Folks,
I'm writing this blog straight after India-Australia match, still excited..so please dont mind if I get some of my words wrong. Wow, What a match it has been !!! India has won it and is through to the FINAL. Let me recount some of the moments in the match that I think changed momentum of the game. Indian innings started off quietly, a boundary here and there. Openers Sehwag and Gambhir were rotating the strike well. In T20 form of cricket, the strike rate was just not enough to worry the Australian side, which seemed to be in control until Yuvraj stepped in. He never seemed to be like an injured player. Hitting six of the first ball, opening his account in style he got Australians thinking from the word go. And ofcourse, not to mention the excellent support provided by Robin Uthappa who too was striking the ball to all corners of the ground. Both put up a handsome partnership which shifted momentum of the game in India's favour.
Their effort was followed up very well by Dhoni and Rohit. That's all it took to set a challenging target of 188 runs to get in 20 overs.
Australia as always was a tough side all through while India batted. They were great in bowling and fielding departments except that odd miss of catch from Mathew Clarke which seem to have costed the team very dearly. Someone rightly said, "Catches win matches" and on that occassion, Australia lost. What was nice to look at was the fearless play demostrated by Indian batsmen. First time in many years, I have seen an Indian side enjoying the game of cricket more than worrying about the outcome of the match. Indians responded well to Aussies bowling.
When it was Aussies turn to bat, Gilchrist and Hayden, 2 big hitters and most dangerous players were at the crease. A small ground, good pitch, strong and experienced batting lineup made 188 seem like a gettable total, if only Aussies got off to a good start. It was a big day and Indian side required discipline and near perfect execution in bowling and fielding departments. R P Singh and Sreesanth bowled the inital overs well to keep the Aussie runrate under check. Sreesanth was particularly impressive during his bowling spell to Hayden. He pitched up the ball quite well to didnt give any width to Hayden to free his hands.Gillly and Hayden after a few quite overs started hitting the ball well to all corners of the ground. At one point it felt like the game was tilting in Aussie's favor, until Harbhajan came in with a fantastic tight spell that put the pressure right back on them. Required Run Rate was daunting and pressure was showing on Aussies. They desperately needed a few big overs, in fact after 14th over, all of them. 3 quick dismissals(Hayden, Symonds and Clarke) and it was difficult to turn the match around. From then on, India was in total control.
All said, I think, fielding still remains an area of improvement for India. Hope they'd learn from the mistakes and do well in the BIG game that's gonna be played day after tommorrow. Boy, what a match it's gonna be. India vs Pakistan ! A dream final..too good to be true..I'm pinching myself here ;-) . Hope to see a great contest. For now, Australians are tamed. As long as we win, who cares....JO JEETA WOHI SIKANDER !!!
C'mon INDIA...let's go all the way and get home the T20 World Cup !.
~M
I'm writing this blog straight after India-Australia match, still excited..so please dont mind if I get some of my words wrong. Wow, What a match it has been !!! India has won it and is through to the FINAL. Let me recount some of the moments in the match that I think changed momentum of the game. Indian innings started off quietly, a boundary here and there. Openers Sehwag and Gambhir were rotating the strike well. In T20 form of cricket, the strike rate was just not enough to worry the Australian side, which seemed to be in control until Yuvraj stepped in. He never seemed to be like an injured player. Hitting six of the first ball, opening his account in style he got Australians thinking from the word go. And ofcourse, not to mention the excellent support provided by Robin Uthappa who too was striking the ball to all corners of the ground. Both put up a handsome partnership which shifted momentum of the game in India's favour.
Their effort was followed up very well by Dhoni and Rohit. That's all it took to set a challenging target of 188 runs to get in 20 overs.
Australia as always was a tough side all through while India batted. They were great in bowling and fielding departments except that odd miss of catch from Mathew Clarke which seem to have costed the team very dearly. Someone rightly said, "Catches win matches" and on that occassion, Australia lost. What was nice to look at was the fearless play demostrated by Indian batsmen. First time in many years, I have seen an Indian side enjoying the game of cricket more than worrying about the outcome of the match. Indians responded well to Aussies bowling.
When it was Aussies turn to bat, Gilchrist and Hayden, 2 big hitters and most dangerous players were at the crease. A small ground, good pitch, strong and experienced batting lineup made 188 seem like a gettable total, if only Aussies got off to a good start. It was a big day and Indian side required discipline and near perfect execution in bowling and fielding departments. R P Singh and Sreesanth bowled the inital overs well to keep the Aussie runrate under check. Sreesanth was particularly impressive during his bowling spell to Hayden. He pitched up the ball quite well to didnt give any width to Hayden to free his hands.Gillly and Hayden after a few quite overs started hitting the ball well to all corners of the ground. At one point it felt like the game was tilting in Aussie's favor, until Harbhajan came in with a fantastic tight spell that put the pressure right back on them. Required Run Rate was daunting and pressure was showing on Aussies. They desperately needed a few big overs, in fact after 14th over, all of them. 3 quick dismissals(Hayden, Symonds and Clarke) and it was difficult to turn the match around. From then on, India was in total control.
All said, I think, fielding still remains an area of improvement for India. Hope they'd learn from the mistakes and do well in the BIG game that's gonna be played day after tommorrow. Boy, what a match it's gonna be. India vs Pakistan ! A dream final..too good to be true..I'm pinching myself here ;-) . Hope to see a great contest. For now, Australians are tamed. As long as we win, who cares....JO JEETA WOHI SIKANDER !!!
C'mon INDIA...let's go all the way and get home the T20 World Cup !.
~M
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