Bat first or bowl?

[Nash]

Good joke. Even the best bowler in the history of your nation acknowledges Zak to be the best bowler in the world right now. Your bowling is slightly better but not more than that. On Indian pitches Afridi wont be as effective as the Lankan turners and Gul would be taken to the cleaners here too. Keep dreaming anyways. :giggle:

Match played on the ground not on paper. So keep your horses in control dont be like fanatic paki fans. Afridi can be dangerous. Gul can be demon. But But India will will..

[WC2011INDIA]

I would love Dhoni to win the toss, so that the batsmen can put a total of 380+. But the problem is that while batting our batsmen start worndering what type of score they need to put, so that there is some chance of defending it. While thinking of this, they lose concentration or play stupid shots that causes batting collpase. All of our matches in this world cup were like that except opening match. In this tournament we have done better chasing, so maybe that's the way to go. Also, Yuvraj is a much better chaser. But I really don't know friends. I really don't. Hopefully, the gods will be on our side.

[glogirl]

thier batsman are not attacking. so let them bat first and we can chase without falling to gul.

[Cricket Tragic]

Dhoni will probably lose the toss as usual.

[Shakthi]

Never ever do the mistake of batting second unless u lose the toss thats a different thing big mistake dada did at 2003 final so did azza the match fixer.

[jibranpatel15]

in crunch games best thing is to put runs on the board withought any pressure. Even if U score 200 opposition need to make 201 so pressure of runs on them andd not us. And yes Indian bowling is little weak but oppositions batting too is weak apart from Younis & misbah i don't see any player capable of making big Partnership's & play full 50 overs. So if u break that p'ship of misbah & Younis mean u win game.

[Nash]

in crunch games best thing is to put runs on the board withought any pressure. Even if U score 200 opposition need to make 201 so pressure of runs on them andd not us. And yes Indian bowling is little weak but oppositions batting too is weak apart from Younis & misbah i don't see any player capable of making big Partnership's & play full 50 overs. So if u break that p'ship of misbah & Younis mean u win game.

You are on target..

[Asoka]

in crunch games best thing is to put runs on the board withought any pressure. Even if U score 200 opposition need to make 201 so pressure of runs on them andd not us. And yes Indian bowling is little weak but oppositions batting too is weak apart from Younis & misbah i don't see any player capable of making big Partnership's & play full 50 overs. So if u break that p'ship of misbah & Younis mean u win game.

Bang on target

[zep1706]

It doesn't matter imo if the pitch behaves the way a normal Mohali pitch does. If we bat first bat big and bat them out of the game and if we bat second I am confident of chasing down anything below 325. So don't worry guys. I know I shouldn't be over confident but my logic says it will be a stroll in the park. Jai Hind.

[saneindian]

in crunch games best thing is to put runs on the board withought any pressure. Even if U score 200 opposition need to make 201 so pressure of runs on them andd not us. And yes Indian bowling is little weak but oppositions batting too is weak apart from Younis & misbah i don't see any player capable of making big Partnership's & play full 50 overs. So if u break that p'ship of misbah & Younis mean u win game.

Jabroni wants to say that chasing in a high pressure game can lead to CHOKING :haha: But for once I agree with him.

[zep1706]

Never ever do the mistake of batting second unless u lose the toss thats a different thing big mistake dada did at 2003 final so did azza the match fixer.

Pakistan is not Australia of 2003 which could be the best ODI side that has ever played the game.

[Asim]

whoever win the toss but I hope ind bat first...

[Sachin2210]

If we win the toss we should opt to bat first and put up a big total on the board. Pakistan’s bowling attack is in impressive form so chasing against them can be a bit risky. I’ll prefer the safer option, win the toss, give them a mammoth total to chase, field well and try to bundle them well under the asking total.

[ZodiaC]

Bat first, no second thoughts

[Switchblade]

Batting track expected in Mohali http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cric...ry/508293.html There are no match tickets available. There are no hotel rooms vacant for the thousands flocking to Chandigarh from all over the world. The premiers of both India and Pakistan will be there to watch their men contest the second semi-finals of the World Cup. Add to those certainties one other: the Mohali pitch is bound to be batsmen-friendly. If sources are to be believed, then the fast bowlers will be more effective than spinners. "It is a good batting wicket. I don't think it will turn much," a Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) official said. History suggests that captains prefer to bat first on calling the coin right and both MS Dhoni and Shahid Afridi will do well to follow convention. It is better to bat first because the wicket tends to lose pace as the match goes on. But if there is heavy dew things could change. "A 280-plus total would be really difficult to chase," the source said. Over the last five years, in the nine matches played at the ground the 300-run mark has been breached only twice. Incidentally, on the first occasion, Pakistan successfully chased India's 321 in a day-night game, with Younis Khan's 117 overshadowing Sachin Tendulkar's 99. In the past five years, seven out of the nine matches have been won by the side batting first. Also, there were seven day-night matches with five won by the side batting first and only two by the chasing side. Wednesday's semi-final would be the first match to be played under lights since November 2009 in Mohali. Of the 137 wickets taken in those nine matches, fast bowlers accounted for 105, while the spinners claimed just 29. Even though the seamers have predominantly controlled affairs here, slow bowlers like Harbhajan Singh, who relies on bounce, have always got good purchase from the Mohali pitch. At the same time the hard clay in the pitch tends to make the ball skid rather than spin, so a spinner like Afridi would do well to push the ball rather than spin it. Another talking point in the build-up to the match has been the dew. Over the last few days there has been heavy dew with the outfield being really wet till 10 pm. The curator will be taking measures like not watering the ground two days before the match and cutting the outfield really low but it would be difficult to eliminate the dew entirely. An essential factor for the dew to not spoil the evening would be the presence of the wind during the first half of the day. If it is windy during the day the dew will not be heavy, otherwise it will play affect team strategies.

[bihutoli]

Win the toss bat first. No need to overanalyse. But if we lose the toss and are made to chase, then too no worries. Either way we gonna win baby!

[ZodiaC]

Never ever do the mistake of batting second unless u lose the toss thats a different thing big mistake dada did at 2003 final so did azza the match fixer.

We could have got fecked by D/L if we batted first - so it made sense. But we got fecked anyways. :P

[NareshK]

Its a good thing the match is in Mohali because its one of those grounds where batting first or second shouldnt matter if we play well. In most Indian grounds, the pitch deteriorates rapidly during the second innings and the toss plays a huge factor. But its always good to bat first in a pressure game though.

[Shakthi]

win toss bat first pitch will deteroiate in 2nd innings and pressure is there as well we dont want another 96 sf

[King Tendulkar]

What do we do? There has been heavy rain over night. Does that mean we should now bowl first as might be something in the pitch early on now and outfileld may not be as fast as later on in day. Tough decision now. I suppose good check of pitch and outfield before play is the key!