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!

Now Hot Favorites South Africa Knocked Out!

South Africa choked again! They must seriously consider this malady. Big occasions, big matches and knockout stages are continuing nightmares for them. Another World Cup gone! Fours years will be long wait before they hope to team up and say.' We are no longer 'chokers'.'  Okay, New Zealand tonight outplayed them, but the scrappy target of 222 set before South Africa was immensely gettable. This is the point they should take it forward from in a determined frame of mind never to choke again.

Though hailed as a major upset in ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 this was not unexpected. I had been saying all the way and also yesterday that New Zealand was fully capable of winning on its day. NZ did not set a huge target, but their tremendous fielding combined with some inspired bowling finished a mindless performance by South Africa. Sluggish Dhaka pitch also helped, but that factor helped SA too in restricting NZ.

Champions gone yesterday! Clinically proficient favorites gone today! Who will ask for the return tickets tomorrow? England or Sri Lanka? Nobody can dare make a guess Colombo conditions notwithstanding! My advice-- the eventual winner should never for a moment heave a sigh of relief at the prospect of meeting NZ in the first semi final on March 29.

Meantime, the Indian Prime Minister today decided to be a part of the spectators at Mohali for the gigantic Ind-Pak encounter. The Prime Minister also invited the Pak President and Prime Minister over and the invitation was reportedly welcomed in Pakistan. Reports further say that Ind-Pak bilateral talks may benefit from this mega sporting event. Let cricket be the binding force. Let cricket defeat terror.

Team India Knock Australia Out Of World Cup 2011!

I said in one of my posts earlier that somebody needed to stop Australia before they ran away with the ICC Cricket World Cup for the fifth time! Pakistan stopped them! Team India knocked them out tonight! Incredible, but truly so and magnificently too! 

More significantly, now India meet Pakistan the semi final at Mohali on March 30. If today's match was a huge one and hugely hyped, the Mohali one will be a gigantic match and a gigantic hype may be also be inadequate! Eternal rivals clash in a big one and words are not enough to describe the sensation. But one thing is sure, one nation of the subcontinent is going to figure in the final and Sri Lanka may even make it total.

Finally, India bowled better, fielded better and Dhoni shuffled his bowlers better. He also made the right decision bringing in Raina which was strongly suggested in my earlier post on SA disaster. But what's Dhoni doing with the bat? It remains a worry. Only his sweating sweltering ad keeps on coming consistently again and again! Gautam Gambhir messed up running between wicket with Yuvjaj giving the Aussies throwing practice three times and getting hopelessly out the third time. From a winning 166 for 2 India landed up at 186 for 5 which was really tense considering Indian batting collapses in the last matches. But Raina came in at that pressure moment  and his handling of the situation was the real difference between Raina and Pathan.

And Yuvraj Singh! What a match winner he has been! All round consistent performances with four half centuries and more than 10 wickets in this world cup.  He batted fielded and bowled brilliantly today and more importantly saw India through this well deserved victory. I say well deserved, because India deserved to win all its matches including that against England and SA. But internal individual factors prevented that. Noting of that now. Now for two more breathtaking matches and hopefully the World Cup!

Positives are: bowling & fielding getting better, captaincy getting better, Tendulkar, Gambhir, Yuvraj and Raina batting wonderfully. Sehwag and Kohli are ready to fire next! Maybe Dhoni too! Zaheer, Ashwin bowling wonderfully. Harbhajan needs to adopt a wicket taking habit fast. How is Pakistan feeling? Maybe Afridi will speak out in a day or two!

South Africa take on New Zealand tomorrow at Dhaka. New Zealand could make it real tough for SA. After today's thriller we expect more exciting encounters. You know preparing for the gigantic one!