over 7.7 runs between the pair threatened to take the game away from India - but yet again, the game spun around with Ashwin ending Ponting's vigil. That made the difference between a potential 275-plus, and the 260 Australia ended up with. Rarely has a score made so many people happy. In a note for the team ahead of this game, coach Gary Kirsten had told his wards, 'Do not allow Australia to score over 260.' At the toss, when asked what score he wanted to defend, Ricky Ponting said 260. As it turned out, Kirsten knew exactly what he was talking of. Though Virender Sehwag, looking a pale shadow of his usual self (there is something seriously wrong with the man, physically - and the most visible symptom is his inability to use his shoulders and wrist to play off his pads, a shot with which he earns his daily bread when he is fully fit and switched on), left early, Sachin Tendulkar looked totally assured and in his shadow, Gautam Gambhir took root, and began to flourish. Their 50 run association was vital in calming nerves; it ended with the dismissal of Tendulkar, feathering an edge off one of the rare deliveries Shaun Tait got on target. But then followed the best period of play: Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir bled Australia in a way I personally haven't seen since Asanka, Aravinda and Arjuna combined in the 1996 final. Against pace and spin alike, they tapped the ball around the park with almost casual ease, running effortlessly and chipping chunks off the target without looking in the least troubled. It didn't help the bowling side that without exception, their bowlers failed to string a series of good deliveries together. (At the halfway mark, India had taken 14 more singles and twos against Australia's sharp fielding than the Aussies had managed against India). Just when it looked like India would canter to a one-sided win against the reigning world champions, the home side decided to spice things up a bit. Virat Kohli started it with an incredibly ugly swipe at a David Hussey full toss. Then Gautam Gambhir, who till then had been running as if he had taken lessons from a hamster, totally lost his wits. He has played enough with Yuvraj to realize that the middle order batsman is no longer as fleet of foot as in his heyday, but insisted on calling his partner for incredibly risky singles. Thrice Gambhir looked to run himself out; on the third occasion, after an uncharacteristic miss by Australia on the second try, the batsman succeeded. When MS Dhoni fell to a superb catch by Michael Clarke at point off a fierce cut, and the score slid from 2/142 in 28 to 5/187 in 37.3, it seemed as if India was set to outdo its earlier collapses. If, in the end, it cantered to a win with five wickets in hand, credit owes to Yuvraj Singh who, yet again, played a calculating knock that perfectly mixed his trademark punched drives and ferocious pulls with some touch play to work the ball around, and Suresh Raina, in for Yusuf Pathan, taking the likes of Lee and Watson head on as they tried to bounce him out. What had the potential of being a tense haul to the finish line turned into a thrill a minute ride for the full house at the Motera, with both batsmen opening their shoulders and smashing the ball all around the park. Perhaps the one shot that epitomized both their mood, and the helplessness of the Australians against the sudden counter-attack, came in the 46th over. Lee, bowling around the wicket, speared down an extra quick delivery on length; Raina wound up and smashed the ball effortlessly over the long on fence. As the ball sailed off the bat, you saw, for one moment, Lee stop in his follow through, stare at Raina in disbelief, and drop his head. 16 more runs were needed after that six, but as far as the game was concerned, that shot effectively ended it - and set up what, for fans of both nations, is a dream semi-final between Pakistan and India at Mohali. The former had ended Australia's 34-game winning streak, the latter had ended its reign as the defending champions. At the end, you felt for Ponting. He played out of his skin, and way beyond the dictates of form - but he could not find one ally to do for his team with the ball what he had so bravely done with the bat. Australia's batting chinks had been exposed before, but somehow its bowling fault line (the sameness of Johnson, the self-indulgent rubbish dished out by Tait, the fairly ordinary skills of Jason Krejza) had managed to remain hidden till first the Gambhir-Kohli partnership, then the spell of brilliance by Yuvraj and Raina, exposed them cruelly. Bottomline: The champions have been knocked out. Whoever succeeds them will find very big boots to fill.