Yes, to me, South Africa lost from the jaws of an easy win. What went wrong!! I think everything went quite okay with Botha, Duminy required 2 more overs to go and between them they were hit only for 15 runs and both had taken a wicket each. That was the 15th over of Pakistan innings when the score read 76/7. That was also the time when the ball was supposed to stop and not come on to the bat further. It was supposed to bounce and turn as well. All was right for commenting the picture and then this happened.
Bowlers like Kallis, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel and Steyn were steaming in made the ball come onto the bat nicely and made easy for Pakistan to seal off the match. In the space of 4 overs Pakistan pocketed about 50 runs with the loss of 1 wicket and that sealed the semi-final spot for Pakistan.
But atleast South Africa might feel that they are still in the match given the awful performance of India in the Group A
As regards India is concerned, Dhoni had everything wrong. The non-selection of Sehwag in the final XI, continuing with Ashwin, even knowing for the fact that the spinner cannot grip the ball, due to the wet conditions, added to the foe. The final hara-kiri he committed was asking Irfan Pathan to bowl the 7th over, when the ball had lost its sheen then.
I am sure with this contribution India cannot make it to the Semi-Final and that is the reason I have not rated the 4th spot in my prediction. Now there will be a tough spot for the 4th place, which will be the match played on Saturday between South Africa and Australia.
No comments:
Post a Comment