Mahela, Mathews and Malinga does a late recovery bid to ensure a SL win thereby almost ensuring that they qualify in the final. As mentioned in my column yesterday, Pakistan with its insignificant batting lineup cannot hold on for 50 overs and that is exactly what has happened - they were bowled out within 47 overs.
Fixed ideas proves lucky for Sangakarra
The match was within the grasp of Pakistan till 42nd over and had Md.Asif lasted the last ball of Malinga's over, Pakistan could have sensed victory as 2 of the 3 overs to be bowled would be by Maharoof. He was not a confident bowler, as he leaked plenty of runs. That way, Sangakarra was lucky but I was bamboozled by his team selection. He opted for 7 batsman at the cost of his main strike bowler Sanjiv Randiv and he almost paid a heavy price. Muralidharan, of late, has not been able to deliver and his stirke bowling options may make him a doubtful selection process for the World Cup.
Great Batting Display by Afridi
Scoring 107 runs on a slowish surface out of the total of 226 runs, shows how much the team is balanced. Nevertheless, it was a gallant knock by the captain. His knock contained 7 fours and 7 sixes. SL helped him pitching the ball up and it almost proved costly. Afridi needs to seriously have a relook at the top batting order. He needs to rope in Imran Farhat at the top of the batting order, not that it is going to have any serious implications. The team balance has to definitely change.
Bangladesh no more a "cake-walk" team
India takes on Bangladesh today. Bangladesh got a serious hammering from England and this will have a telling effect on the performance. The slowish pitch might be of some relief to them as India can not anymore take Bangladesh lightly. Going by yesterday's match, Dhoni will be tempted to bring in Praveen Kumar with his swing and medium pace bowling options. The pitch did not spin that much too, but the ball was not coming onto the bat, after 15 overs. This will be order of the day in Dambullah. Like Sangakara, Dhoni too has fixed ideas - He still opts for Jadeja though he, to me, he is not part of the big league.
Possible Playing XI: (India) Sehwag, Gambhir, Raina, Kohli, Rohit, Dhoni, Harbhajan, Jadeja, Zaheer, Praveen/Ojha and Ashish Nehra.
Bangladesh XI: Tamim Iqbal, Kayes, Ashraful, Islam, Siddique, Rahim, Mohamadullah, Hasan, Mortaza, Rasel, Razzek
3 comments:
I think Pakistan had a chance of winning if Afridi had retired hurt instead of foolishly continuing to play in pain...he could've come back refreshed at the fall of the next wicket and given a boost to Pakistan's chances. Nevertheless, it was a good knock by him, but the lack of support from the other top-order batsmen put the final nail in the Pakistani coffin.
Yes, I totally agree with you. It will be very difficult for Pakistan to win this Asia Cup, as they do not have a good batting line-up.
It was a great match yesterday and going by the quality of bowling, India is far inferior when compared with Pakistan or Sri Lanka, which makes it very difficult for it to qualify for the finals.
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