Game 29: India vs Suth Africa. 12th March, 2011. Saturday

Another nerve wracking encounter, and again India failed to keep up to expectations.

I really don`t know how to get started on this post. So many mixed emotions. Should i be angry or should i support a team that needs not only me but 1 billion crazy fans from all over the great nation called India.

Let me start off with the usual match coverage

Dhoni won the toss an elected to bat. India got off to a flyer. Sehwag and Sachin tearing the quicks "outta" their attack. The dreaded Steyn also had no reply to our masterful openers. India marched along strong compiling a mammoth 87/0 in the mandatory power play(first 10 overs).

For a change, it was Sachin scoring at a double run a ball rate instead of Sehwag. That woke up not just India, but also the South Africans. Sachin was here and he looked set for another magical innings. After long i saw Sachin hit his trademark straight drive (with the Adidas logo on his bat in an "in your face" attitude). Sachin was home. The only thing that came even remotely close to that shot from Sachin was the blistering 6 he hit off Steyn over the leg side. A brilliant pull shot that went for a maximum.

A masterful knock from Sehwag too. It only came to end when India`s score read 142/1 in 17.4 overs. He was bowled for 73 off 66 balls by du Plessis. In came Gambhir.

Gambhir and Sachin steadied the innings. They brought some sensibility to the proceedings. What impressed me was how Gambhir got going. On the score of 1 he charged down the track and smacked one over the top for a brilliant 4.

The boundaries kept coming along with Sachin cracking 2 more 6`s to the spinners. Gambhir gave him good support at the other end.  Both of them reached their respective landmarks in the same over, Sachin reaching yet another century (his 48th) and Gambhir completed a well played 50.

On the score of 267, the ball caught the outside edge of Sachins that went for an easy catch to Duminy off the bowling of Morkel. The score now read 267/2.

From here on things went disastrously wrong. Never have i seen a collapse of this sorts ever. Gambhir fell in the following over to a slower ball that was way wide off the stumps. It could have possibly been 4 wides had he left it. In the efforts to maximize the use of the batting power play, the Indians tried to push but they landed up pushing too hard. We were finally bowled out for a healthy but embarrassing(considering the start we got) 296 in 48.4 overs. Once again we failed to even complete our quota of 50 overs.

If you do the math, we made 29 runs and lost 9 wickets. Appalling!!!!!!!! Disgraceful!!!!

Everyone was trying to be a hero and play for the camera. What our players tend to forget(except Sachin Tendulkar) is that the name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back.

Dhoni couldn't seem to find any kind of timing. Yuvraj got caught to an easy full toss. Pathan was out to a brilliant catch. Kohli also in the effort to push the scoring gave an easy caught and bowled to Peterson. Everyone is not a Sachin. This they have got to remember. And what makes Sachin who he is, is that he plays for INDIA. Not for a fat paycheck or for fame...........but for INDIA.

Lets not forget.....Ashish Nehra.........well what can i even say about him. Cannot field......cannot bat and definitely cannot bowl. He was supposed to support Dhoni by blocking one end while Dhoni could try and do something at the other end, but no!!!! Apna Ashish tried to be something hes not (a good cricketer) and tried to push the envelope himself leading to an easy catch at mid off. Well played Nehra....well played.

Not to take any credit away from, the South African bowlers. Chances are always given by the opposition, but it takes a strong and determined team to take that chance and crawl over the opposition. Smith is known to play the patient game and he played it very well on Saturday. He waited for some kind of a break in the Indian batting chain and the moment that break came, he made sure his team capitalized. After his first spell, Steyn took a beating. But he came back strong and hard. A good example of never giving up. Kallis and Botha did a good job with the ball too.

The Indian innings folded at 296/10 in 48.4 overs with Sachin being the highest scorer scoring 111(101) and Steyn being the pick of the bowlers with figures of 9.4 overs 5 wickets for 50 runs.

The Indians did start of well with their bowling. for once they bowled an attacking lineand kept the scoring down. zaheer was showing brilliant form. munaf did start of in his usual way, but was soon knocked out of the attack to make way to.....................NEHRA. a uusekess waste of spot in the playing 11 for india.

the south africans sttarted of cvautiously. not taking too many risks and waiting for the lose balls to come. smith and amla got them off to a solid start.

Smith succumbed to a slower one from Zaheer. Out, caught by Tendulkar after making 16 off 29 balls. The score read 41/1.

In came the ever dependable Kallis. Him and Amla steadied the ship putting together 86 for the 2nd wicket. Amla was next to go for a fantastic knock of 61off 72 balls with 5 fours. The score now read 127/2. Next was AB de Villers.

Kallis and de Villers both completed their respectibe 50`s before Kallis got out on 173 after making 69 runs and de Villers on 223 after scoring 52.

Harbhajan found some much required momentum taking 2 quick wickets to put the pressure back on the proteas. Duminy, du Plessis and Botha kept fighting for South Africa. It all boiled to the last few overs of the game.

Harbhajan got a wicket in the 48th over of the innings. To keep the pressure up, Zaheer was given the ball for the 49th over and boy did he do well. He only conceded 4 runs off the over.

It all came down to the final over. 14 required by SA off 6 balls. Harbhajan yet had one over left in his spell. But for some ghastly reason, Dhoni gave the ball to NEHRA. This was where we lost the game.

The proteas milked the 14 runs easily off Nehras bowling in just 4 balls to clinch victory from the jaws of defeat. Well deserved and a fantastic team effort to give India its first loss in the World cup so far.

India needed the win to book a place in the quarters. Now they need to defeat the West Indes to have a guaranteed place in round 2.

The South Africans deserved this win. It was a well won match that comprised of team work and a never say die attitude. The Indian team can afford to learn a few things from them if they want to make any kind of inroads into this World cup and come out laughing.

Anything can happen in the World Cup now and its high time a few things change. Our middle order needs to buck up. Dhoni has to attack more and not let too many singles be taken with ease. MSD, you need to remember your innings against New Zealand in the warm up games. That was a glimpse of the old and lost Dhoni. Nehra has to be out of the playing 11. He should be replaced with Ashwin who is in good form. It also wont be a bad choice to give raina a game.

But before I end, I would like to say that there are times when a loss is much more valuable than a win. India have had some close encounters this world cup, but its only been a few players` contribution and some luck that had kept us undefeated thus far. This loss would probably wake us up and get that tiger performance out of us.

But, at this point in time, let bye gones be bye gones. We need to support our boys and they need to know we are with them.

Win the world cup for us......win the world cup for Sachin......but most importantly win the world cup for 1.2 billion Indians who worship this game as a religion. Do what you guys can do for "OUR" country.

I am INDIAN.......I BLEED BLUE!!!

Game 11: India vs England 27th February, 2011. Sunday

I was right, wasn’t I?

I had said before that if India continues bowling this way they won’t be able to sustain against a major side. And they didn’t. After posing a mammoth 338 total, we yet couldn’t defend it.

Sachin was the shining star for India, again. The Indian batting looked strong and menacing. The Indian bowling lacked discipline from ball 1. First ball of Zaheer was played away for four. The 1^st over landed up going for 8 runs.

Kudos to England though. Awesome chase!!!! A well deserved man of the match for Strauss and I really think they deserved victory.

Anyway, India won the toss and elected to bat. A decent start but Sehwag threw his wicket. In came Gambhir and took off releasing the extra pressure off of Sachin. Sachin on the other hand looked calm, composed and set to make things exciting, To prove that he is the grand daddy batsman of World Cups. A brilliant century!!!! 120 off 115 balls. Amassing a thrilling 5 sixes and 10 fours, with a strike rate of 104.34, Sachin was back. 

Gambhir`s(51 off 61), Yuvraj`s(58 off 50) and Dhoni`s(31 off 25) efforts are not to be ignored though. Gambhir looked fiery and Yuvraj struck form at just the right time for India. Dhoni did well for his 31 too. Things were really looking up and good for India, until the last 5 overs. 

Something went weirdly wrong in the last 30 balls. Indias batting order collapsed just like the old days. 30 balls, 33 runs and 6 wickets. Sounds good for the world no2 team, doesn't it?(all sarcasm intended). Not the way to support your top order`s efforts guys. Appalling!!!

To make things worse, a comedy of errors on the 2nd last ball of the innings. Its rare to see a team trying for 2 runs and getting none when none of the 2 batsmen were even caught out. The 1st run was a short run, didnt count. In the efforts of a second run, the batsman was run out, again didn't count. At the end of it, if you think about it, even if we had managed 1 run, it would have made all the difference. Don`t you think?
India ended their innings bowled out for a good 338/10 in 49.5 overs. Sachin was the top scorer with 120 runs and a brilliant performance by Bresnan taking 5 for 48 in his 10 overs. Seemed a good enough score at the time.

About the England batting, all praises for Andrew Strauss. Him and Peterson got England off to a grand start. 8 off the first over and England were on their way.

Peterson was dismissed for a fantastic catch by Munaf off his own bowling. He got out for a well played 31 off 22 balls and the score read 68/1 in 9.3 overs.

In came Trott. He didn't last long. Chawla trapped him plum in front for a measly 16 off 19 balls. The score now read 111/2. No wonder the English don`t like the Nelson.

This paved the way for Ian Bell and one of the best partnerships Ive seen from the English batsmen in a long time. The simplicity with which they hit their boundaries, the easy singles they took by just knocking the ball into the offside. What was Dhoni doing? Why was there no pressure applied?

Strauss completed a fantastic century and went on to score a brilliant 158 off 145 balls. A true captains innings. He was supported very well by Ian Bell who made a steady 69 off 71 balls. By now, the match seemed over. It looked like England were going to walk home easily. Bell was even dropped by Kohli at slip of a Chawla ball. India looked down and out. The shoulders started drooping and you could see that they had almost given up. But in came Zaheer at the start of the batting power-play in the 42nd over. 2 wickets in 2 balls and the silent Indian support came alive. Every ball of Zaheer`s was cheered as he charged in to bowl. And the best part of the 2 wickets was that it was Strauss and Bell.

From here on, India were suddenly in charge of the game. Strauss, Bell, Collingwood and Prior fell for 8 runs. It seemed that India had crept their way back in after being down and out for most of the 2nd innings.

It all boiled down to the last 2 overs. 30 needed off 12 balls. Zaheer had completed his spell after taking another wicket, that of Paul Collingwood. The ball was thrown to Chawla to bowl the 49th over of the innings. And boy did that ruin it for India. For some reason, he decided to bowl around the wicket and thats where India lost the win. He got plonked for 2 sixes off Bresnan. For the last ball of his over, he came over the wicket and took the wicket off Bresnan. A lesson learned just a little too late. Bresnan was bowled for 14 which included 2 sixes he hit off Chawla. The game was balanced again.

So 99 overs bowled, over 600 runs scored and it all came down to the last 6 balls. England needed 14 runs to win an epic match. Munaf was the given the ball. India yet seemed the favorites. On the pitch were Shahzad and Swann. 3 runs off the first 2 balls and Shahzad came on strike. The next ball was belted by Shahzad for a 6 and this was the turning point of the game. The next ball was a single where Dhoni missed a run out. Swann back on strike. 4 needed now off 2 balls. 5th ball off the over. 2 runs added. now 2 runs needed off the last ball. Munaf bowls, a full pitched delivery driven by Swann. A good stop by mid off and clinched victory from England. A TIE.

The top scorer for England was Andrew Strauss(158) with good support from Bell(69) and India`s top bowler was Zaheer khan with figures of 3 for 64 in 10 overs and Harbhajan being the most economical with figures of 10 overs 1 for 58.

Whew!!! What a game. A well deserved man of the match for Strauss in "the best innings Ive  played". I guess India and England did prove as to why they are the favorites for the World Cup. A hard fought day of cricket and there was no single winner. This is what makes great matches.

Well to sum it up, India`s batting seems strong. The top order have the right form. The problem is with the lower middle order and the tail enders. The fielding was poor with mis fields quite a few times and a couple of drop catches that went hugely against us. The bowling was as usual the weakness in India's armory. No bowler really put any kind of pressure on the batsmen and never really seemed menacing or likely to take 10 wickets; or at least contain the English batsmen.

It was a day when even luck didn `t favor India. They missed an edge off Strauss`s bat that was caught by Dhoni. No one even appealed. Also the LBW decision going in favor of Bell.

Anyway, a great end to a great match. When required, players from both teams delivered the goods. And at the right time too. The death bowlers from India and the tail enders from England. I, personally, hope to see both teams go as far as possible in this World Cup. Hopefully, we see these 2 against each other in the final.

I AM INDIAN!!!! I BLEED BLUE

Game 1: India vs Bangladesh 19th February, 2011. Saturday

Off to a crazy start
1st ball of the CWC 2011 went for a four. Hopefully a preview of things to come form India and Sehwag.

Anyway, all eyes were on Sachin blasting into action in grand style for what might be his last World Cup appearance. Stylish shots on the off and leg sides got him going. Sehwag on the other end found himself to be his regular self and in good time too. 1st game of the world cup and a brilliant way to start. Indians fans back home (including me) could not ask for a better start to our World Cup Campaign.

A few overs in and Sachin gets run out. Come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was an easy single that clearly Sehwag misjudged. Not the way to get out against a relatively easy opposition on a flat, slow wicket.

In came Gambhir. Started strong and kept going. He got bowled after a handy knock of 39. All though a low score, but he came off confident and in some sort of good form.

Despite all of this, Sehwag  kept going as though nothing had happened. Smashing fours and a few maximums all over the ground in his usual style. He was joined by Kohli. Young and budding talent who has cemented his place in the 11 for now. Together these 2 steadied the Indian innings.

Sehwag completed his 2nd ton in World Cup matches and was bowled for a mammoth 175. Kohli finished with a century on debut World Cup inning ending not out on 100.

India piled on a massive 370 for 4 in their quota of 50 overs amassing a total of 7 sixes and 29 fours. India had announced themselves.

The Bangladeshi bowling took a beating with the most economical figures of the evening going to Rubel Hossain having figures of 10 overs 60 runs with 0 wickets and no maidens.

The Bangladeshi batsmen got off to a flying start. Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes started in fine style belting 8 off the first over off the innings. Not the best start for Sreesanth. The unexpected hero for the Bangladeshis was Imrul Kayes. He got Bangladesh the start that they expected from Tamim Iqbal. Kayes smashed 24 off a Sreesanth over (the most expensive off the match) that really got Bangladesh going. Zaheer kept things tight at the other end.

Sreesanth was rested soon enough and he gave way to Munaf. Munaf got the first victim for India in the form of the aggressive and dangerous Kayes. Kayes dragged on a good length delivery to his stumps. Bowled for 34.

In came Junaid Siddique. Dhoni looked to his most senior bowler.....Bhajji. From ball 1 he looked on song. Got rid of Junaid for 37......brilliantly stumped by MS Dhoni.

Tamim kept one end blocked and was given company by Shakib. Next to fall was Tamim caught by Yuvi off the bowling of Munaf for a healthy and steady 77. Good start to his campaign. He left Shakib Al Hassan to be joined by Mushfiqur Rahim.

This was the last steady partnership Bangladesh had. After losing Shakib(well played 55) at 4 for 234 and Rahim(25) at 5 for 248, it was pretty much curtains for Bangladesh. Apart from a hard fought 28* by Raqibul Hassan, the Bangladesh innings folded at 283 for 9 in their 50 overs.

India won their opener by a good 87 runs. A good start for the Indians, considering it was Bangladesh who knocked India out of the previous World Cup. Sehwag made up for the mistake that caused the fall of Sachin`s wicket by knocking a quick fire 175 off 140 balls.

Not a bad effort from Bangladesh too reaching a fighting chase of 283 for 9. Unfortunate not to be backed up by their lower middle order since their higher middle order just wouldn't give up.

A perfect start to the World Cup campaign for the Indians. Can they keep the momentum going? Although, not getting ahead of ourselves, we have to keep in mind our bowling attack. We did have a total of 370 to defend and so a little slack from our opening pacers did not put too much pressure on 2nd and 3rd change bowlers. If we land up chasing in any of the games to come, our opening bowlers cannot afford to slack the way they did in match 1. Its not every day that any side can chase down a big score. Sreesanth, you better buck up. This is the World Cup. When else are u going to show your maturity and control.

To find out more tune into srtcwc.blogspot.com for the next game.
 India vs England at 2pm on 27th Feb, Sunday.
This should be a tougher game for both sides as both are favorites to win this World Cup.

I AM INDIAN.......I BLEED BLUE!!!!!!!!!!