No Pitch Assistance : Indian Bowling exposed

As written in my previous article, the limitations of Indian bowling have been exposed in such a way that if the pitch does not assist the Indian spinners, India will find itself out of the World Cup campaign in the Quarter Finals itself. And added to this, the captaincy of Dhoni and the defeatist attitude of the Indian players were also some of other reasons why India went into a shell even in the 20th over. 

Yes, Dhoni had allowed lots of singles and he did not have enough players inside the 30 yard circle, thus allowing the England batsmen to milk the Indian bowling. Strauss, meanwhile, had ensured this weakness of Indian bowling to his advantage and it was a controlled aggression from him. His partnership with KP and later with Ian Bell had a telling effect on the Indian bowlers.

Sachin's innings was one of the best I have seen for a long time by any batsman on the globe and the way he controlled the innings truly talks of his hunger for runs. The way he allowed Gambhir to take the center stage earlier and then taking away the control from him was wonderful to watch. The score of 338 made everyone to think that it was more than enough for India to win, as India made Australia eat humble pie in their warm-up match at the same pitch.

That the last 5 overs and the first 45 overs belonged to England tell you the state of affairs of the 50 over cricket where the game cannot end anywhere but in a tie.

If one looks at the current form of the team, it is the bowling unit of South Africa, Pakistan and Australia has taken the team to thus far. Who will the 4th team - If Malinga is back, I will bet on Sri Lanka to see themselves on the last four.