Group A - India, England, Australia, West Indies

[Slow Love™]

From thousands of miles away, even I could tell he was gone after his eighth over. He left him on for another and he went for 10.

Ponting captained really well until that point and compounded the error by leaving Johnson with 2 overs to bowl when none of the Indians are comfortable against pace.

Dravid also ****ed up by sending Raina in in front of Pathan and Harbijhan.

249 should be enough for India if Bhaji and Sehwag/Mongia put the ball in the right place

Been a really enjoyable game so far

Bit torn as I always like to see Oz win but the rest of the games will be like a morgue if India go out.

I'm not sure how easy 250 will be to chase tonight, but I do know it's a whole lot better than chasing 280 or so, which at 2/130 or so might have looked fairly viable just after halfway through India's innings.

I agree actually that Ponting handled the bowlers well, bar asking too much of Watson in that ninth over. Don't know for sure how Johnson would have gone with those two overs remaining, but as it happens, I think Bracken and McGrath did alright, particularly with Dhoni looking to put them out of the park.

The thing that worries me a little is that only Sehwag really made it look easy out there. While Dravid looked comfortable nurdling, everybody that tried to force the pace struggled to do so. Hopefully we keep things under control and don't overdo it.

Anyway, I probably give it about 60/40 our way, myself. Got to be worried about Harbhajan, and some of the turn we saw, but I think that theoretically, we should be able to handle this. Will be interesting to see what (if any) any dew might have, too.

 

[Pratters]

The pitch seems to have support for spin. So Harbhajan Singh's overs, whichever way they turn out, could prove crucial. Also, given he is such a key bowler in the line up.

 

[Dravid]

Poor fielding from India so far.

 

[Arjun]

Here's my own version of an innings wrap. The Indians, in trouble of missing the semis, went into this match with the following objectives:

1. Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid getting to form
2. Kaif and Raina getting extra runs
3. The Indians posting a large total
4. In short, saving their skins.

Here's what happened (OOPS!!! THE AUSSIE INNINGS HAS STARTED!!! Cut and read for your enjoyment, as it may be) in the Indian innings. The idea of saving their skins resulted in several planning errors, mistakes in execution and a lily-livered approach to the match.

• The Aussies went in with five seamers. This was a joke of an attack bar McGrath and Lee, and a fantastic chance for every Indian batsman to score.
• The Indians shot themselves in the foot (shot is too mild) by dropping Ramesh Powar, a strike spinner who's also a quick-scoring batsman, and packing the middle-order with three scratchy middle-order blokes.
• Sehwag thankfully returned to form, and the idea of attacking Lee and defending against McGrath was good.
• The idea of promoting Dinesh Mongia to three backfired as he played out series of dot balls, getting out for a scratchy 18. That was a waste of power play.
• The building of partnerships was good, and so was Dravid getting a 50.
• Too many dot balls were played out after the 30th over, when singles should have been taken. It is understood that they're out of form, but this is going to the other extreme.
• Symonds bowled reasonably well and got some turn as well, doing his job right as stock bowler.
• Dravid should have stayed on and Kaif should have attacked. The reverse happened as Dravid was out.
• Kaif was clean bowled by an off-colour Brett Lee who returned to form, showing up the lack of power in the Indian batting.
• That was highlighted even more as Raina was playing out dot balls in the final ten overs and struggled to hit a ball high. His dismissal was just fitting of a misplaced rookie.
• Irfan may have his faults as a batsman, but he served a purpose none of the supposedly safer batsmen could do– create or sustain momentum.
• Dhoni's little innings added some respectability to what was an embarassing batting performance.
• When you have six specialist batsmen, the pitch is flat and the opposition bowling is one-paced (and one striker is off-colour), you need to post a much higher total than 250.

What does that mean?

1. The Indian bowlers, already a man down, have a tough task at hand.
2. Ramesh Powar will surely be missed. None of Sehwag, Sachin, Mongia and Raina have it in them to last ten overs.
3. The Aussie over rate was so slow there's little time for the Indians to regroup, and it made this innings wrap three overs late.

 

[Dravid]

Why did this game have to get the crappy umpires?

 

[Arjun]

Why did this game have to get the crappy umpires?

Fair point, but half their decisions were right. The Dhoni LBW as well as the Watson LBW were wrong.

 

[Arjun]

Irfan's bowling well here, but his task is even tougher. Small total and reduced bowling support.

EDIT: I'm throwing this open for debate. Rameez Raja said that Munaf is bowling too slowly, and it's not good for a young fast bowler. The Aussies will find this pace easy to negotiate. I say he's bowling way too slow on a pitch that offers little help against a batting lineup which scores very quickly. What are your comments?

 

[Dravid]

Fair point, but half their decisions were right. The Dhoni LBW as well as the Watson LBW were wrong.

The second LBW appeal for Watson was plumb. India still to win though

 

[Mister Wright]

The second LBW appeal for Watson was plumb. India still to win though

Anything but plumb. It looked outish at first. But could have been going down leg and looked a little high. Certainly couldn't say without doubt that it was going to hit the stumps.

 

[Dravid]

Irfan's bowling well here, but his task is even tougher. Small total and reduced bowling support.

EDIT: I'm throwing this open for debate. Rameez Raja said that Munaf is bowling too slowly, and it's not good for a young fast bowler. The Aussies will find this pace easy to negotiate. I say he's bowling way too slow on a pitch that offers little help against a batting lineup which scores very quickly. What are your comments?

Indeed he is bowling slow, but as far as I have read and heard, he isn't 100 fit.

 

[Dravid]

Anything but plumb. It looked outish at first. But could have been going down leg and looked a little high. Certainly couldn't say without doubt that it was going to hit the stumps.

Are you sure you are talking about the same one as me?

 

[Arjun]

There's a packed offside field and what does Munaf do? Bowl a slow ball on Watson's pads!

 

[Mister Wright]

Are you sure you are talking about the same one as me?

Yes.

 

[Dravid]

Yes.

Ok.

The Indian crowd needs to get loud and distract the batsman

 

[marc71178]

25 munites late with the overs, thats not even close.

But nothing will be done about it yet again - Should be docked an over for every over they were late in bowling IMO.

 

[Dravid]

Problems growing for India. Pathan starting to bowl short after being good in his first few overs.

 

[marc71178]

The Aussies went in with five seamers. This was a joke of an attack bar McGrath and Lee, and a fantastic chance for every Indian batsman to score.

Oh yes, because the likes of Bracken and Johnson as 3rd and 4th seamers are absolutely terrible aren't they

 

[marc71178]

Fair point, but half their decisions were right. The Dhoni LBW as well as the Watson LBW were wrong.

Out of interest, what difference does the Dhoni decision make?

And Cricinfo doesn't seem to think the Watson was out...

 

[Dravid]

Out of interest, what difference does the Dhoni decision make?

And Cricinfo doesn't seem to think the Watson was out...

Out of interest, would you not be mad as a batsman if a ball is pitched on the grass and goes onto the keeper and the umpire doesn't call it a wide and you don't get the 1 run of a wide?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

similar to what i just said but why have Trescothick batting @ 3?, Bell would be quite ok in the position and i won't consider Prior as a keeper option at all not up to at international level, James Foster would be a better option.

I like Bell opening though. He's barely ever failed up there and it allows a right-left combo at the top of the order, which can be very handy in certain conditions. I also think Trescothick could be an ideal number 3, because he scores at a good rate and can play spin well, which is handy if he bats deep into the innings.

You look to maximize player potential. Bell has opened 9 times and failed to reach double figures twice. Those are the only two times he has failed to reach 30 opening the batting. He has 3 fifties and 2 other 40+ scores opening. That's a pretty sharp success rate.