SRI'S Blog

The stage is set for the semi finals .. The line up is on expected lines -- except for South Africa missing out ( I can add " as usual " ) . India - Pakistan and SL Meeting up with Kiwis. In the first Quarter final match , two unpredictable team met up .. Pakistan was more predictable that day. West Indies were never in the match and Pakistan was the first to get to Mohali.Nothing to talk about the match ! It was funny that Bangladeshis turned up to cheer Pakistan -- Why -- West Indies team defeated Bangladesh in the group match and revenge had to be taken. If Pakistan defeats West Indies , it is as good as Bangladesh defeating them !! Great story of Cross country love and friendship amongst enemies !! The second match was the one that I was waiting for ..Ind- Aussie Match . Aussie had to play for lot of pride as holders of the World Cup. Ponting said that Aussies would play the Aussie way and Dhoni responded -" India will play the India way.".The stage was set . A

The qualification matches ended mercifully.. I say this because , most of us knew which of the teams would go through to the Quarterfinals. It was no surprise that we had Australia , South Africa , India , Pakistan , Srilanka , West Indies , England and New Zealand go through . As Allan Border said before the start of these matches , Bangladesh would be the team to create the odd nuisance value but would not qualify and how right he was . The most improved team from the affiliates was Ireland and I think they would go to do well in the future. Kenya , Canada , Zimbabwe and the Dutch are far away from the top eight to trouble them . Now on to the knock out matches and many a heart is going to break as we finish the quarter final matches . The last week of the qualification matches had very good matches in store and it was no surprise that England was involved in one more tension filled nail baiting finish. England took on the Windies needing to win to stay in contention. Bangladesh on

New Zealand Pak Match The New Zealand - Pakistan match was a great match . Pakistan fielded first and all was quiet till the 45th over of the NZ innings . Pakistan did well till that point , pushing the Kiwis to the back foot and having a good dominance over the game. Birthday boy Ross Taylor changed all that , sent them on a unforgettable leather hunt. 114 runs came off in six overs as Taylor tore in to the Paki attack and sent the ball over the ropes with ease. It was carnage . If Rawalpindi express Akhtar gave away 28 runs in one over , his colleague Abdur Razzack bettered him. He conceded 30. Taylor's magnificent attack pushed NZ past 300 mark and from then on Paki were never in the match . Twenty Twenty has brought in this element of attack by the batsmen and Taylor played some audacious shots as Pakis who did well for 44 overs of the Kiwi innings could not believe that they played badly for just six overs of the 50 overs and lost. Pakis were also bent back by some good swing

England were in the thick of action and become famous for both right and wrong reasons. First the right reason -- They defended a small total against a team that is known to "Choke" -- you are right against South Africa . SA were sailing at 124 for three at one stage , chasing 172 for a win and lost four wickets -- three on the same score of 124 and one at 127 and then England realised that they were playing against the "chokers" and nailed it in . Broad bowled dead straight and was promptly rewarded . Now South Africa have to redeem themselves.. And their next match is against India .South Africa normally play well in the round robin but not in the knock out and so this should be a big wake call for Graeme Smith and his men. England for the wrong reasons England played Ireland and they put a total that they thought was a winning one and then had Ireland on the mat at 111for five chasing 328 for a win. And it all became messy for England after that. Kevin O'Brie