Battle Lines Drawn! Epic Clash at Mohali on Wednesday!

England disappointed sorely and Sri Lanka won in style at the last quarter final clash at Colombo. Despite rare Sri Lankan lapses on the field England could not set a competitive target. And Sri Lanka made a mockery of the 230 run target achieving it without any loss of wickets and nearly 11 overs to spare. Like South Africa now England too must indulge in an intense introspection.

Battle lines drawn now: Sri Lanka Vs New Zealand on March 29 at Colombo, Ist Semi Final.

India Vs Pakistan on March 30 at Mohali, 2nd Semi Final.

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 has in a way become an Asia Cup with three Asian teams making it to the semis! Barring a continuing NZ upsurge the final is going to be all Asian and if any Asian team wins it that will be its 2nd title.

All ways lead now to Mohali! Clash of the arch rivals! The Epic war! Some channel calls it the Mother of all Battles! Yes, it is indeed the biggest occasion involving the two countries rarely playing each other in recent times and that too in India! Preliminary skirmishes have already begun preparing for the War! Pak skipper Afridi had warned that they are not going to let Tendulkar score his century of centuries. Cricket experts have been fighting it out possibly across all the news channels of the subcontinent. Now, with Prime Ministers of both the countries watching the battle the clash has attained one more dimension--call it cricket diplomacy. Everything makes the pressure on both the teams extremely extreme!

If India win they will do it mostly on batting strength to be supported by inspired spells from Zaheer, Ashwin and Harbhajan and fielding standards set against Australia. If Pakistan win it will be on their bowling strength to be supported by inspired innings from the top order batsmen and a fielding above mediocre level. World Cup and Mohalli records are in favor of India. With Indian crowds and Pakistani crowds desperately wanting their respective teams win notwithstanding, whoever wins it will be the ultimate victory for the game of cricket. For both India and Pakistan this is the Final and both countries are expected to impose a virtual curfew across streets work and life.

Countdown begins now! The clock is ticking maybe not fast enough! Wait watch and GO!

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