Archive for the ‘Pakistan’ Category
India through to the finals
What a feeling it is. To be in the world cup finals beating Pakistan for the 5th time in the world cup. Its just difficult to digest. Goosebumps in the tummy. Butterflies flew all around, screaming and abusing was a bit low key thanks to being in the foren country.
The tension to see in the finals after 8 long years and this time go one step further to lift the cup of glory in homeland was unpalpable. All superstitions were followed. Unmoved at times when things went right for India and when runs were leaked, when wickets didnt fall. Reeling Munna and Bhajji when they leaked runs. Blowing off Kamran Akamal when he showed his stupid poker face on screen during keeping and batting was all done.
Facebooking and watching cricket has been the trend this world cup. Update the status message on FB, update stats on FB, update number crunching there and put on some superstitions like Cmonnnnnnnnnnnnnn and to see a wicket tumble moments after that was all fun. Dont have the luxury to watch on TV on any channel, so have to rely on the ISP and host of live streaming sites to watch the action LIVE.
It all happened on a day remarkable for Indian cricket, what a day it has been. Reaching 3rd world cup final, 2nd in 8 years and almost with the same group as it was in 2003. Sachin, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Nehra are the survivors of that match India lost in Wanderers to rampaging Ponting and co. This time its a step to go further. Win the world cup in Mumbai, the hometown of Sachin Tendulkar, country’s greatest sports icon and perhaps the best ever batsmen to play cricket in all times.
Thanks to Pakistan to turn up in India despite the hot and cold diplomatic relations, thanks to them for making the match living all the hype it had before this game even began. Thanks for them to provide us yet another opportunity to savior this victory. Beating Australia, Pakistan in the route to finals is amazing. The contests with this 2 countries have always been intense, thrilling and top quality. And Pakistan did go out in a proud fashion, forget what Misbah did in final overs, they have done their nation proud with almost flawless and mostly controversy less performance in the world cup. None expected them to come this far given what happened in past year in their build up to the world cup, so Afridi must be a proud man given how his men have delivered.
Sachin Tendulkar has played all 5 victorious games against Pakistan in World cups and he has been man of the match in 3 of them. He has scored 54, 31, 45, 98 and 85 in this 5 games. He has played with great Kapil Dev to Azhar to Jadeja, Mongia, Venkatesh Prasad and the great trio of Dravid, Ganguly and Kumble. Not to forget Javagal Srinath.
India won its first semi final at home. Previously it had lost its 2 semi finals, both chasing in 1987 to England and pretty controversially in 1996 to SL. This time India defended a 260 and won.
The biggest turning point of the game was the dismissal of Gambhir in the 20th over which led to a mini-collapse in the 25th – 30 th over and a score of 350 became 260. Sehwag in his super assault on Umar Gul had set India on another huge total, but once he was out and the rest just went in the shell. Gambhir has been erractic this tournament. he has thrown away his wicket in almost every game. Something not expected from man of his stature.
Tendulkar was cratchy, scratchy and whatever, but his 85 set India to cross 250 and that proved to be the difference in the end. MSD is excelling in captaincy, but his batting is concern.
What was too heartening to see was only 5 bowlers were used and everybody took 2 wkts each. Zahee was little bit off color, but he was made up by super Nehra and surprisingly Munaf. Ashvin;s dropping was a debatable issue, but I still feel he will be a key man in the final and he should replace Munaf in the XI. Nehra got his rythm back in the 2nd spell and at helped him in the super final spell when he just gave few and got Riaz.
It was a day when the bowling and fielding excelled yet again and the batting was iffy.
In the end Younis and Misbah combined together to stall the stanis chase and its likely that this guys wont be part of the LoI set up in the future. Misbah is test captain, but then who knows what happen in Pak cricket. The others — Shafiq, Hafeez and UKumal didnt quite turnup to play long innings that could have won their team this game. Yet they came this far and thats applaudable.
For a change there was no sledging this time and there was no “war cry” on the ground at least. Expecting Pak to react to this loss graciously back their home and not call for the people’s head who featured in this tournament. They’ve got some very good positives in form of Riaz, Shafiq etc and once they are given chances they could come up as well finished product.
But for now lets savior the superb Indian victory and rally behind them to trounce the cheats of the world to avenge the painful defeats of 2007 and 1996. Lets burn the Lanka this time in Mumbai 8 months before the Dusshera festival.
India vs Pakistan Preview
Finally, the big day is here.
India vs Pakistan in a World Cup semi final.
Doesnt get bigger than this. All talks of pressure, mind games, history, cricket diplomacy, Punjabiyat, bhaichara and all would vanish in the thin air once the 2 captains walk out for the toss and the national anthems are played. After that all and sundry shall pave the way for 22 players who shall slug it out in the middle for the glory moment of the day.
Doesnt matter what Misbah said or what Rehman Malik said and backtracked. Doesnt matter what MMS and Gilani shall eat or drink or pee after the game or during the game. WHat shall matter is the battle between the bat and the ball.
4 previous wins are good to hold the psychological edge but only till the start of the game. The chaos, reputations, processes, areas, pre match talks, campaigns thus far would all cease to be important for the heroes of the 2 countries.
India’s batting vs Pakistan bowling. Its a contest that has been billed as such.
Its more of the team which handles the pressure the BEST, the team which holds the NERVE BEST, the team which wins small chunks of plays in the entire 100 overs of the day shall prevail in the end. And its going to be INDIA who shall be expected to do this in Mohali, their best modern day ground.
Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh are the key men for Indian batting. Kohli, Raina and MS shall look to carry forth the work done by the top 4. Zaheer Khan would be the key for the bowling. But it shall depend more on who is the support cast for Zak. Will Harbhajan turn up? Would Ashvin fox the stanis ? Especially Kamran, Hafeez and Shafiq ?
Who shall tbe the 2nd seamer? Munaf or Neehra ?
Neehara should the one who should get a look in before Munaf now.
What shall Pakistan do ? Will they get in Shoaib or continue to operate with Umar Gul and Riaz? How many catches would Kakkumal drop? How shall Afridi, the bowler do? He has got pretty ordinary record against India and so has Umar Gul. Would they field Junaid Khan who had a word or 2 to say on Sachin?
Its all about who handles the pressure on Wednesday better. But before that the skies should remain clear.
The predictions are:
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Wed Mar 30
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| 09:00 GMT | 14:30 Local 05:00 EDT | 04:00 CDT | 02:00 PDT |
India v Pakistan at Mohali, ICC Cricket World Cup, 2nd Semi-Final |  17 – 30° C 
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Not sure how ToI or NDTV has reported rain showers.
But here could be the possible lineups:
India :
1. Tendulkar
2. Sehwag
3. Gambhir
4. Yuvraj
5. Dhoni
6. Kohli
7. Raina
8. Ashvin
9. Harbhajan
10. Neehra
11. Zaheer
Pakistan:
1. Kakmal
2. Hafeez
3. Shafiq
4. Younis
5. Umarkamal
6. Misbah
7. Afridi
8. Rehman
9. Razzaq
10. Gul
11. Riaz / Akhtar
Will Gambhir raise his game against Pakistan? Will MS find form against Pakistan and will Yuvraj continue his golden run in this world cup ?
And moreover shall we avenge 2007 and 1996 ? All answered tomorrow in PCA ground @ 230 PM IST
A look at Stani batting
A look at the Pakistan batting.
Highest score : 317 / 7 vs Kenya in the first game of the world cup campaign
Lowest score : 184 vs Canada
Highest Individual score : 83 by Misbah Ul Haq
Number of 100s: 0
Number of 50s : 9
Scores : 317/7, 277/7, 184, 192, 164/3, 178/6, 113/0
Only 2 scores of over 200. In the last 3 wins they have chased after their bowlers dismissed teams for low scores (Zimbabwe game exception as it was rain affected). Last 200 score came good month ago. Since then havent crossed 200.
Opening Partnerships : 11, 28, 16, 17, 5, 12, 112*
Hafeez and Shehzad havent been able to fire together as opening pair and except the game of WI, the Akamal and Hafeez pair hasnt fired either. So the team looks soft a bit on the top.
The number 3 has got some runs for Pakistan though in form of Kamran Akamal before and now Asad Shafiq in last 2 games (124).
The middle order of Younis, Misbah, Umar Akamal and Afridi has been inconsistent too. Umar is their top scorer of the tournament with 211 runs and a match winning 47 vs Australia as his highest point. Younis Khan hit 2 50s in the start of the tournament and since then hasnt fired the way given his experience and usability.
Misbah yesterday said that getting 20s and 30s in a winning cause is better than scoring a 50 and 100 in a losing cause. Well said mate, but he hasnt got firing in last few games:
his scorelines read 0, 7 , 37, DNB,DNB, 83.
Shahid Afridi, best said now is a tailender who can bat a bit in wild fashion.
Hafeez has been more of a bowler than a batsman in this tournament given his form. He struck form only in the quarter final, but then the quality of bowling was debatable.
From the above stats its clear that Pakistan batting has been a bit brittle and they are prone to collapses as ever in last 2 years. They had a mini collapse against Australia in mid-overs, against Canada and also against Sri Lanka.
The men India needs to be wary of :
1. Kamran Akamal : He has tendency to fire big against India.
2. Younis Khan : His past against India
3. Asad Shafiq : He is the man who has looked in form in past 2 games.
and.
4. Umar Akamal : Too unpredictable, dunno which side of him would turn up.
In form batsmen for Pakistan — not many.
Bowling : Afridi for his faster uns that skids through to the stumps or traps lbw. Umar Gul for his exploits with old ball.
And since the last game between this 2 sides, a lot has happened and Pakistan side has gone through a major change in terms of people playing. Imran farhat, Butt, Malik, Amin, Amir, Ajmal are no longer part of playing XI.
Dear Shahid Afridi
Shahid Afridi, welcome to Mohali. The super ground in Indian Punjab. You shall be playing semi final against India on 30th March, 2011 in that ground.
We heard that you’ve said that you wont be short of support in Mohali? Are you banking on few Pakistanis who shall travel to India on visas and then disappear and never return? Or are you talking of few fools who cheered for Pakistan in those dark Sharjah days? Or do you feel India is still under pressure when it comes to play Pakistan ?
I am not sure if you have arrived in Punjab or are yet to arrive or will not arrive. You are arriving in a country which has blown hot and cold over the diplomatic relations for different reasons. So given that backdrop, shall you arrive? Shall your board let you arrive without the drama and idiotic statements? Shall you keep quiet and let your play do the talk?
I am curious to know when you say you would not be lacking support. Who shall support your team? Thats troubling me. India has gone past those days when there were few, very few who blew crackers on a Pakistani win in Sharjah. Gone are those days, that mindset and moreover those set of players from your country. Now the players you’ve got are mad, idiots, clowns and jokers. Lunatic as Ian Chappell and Intikhan Alam calls them.
Do you think you are gonna stop Indians with the bowlers like Abdul Razzaq, Abdul Rehman and Wahab Riaz ? And yes Hafeez too? Do you think K Akamal would be able to pouch anything in his butery gloves that day? You are most welcome in India after 2007. But come and play. Dont give mad statements. There is no pressure on India. Pressure is on Pakistan. They shall play before a crowd who shall want the men in blue to steamroll them and go through to the finals.
Are you ready to handle it ?
West Indies blow away yet again
What an one sided QF it has been. West Indies have just been blown away by the Afridi men. In the end nothing deserving to be called a quarter final of a damn world cup. West Indies blew away any premature talks of their revival. Their insipid record of not beating a top Test team in a ODI remains and would go on until they take on the same opponents in the home series in May this year.
Pakistan through to their 6th semi final, first in 12 years. And all set for a dual in Mohali. But then would they arrive in India without a drama given the cold relations? Some statements have already been made in the media and over generous India have already provided 5000 visas to the stani fans. A few of them could disappear and do not go back only to see………………
That apart, should India win tomorrow, an another battle would be on cards but before that its time for the most intense battle of the modern times in a ODI or a Test coming up tomorrow in Motera of Modiland.
WI vs Pak Preview
The quarterfinals start tomorrow and its going to be 2 volatile teams taking on each other. Pakistan and West Indies take on each other. The teams prone to collapses. One due to ineptness and the other due to madness. Both teams have enough experienced heads. Both teams have folks who can go mad. Both teams have colorful jokers. T20 experts both teams possess.
Pakistan are surprise group toppers. They broke Australia’s unbeaten streak in Colombo. They would expect to go past Windies to be in semis and unfortunately play in Mohali. Mohali is in India. India. India.
West Indies have better opening pair. Gayle and Smith D. Gayle on his day is a tormentor. Smith has been in good form off last few games. India would swear by that. Pakistan have a lose opening pair. The # 3 slot for Windies is hold by Darren Bravo, the Lara alike. Its Kakmal for Pakistan or Shafiq. Shafiq guided the chase against Canada and Australia in the league stage.
The middle order is brittle. Sarwan, Chandu, Pollard form the next 3. Misbah, Younis and Ukamal form the next 3 for Pak. Who combusts first, it shall be a competition.
Bowling is also on same length though Umar Gul provides little bit edge to Pakistan for his old ball exploits. Man to man comparison in bowling indicates that it should be a good match. Rampaul, Roach and Russell have been in good form. Bishoo had a good 2 games. So Benn might sit out to get in Roach, if fit.
Pakistan’s bowling is a bit light with just 2 pacers, 2 spinners and a half bowler in Abdul Razzaq — the Palak Paneer guy.
So which side explodes first would be the loser and the other one would go through. West Indies ended SA campaign in 1996 while Pakistan lost to India in 1996 QFs.
If Pakistan lose that might be the end of lot of guys like Kamran Akamal, Shoaib Akhtar and hopefully Ijaz Butt too.
Rosco on fire in Pallekele….
In walked Ross Taylor, on his 27th birthday, and he received two generous gifts from Pakistan. Before he had scored, Taylor edged the second ball of Shoaib’s second spell. Akmal moved to towards his right to take a catch that was his for the taking, and then stopped and looked expectantly at first slip, where Younis Khan looked on in shock as the ball sped to the third-man boundary. A ball later Taylor edged again, this time the easiest of chances straight to Akmal, who dropped it again.
How are Pakistani selectors, coach and captain persisting with this lunatic dickhead is beyond logical comprehension. He uttered “Shahid Bhai” 15 times in Afridi’s last over and what his reprieve costed Pakistan in last 6 overs is mind blowing.
Excellent hitting Rosco. That would shit hell scare the next opponent captain reluctant to play in Mumbai.
Pakistan vs Sri Lanka
On a day of glorious batsmanship from Sachin Tendulkar and unexpectedly Andrew Strauss, I chose to write on the tie between Pakistan and Sri Lanka that took place on the Saturday. It was a tie SL was expected to win hands up, instead they lost hands down.
The 2 old lads of Pak cricket — Younus and Misbah led the team to a total of 277 followed by some good bowling by Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi. The Lankans fell short by 11 runs and in the end its heard that a panic has been setup in their camp.
Sangakara as usual made 49 without going on to win a game for his country. Jayawardhena after all praising and writing made just 2 and got his stumped ripped off an Akhtar beauty. Chamara Silva, Kulasekra and Angelo Matthews tried in the end but it was too late and SL tasted their first home world cup defeat. Huh? Whom they had played before in the home games? 1996 ? Serious teams refused to tour them in 1996 and then they played Zimbabwe and Kenya at home and now Canada and Pakistan.
Period.
As I said before as all the high talk this lads do is good for the weak and hapless teams. When the stronger teams come, this lads just freeze up and lose.
And thats why this team wont win the world cup.
Lanka ki hawa tight
Blabberings vanished in the thin air, the 100 maker is comprehensively bowled, the Test batsman is out stumped to Pathan and now only the Sanga Nanga remains on the crease.
0/75 to 4/93.
Stuff champions are made of? Mahela’s ass. Get off. If you talk big, show it on the field else shut your freaking mouth shut.
Alle Alle. Wickets fall alle alle.
Russell Arnold is quiet now after boring us of how good every one in Lankan team is. Where is he now?
Pakistan vs Kenya
Today’s game was yet another anticlimax and another testimony to the ICC’s decision to kick minnows out of the 2015 world cup. The Pakistani batsmen got in runs except opening pair. 4 middle order 50s, captain getting 5-for, best for a captain in world cup, Shoaib Akhtar lasting 5 overs in spell and fielding being rarely good and electric. What else Pakistan wanted. Rarely they have kickstarted a world cup with a win. Going back with the facts and figures this was just their 4th opening match victory in last 24 years (1987, 1996,1999). They lost in 1992, 2003 and 2007.
What was an anticlimax was the approach Kenyans took. They openly showed that they had no intent to go for the chase and they were just going through the motions, that is doing a formality of turning up in the field and batting. They conceeded 37 wides amidst 50 extras and thus fuelled the debate that minnows who dont show intent to perform better, dont show the zeal to learn and step up their performance should be kicked out.
Kenya is going to provide an easy fodder for all teams and mainly Sri Lanka would look forward to a gigantic demolition when they play this team.
Netherlands and Ireland are two minnows who look good to scare the top teams in respective groups. Netherlands have already scarred England to deepest and I would count Ireland favorite against Bangladesh on Friday.
The bigger test for Pakistan comes this Saturday when they take on Sri Lanka in one of their most important games of the tourney (another would be vs Australia).
Switch Hit 