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- Jan 13, 2010
Article by Fenil -
All you can see is some serious talk going on in the Indian camp ahead of the 11th Match of the Commonwealth Bank Series against fellow subcontinent team, Srilanka and why not? Its a do or die match for them and they not only have to win but also have to grab the bonus point. When the coin was tossed, he did exactly what would you expect a captain to do when his team needs a bonus point win irrespective of the nature of the track; to field first. Normally, under such circumstances, its easier to accelerate the scoring to try and reach out for the bonus point when you know what target is to chase in 40 over rather than try and restrict the opposition from scoring while bowling second. This, though wasn’t as easy as it looks for India today when they the match was on.
?Lankan Lions Roars:?
Srilanka started cautiously and both Jaywardene and Dilshan tried to play risk free cricket in their bid to give their team a strong foundation for a good score on a flat wicket. They added 49 runs in 11.5 overs but just when they were begining to cut lose, Jaywardene got caught in the hands of Sehwag at first slip off the bowling of Jadeja.
However, India didn’t got any sigh of relief and the former captain Sangakkara, who didn’t had any big score to his name in the series, joined hands with Dilshan and they began to play some excellent shots. Indian bowlers kept bowling the leg stump channel and the duo made merry of some very wayward bowling. Dhoni made desperate attempts to break the partnership which was taking the game away from them but none of his tactics, fielding changes or bowling changes worked and both former captains of Srilanka brought their partnership to 200 runs mark and the team total to 249 in 44th over and in the process scoring their respective centuries consisting of a flurry of shots, each better than the other.
In the 44th over, Praveen Kumar bowled ?a full delivery and Sangakkara came across and handsomely flicked it on the leg side for his eight boundary of the innings. The next ball was similar and Sangakkara played one shot too many. He tried to play the same stroke but this time Praveen had cleverly changed the pace and thus Sangakkara was too early into the shot and the timber was disturbed.
Dilshan Continues
Dilshan continued playing his shots and making the Indian bowlers suffer. He brought his 2nd 150+ score today in the final overs of the game before smashing Sehwag for a huge six, his sixth, in the final over of the innings as Srilanka finished their innings setting a huge target of 321 for India to chase in 40 overs to win with a bonus point.
Optimistic Fans
Call it optimism or over expectedness of Indian fans that some of them were still chanting for their team’s win. Yes, they are the world champions, yes, they have some excellent batsmen loaded with experience and quality in their side but after all, ?how many of us would think that a team who had lost the test series 4-0, and haven’t got much of the runs under their belt and their batsmen have never really clicked together and only one centurion on the whole tour would be able to chase the score in 40 overs with only 6 genuine batsmen in the side against a bowling attack comprising of 6 in form bowlers including Lasith Malinga? Add to that the reports of division amongst the senior members and the captain of the team during the series.
The Start
For India to have any chance of winning, a start and that too a good one at a brisk rate was needed and Sehwag-Tendulkar duo provided exactly that by adding 54 runs in just 6.2 overs and by the time India lost their two openers, the foundation was laid for the unlikely win ?with India’s score being 86 runs in 9.2 overs. Gautam Gambhir was then joined in the middle by Virat Kohli and these two men from Delhi looked in sublime touch and kept the required run rate in check. They took cheeky singles and turn singles into twos and twos into threes as the need of the hour demanded and made sure India was in the hunt. The duo stitched their 5th hundred run partnership in ODIs in while batting together for 18 overs before Gambhir was runout try to take yet another risky run.
Virat -Raina Magic
As the case have been throughout the series, Dhoni restricted to promote himself in the pressure situation. While Virat was stroking the ball magnificently, Raina looked rusty first up with him not able to middle a pull shot early on but he soon came to the party and started playing his shots. They scored amazing rate and the pressure on the bowlers and the Srilankan captain kept mounting.
For some reason, Jaywardene took the bowling powerplay only in 28th over. Both the batsmen made full use of it and took aerial route. As the pressure kept mounting, the fielders who are usually pretty athletic, were seen losing their cool and the throws got wayward, the fielding went down than the usual standard, the bowling too began to look ordinary. Virat and Raina’s dominance could be judged by the fact that their 100 runs partnership came in just 46 balls!
Malinga Tore Apart?
Its not often you see Malinga getting hammered around the park but well this time, his bowling was tore apart by the Indian batsmen and the Mahela’s best weapon ended up giving away whopping 96 runs in the 7.4 overs that he bowled with his economy rate of 12.52 being the highest in ODI cricket by any bowler for any spell of more than 5 overs.
Celebration Time
The moment for India finally came in the 37th over with Kohli hitting back to back boundaries ?in the over of Malinga to end the game and the unbelievable chase. Kohli and Raina jumped in joy and punched the air and why not? He was the architect in India’s unlikely bonus point win with individual score of unbeaten 133 runs off just 86 balls with a brilliant strike rate of 154.65 which earned him a man of the match award. This not only showed that India can play some unbelievable cricket in unfavorable circumstances but perhaps it also was a reason why the Indian fans are usually overoptimistic.
?The Show Is On?
With this win, India manages to remain in the Commonwealth Bank Series but it doesn’t mean that they are in the finals. Both Srilanka and India have 15 points each but Srilanka still have one more game on hand. Its all now up to the result of the Australia-Srilanka match to be played on Friday and thats not much India could do about it either. Its only if Australia beats Srilanka in that match, then India will qualify for the finals irrespective of the net run rate as India has more wins against Srilanka in this series than Srilanka has against India as per the rule in case of a tie in the points tally. So, India would be hoping that Australia would beat Srilanka unlike the last match when the two sides met. While Dhoni, during the presentation ceremony, said that their team’s job is done and thats there is not much they can do for the last league match and would go for shopping and do a bit of net practice, he was quick to add that the tour is not over for his team yet and they will still be keenly looking to play in the finals which shows that one eye of Indian team would definitely be at the game when Australia take on Srilanka in a match which will decide the fate of both subcontinent teams in the series and while Srilankans would be looking to repeat their performance against Australia when the two teams met in their last match, Australians will be in no mood to go in the finals with back to back losses. Its certainly Game on!
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All you can see is some serious talk going on in the Indian camp ahead of the 11th Match of the Commonwealth Bank Series against fellow subcontinent team, Srilanka and why not? Its a do or die match for them and they not only have to win but also have to grab the bonus point. When the coin was tossed, he did exactly what would you expect a captain to do when his team needs a bonus point win irrespective of the nature of the track; to field first. Normally, under such circumstances, its easier to accelerate the scoring to try and reach out for the bonus point when you know what target is to chase in 40 over rather than try and restrict the opposition from scoring while bowling second. This, though wasn’t as easy as it looks for India today when they the match was on.
?Lankan Lions Roars:?
Srilanka started cautiously and both Jaywardene and Dilshan tried to play risk free cricket in their bid to give their team a strong foundation for a good score on a flat wicket. They added 49 runs in 11.5 overs but just when they were begining to cut lose, Jaywardene got caught in the hands of Sehwag at first slip off the bowling of Jadeja.
However, India didn’t got any sigh of relief and the former captain Sangakkara, who didn’t had any big score to his name in the series, joined hands with Dilshan and they began to play some excellent shots. Indian bowlers kept bowling the leg stump channel and the duo made merry of some very wayward bowling. Dhoni made desperate attempts to break the partnership which was taking the game away from them but none of his tactics, fielding changes or bowling changes worked and both former captains of Srilanka brought their partnership to 200 runs mark and the team total to 249 in 44th over and in the process scoring their respective centuries consisting of a flurry of shots, each better than the other.
In the 44th over, Praveen Kumar bowled ?a full delivery and Sangakkara came across and handsomely flicked it on the leg side for his eight boundary of the innings. The next ball was similar and Sangakkara played one shot too many. He tried to play the same stroke but this time Praveen had cleverly changed the pace and thus Sangakkara was too early into the shot and the timber was disturbed.
Dilshan Continues
Dilshan continued playing his shots and making the Indian bowlers suffer. He brought his 2nd 150+ score today in the final overs of the game before smashing Sehwag for a huge six, his sixth, in the final over of the innings as Srilanka finished their innings setting a huge target of 321 for India to chase in 40 overs to win with a bonus point.
Optimistic Fans
Call it optimism or over expectedness of Indian fans that some of them were still chanting for their team’s win. Yes, they are the world champions, yes, they have some excellent batsmen loaded with experience and quality in their side but after all, ?how many of us would think that a team who had lost the test series 4-0, and haven’t got much of the runs under their belt and their batsmen have never really clicked together and only one centurion on the whole tour would be able to chase the score in 40 overs with only 6 genuine batsmen in the side against a bowling attack comprising of 6 in form bowlers including Lasith Malinga? Add to that the reports of division amongst the senior members and the captain of the team during the series.
The Start
For India to have any chance of winning, a start and that too a good one at a brisk rate was needed and Sehwag-Tendulkar duo provided exactly that by adding 54 runs in just 6.2 overs and by the time India lost their two openers, the foundation was laid for the unlikely win ?with India’s score being 86 runs in 9.2 overs. Gautam Gambhir was then joined in the middle by Virat Kohli and these two men from Delhi looked in sublime touch and kept the required run rate in check. They took cheeky singles and turn singles into twos and twos into threes as the need of the hour demanded and made sure India was in the hunt. The duo stitched their 5th hundred run partnership in ODIs in while batting together for 18 overs before Gambhir was runout try to take yet another risky run.
Virat -Raina Magic
As the case have been throughout the series, Dhoni restricted to promote himself in the pressure situation. While Virat was stroking the ball magnificently, Raina looked rusty first up with him not able to middle a pull shot early on but he soon came to the party and started playing his shots. They scored amazing rate and the pressure on the bowlers and the Srilankan captain kept mounting.
For some reason, Jaywardene took the bowling powerplay only in 28th over. Both the batsmen made full use of it and took aerial route. As the pressure kept mounting, the fielders who are usually pretty athletic, were seen losing their cool and the throws got wayward, the fielding went down than the usual standard, the bowling too began to look ordinary. Virat and Raina’s dominance could be judged by the fact that their 100 runs partnership came in just 46 balls!
Malinga Tore Apart?
Its not often you see Malinga getting hammered around the park but well this time, his bowling was tore apart by the Indian batsmen and the Mahela’s best weapon ended up giving away whopping 96 runs in the 7.4 overs that he bowled with his economy rate of 12.52 being the highest in ODI cricket by any bowler for any spell of more than 5 overs.
Celebration Time
The moment for India finally came in the 37th over with Kohli hitting back to back boundaries ?in the over of Malinga to end the game and the unbelievable chase. Kohli and Raina jumped in joy and punched the air and why not? He was the architect in India’s unlikely bonus point win with individual score of unbeaten 133 runs off just 86 balls with a brilliant strike rate of 154.65 which earned him a man of the match award. This not only showed that India can play some unbelievable cricket in unfavorable circumstances but perhaps it also was a reason why the Indian fans are usually overoptimistic.
?The Show Is On?
With this win, India manages to remain in the Commonwealth Bank Series but it doesn’t mean that they are in the finals. Both Srilanka and India have 15 points each but Srilanka still have one more game on hand. Its all now up to the result of the Australia-Srilanka match to be played on Friday and thats not much India could do about it either. Its only if Australia beats Srilanka in that match, then India will qualify for the finals irrespective of the net run rate as India has more wins against Srilanka in this series than Srilanka has against India as per the rule in case of a tie in the points tally. So, India would be hoping that Australia would beat Srilanka unlike the last match when the two sides met. While Dhoni, during the presentation ceremony, said that their team’s job is done and thats there is not much they can do for the last league match and would go for shopping and do a bit of net practice, he was quick to add that the tour is not over for his team yet and they will still be keenly looking to play in the finals which shows that one eye of Indian team would definitely be at the game when Australia take on Srilanka in a match which will decide the fate of both subcontinent teams in the series and while Srilankans would be looking to repeat their performance against Australia when the two teams met in their last match, Australians will be in no mood to go in the finals with back to back losses. Its certainly Game on!
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