Group E - England, India, New Zealand, South Africa

[Sureshot]

India wins.But bowling was bad.Flintoff and Yuvi shaking hands.Good.

That was one of my favourites moments, they shared their bit of banter for quite a while, but come the end of the game, they shook hands like real men and left the words on the pitch.

I thought England did alright today, okay we lost, but we put on 200 chasing 219 which is good going, obviously Yuvi's magic 6 6s turned the game, apart from that it was a tight game.

 

[Adarsh]

Yuvraj's sixes were brilliant. He's such a clean, crisp hitter of the ball. The first one especially was huuuge. Really connected with the balls too. Excellent player. He has the ability to play calm, pick the ones and twos, and also go real hard at the ball in the latter overs.

 

[Cricketman]

.

Havn't seen many of the game, but it appears Vettori has been amazing. Bond has been a little off in a few, but it's understandable. I don't think any quickies in the tournament hasn't been dealt to on occasions. Gillespie has been excellent though, which is good news.

You're right. His bowling has improved 10 fold. And his captaincy is brilliant as well, has filled the boots of Phlegming () excellently. He takes a wicket, takes himself off for a few, brings in bond (it would be even more deadly if he was in form) shakes up the batsman, gets him used to the quick pace, and brings himself back on. Then picks up another, rinse, repeat.
It spelled India's demise against NZ.

 

[SaiSrini]

Yuvraj's sixes were brilliant. He's such a clean, crisp hitter of the ball. The first one especially was huuuge. Really connected with the balls too. Excellent player. He has the ability to play calm, pick the ones and twos, and also go real hard at the ball in the latter overs.

I feel he should have taken us to victory against New Zealand which would have given us that semifinal spot by now. Anyways, good that he has come into big form just before the crunch game. His blade has to talk tomorrow and in a big way

I am surprised by the way Gambhir and Sehwag have been putting these 100 run partnerships. Awesome stuff. Can they do it again against SA? Especially Gambhir has impressed me with his big hitting abilities. Two 50's like this is more than satisfactory, esp. when we have others who can do even big hitting. Also surprised that Uthappa after a good game failed in two games. Hope he comes good in tomorrow's match. Dhoni has been unusually subdued but could be due to the pressure of captaincy. But if he can lead the team well, I wont mind his bits and pieces scores.

Did anyone notice the way Dhoni shuffled the bowlers today? I was surprised, but I thought Dhoni was earnestly trying to make things happen. He had two overs each of RP and Sreesanth, brought on Joginder as first change, then Irfan and bowled them for a few overs, removed Joginder immediately as he went for big runs and brought Bhajji in, etc. I was impressed. He had the audacity to do that even though he had a big total behind him, which was what impressed me.

 

[Justcrazy]

Good show overall and great hitting by YUVI!! if u can read my previous post as i said that we need yuvi in good form in order for indian sucess...hope he continues...theres no need to panic or worry over tomorrows match I think....its just a 20/20 and our Young Indian team led by young dhoni did pretty well than expected. I like the attiude of Dhoni where Dada and dravid always bitting nails when bowlers are going for runs...Hes the right guy for India and with huge heart. We have played really well in this tourny and could have easily won against NZ had middle order didn't fail, but its Okay...they did well! I want them to put up good show tomorrow eventhough they lose buh a real great match that will sent message to the world that India can play without trio legends. GO DHONIII GO INDIA...

heres my lineup:
Sehwag
Gambhir
Robhin
Yuvi
Dhoni
Yousf pathan/Rohit
Irfan Pathan
Harbhajan Singh
Piyush Chawla
Sreesanth
RP Singh

Don't know about Rohit but have heard alot about Yousf that hes Dhoni type of a player and hits long way...this 20/20 is for him and where Rohit is more like a Kaif type of player who times the ball and find gabs for runs...

 

[harishankar]

I told you Yuvraj was a better batsman than Dhoni and he proved it yesterday. Awesome power hitting.

Again, I don't know what Joginder Sharma is doing in the T20 side. He doesn't belong to international cricket. One look at his bowling shows me he's got nothing: no pace, no variations, just up-and-down medium pace length bowling - perfect recipe for big hitting. I predict he might hold the record for the highest # of runs conceded in his 4 overs if he bowls against even stronger sides than England.

We need the extra spinner against SA. Bring Piyush in and ditch Joginder. I hope we drop this guy who almost made 218 look easy for England. We should have won with at least a 40 - 50 runs margin.

 

[surendar]

What a way to give back those SIXES which were hit in Yuvi's over earlier in England! :hpraise This time it was even better.. Six 6's off a main strike bowler is far far far ... far better than five 6's off a part timer. :cool: Excellent Yuvi!

Everyone played well. Sehwag and Gambhir initiated that platform with a beautiful century partnership. Again, i just hate our dear bowlers as they were able to win just by 18 runs after setting a huge total. Well, 400+ runs in 40 overs.. What a trend to ODI cricket!

oh yes, " Viru and Pathan are back with a bang! " Hopefully, they continue this in upcoming series as well.

 

[angryangy]

With this team being impressive with the bat and overall, not too bad in the field, the Big Three may have to fight against Australia for their places in the ODI squad.

I particularly feel Gambhir could be a very good fast wicket player. It's very hard to fault Yuvraj on the attack, Sehwag might be finding his feet again and Robin Uthappa is one of those must-haves. The experiment has been much of a success for India, while England, although they haven't failed miserably, will be wishing they had picked "player x".

Kingsmead is looking a cracker of a batting pitch, hopefully the square holds up for the rest of the week.

 

[karnog]

fllintoff got owned by yuvraj. Yuvraj's innings vs flintoff's innings. I feel sorry for broad. I think its going to be a long road for him. He could be dropped for the likes of sidebottom and perhaps lewis. I'm impressed with maddy and solanki. Sure a bit of luck here or there but that was a great partnership and until the top 4 were out it looked like england had a really good chance. But great game for india in terms of bowling and batting. As for sharma, he was very unlucky. Two drops- solanki and i think pieterson- which were absolute sitters. Plus bad misfields of his bowling distorted his performance. RP Singh is a revelation. I think england could've won if he hadn't played. As long as india hold on to the catches and make less misfields i think india have a very good chance of beating SA tomorrow.

 

[King Cricket]

Yousuf Pathan MUST be included
And i agree with Hari about JS (or a big Jackass)

My lineup

GAMBHIR
SHEWAG
UTHAPPA
DHONI
YUBRAJ
Y PATHAN
ROHIT SHARMA
IRFAN
HARBHAJAN
RP SINGH
SREESANTH

By the way Hari, Dont you think one spinner is enough?

 

[SaiSrini]

Yousuf Pathan MUST be included
And i agree with Hari about JS (or a big Jackass)

My lineup

GAMBHIR
SHEWAG
UTHAPPA
DHONI
YUBRAJ
Y PATHAN
ROHIT SHARMA
IRFAN
HARBHAJAN
RP SINGH
SREESANTH

By the way Hari, Dont you think one spinner is enough?

Your team is good. BUT Yousuf over Rohit Sharma? Thats a big bomb that you throw on such a talented guy in Rohit Sharma? Might as well not pick him. He has to play up the order and needs to be given chances. Regarding the spinner, I feel we have three medium pacers which is more than enough. We wont lose much by bringing in an additional spinner. We dont want Agarkar again. So Yousuf is the only chance unless the team decides to give Sharma another game (highly unlikely according to me).

fllintoff got owned by yuvraj. Yuvraj's innings vs flintoff's innings. I feel sorry for broad. I think its going to be a long road for him. He could be dropped for the likes of sidebottom and perhaps lewis. I'm impressed with maddy and solanki. Sure a bit of luck here or there but that was a great partnership and until the top 4 were out it looked like england had a really good chance. But great game for india in terms of bowling and batting. As for sharma, he was very unlucky. Two drops- solanki and i think pieterson- which were absolute sitters. Plus bad misfields of his bowling distorted his performance. RP Singh is a revelation. I think england could've won if he hadn't played. As long as india hold on to the catches and make less misfields i think india have a very good chance of beating SA tomorrow.

The misfields were more due to the slippery outfield. India's fielding in this tournament has been impressive and good. RP's dropped catch was a result of the slippery field. Yuvraj's was a sitter though and he should have got it. But he is a brilliant fielder and we have won now.

I told you Yuvraj was a better batsman than Dhoni and he proved it yesterday. Awesome power hitting.

We need the extra spinner against SA. Bring Piyush in and ditch Joginder. I hope we drop this guy who almost made 218 look easy for England. We should have won with at least a 40 - 50 runs margin.

Dhoni is due for a good one soon. Lets not compare him with a guy like Yuvraj. Give him time to settle into the job. He shows good promising signs and he has Yuvraj for company (vice captain).

 

[King Cricket]

Captaincy is affecting Dhoni's batting

 

[RoboRocks]

Captaincy is affecting Dhoni's batting

Not really.
I don't think Dhoni has had a chance to get going yet.
I India get through we'll see the best of Dhoni surely since we know what he's capable of.

 

[harishankar]

Yeah, about having Piyush Chawla in this side. I reckon we need him against SA tonight. Other medium pacers will get plundered.

 

[harishankar]

I'm worried about India's bowling after seeing Australia make a meal of Sri Lanka's batting.

The team with the best bowling attack will win the tournament.