Story Sharjah Cup FINAL - India VS Pakistan

[sachinisgod2]

Good comeback by Australia. Lovely inning from Katich.

 

[aussie1st]

What an inns by Katich, he has got Australia out of trouble and in a very good position. Star all rounder ready to make his mark on the international stage.

 

[ashu2411]

What an inns by Katich, he has got Australia out of trouble and in a very good position. Star all rounder ready to make his mark on the international stage.

Katich is playing really well. This is much better score then what India would have expected after getting five Australian wicket below 100.

 

[brettLee]

well played kato..

 

[aussie1st]

Katich is playing really well. This is much better score then what India would have expected after getting five Australian wicket below 100.

Yes very good batting by Aus. India would have though they would be chasing under 200 but Katich has changed that. Watson hitting a well timed 20 also helped.

 

[born2win]

India will win this series .

 

[ashu2411]

India will win this series .

still a long way to go before winning series.First they have to make place in final.

 

[Cricketman]

Bring back the seamers and make Kato play on the front foot! We have to get these batsman out am=nd expose the tail!

 

[ramesh1986]

Yeah bring in Pathan or Zaheer and get Kato out. Any score below 250 will be easy for India. Comon India!.

 

[ashu2411]

Katich gone for 78​

Despite of the fact that many Indian fans wanted to bring on seamers for bowling, Dravid continued with Little Master Sachin Tendulakar. And he didnot disappointed his captain as he got Katich caught to Dravid at short-leg when he tried to accelerate the inning.

A great inning from Katich came to an end on 78 as he got the standing ovation from crowd while leaving the ground.This was one of the best inning this crowd would have ever seen. Australia is now 205/7 with Hogg is the new batsmen. Now India have a very good chance of restricting Australia below 250.

 

[ashu2411]

Australia lost Hogg for 9​

With Hogg coming at the other end, Watson continued playing some shots to score quickly. India now decided to go with spinners on both ends. Sachin continued at one end while Dravid gave ball to Harbhajan at the other end. Watson welcomed Bhajji with a boundary off the very first ball of his new spell. Hogg also tried to join the party with Watson but ended up giving a simple catch to Balaji in third-man region when he tried a lofted cover-drive.

Hogg gone for just 9 and Australia now 8 down for 223 runs. Bracken is the new batsman.

 

[ashu2411]

Australia all out for 239​

Harbhajan finished off the job by picking up the last two wickets in quick time and finished with the figures of 4/35. So in the end Australia all out for 239 in 45.2 overs.

Watson was the ninth wicket to go when he missed Bhajji's doosra and ball hit the stumps. Watson made good 41 which was the second highest in the Australian inning. After Watson, Bracken did not stay long and whole Australian team was dismissed for 239.

Australia should be very happy to reach this total after struggling badly at 88/5 at one stage. But it was katich and Watson who helped Aussies reach this respectable total. India should be happy too to restrict Australia to only 239 when they were looking set for a score well over 260. So it will be a really good run chase to watch.

Don't go anywhere as the two captain comments on the match so far.

 

[ashu2411]

This is what Ponting thinks about this match so far:

It was a good toss to win to bat first. But we played some poor shots in the start and Indians also fielded well and we lost top five wickets before even reaching 100. It was Katich and his partnership with Watson that helped us reach this total in the end. Katich was just superb today and played really well to take us out of trouble. Watson also gave him good support.

But I think we were still short of 20-30 runs. Now our bowlers have to do a good job to restict strong Indian batting lineup below this total and I am sure we will win this match because of our bowlers who are in good form and Indian bating lineup which will be under pressure after losing to Pakistan in the last match while chasing a very low total.

 

[Bala]

240 will be a real competitive target. If India needs to win this, they need to knuckle down and play sensibly.

 

[ashu2411]

After Ponting's confidence, Dravid was also not far behind in saying how good chances India have to win this very important match.

It was a good bowling display from our bowlers. I personally am happy to chase anything below 250 although I think we let them make a bit more then what we were thinking after good start. Katich played absolutely superb knock and made us chase a good total. Harbhajan bowled really well and all the spinners did their job in the match. Pathan was a bit disappointing but he will bounce back with good bowling in the next game.

The pitch looked good to bat on in first inning and with our world class batsmen it should not be that hard to chase a total of 240. But Australia have good bowlers which will make our job a lot harder but also I think lack of spinners in their team will help us considerably.