“Too soon?!” ,”Is this it???” These are the questions doing the rounds as we approach the world cup quarter finals. After a month of the group stages, where we always watched India’s matches with a sense of absolute security, the World Cup has reached a stage where the Great Indian Dream, as I call it, can potentially end just a couple of days from now. And yes, on the other hand, the Dream is just 3 wins away…
There were all sorts of permutations going on during the match day- should IND win? They face AUS. Should we lose and face SL instead? Wont that be good? Or will it? But a clear way to go is stop thinking about it and go on winning matches. So we did the right thing there vs WI.
That being said and done, IND face a mammoth task on Thursday. To make AUS lose 2 matches in a row, that too in a World Cup Quarterfinal is no easy task. Make no mistake, there will be more than one occasion in the match where we will be in a position of being down and nearly out. It will neither be 267-2 like SA this time round and nor will wickets tumble from 140-2 to 170-8 like in WI game. The Motera crowd and the rest have to be patient and most of all supporting in those times. They simply can’t start jeering or mocking, as they notoriously do.
Bat first or bowl first? We should, as I have mentioned in the previous blog, bowl first. A major downside will be AUS running away with the game, ala 2003 final. But if we somehow restrict them to 280-300, it would be great. I do not think the pitch will show much wear and tear, or slow down in the 2nd innings. It should be a belter, like one in which a team scores 350 and the other chases it down. How to restrict them? Lets see…
Whenever we bowl, we should open with Ashwin. Mind you, AUS only have one south paw in their top order unlike WI who had an army of them. So, Ashwin would no doubt find the going tough v/s right handed batsmen who can easily play with the spin, rather than against it. One has an argument then that won’t Piyush Chawla be handy now with the right handed batsmen? He would have been, but only if he himself was bowling well. But right now, he isn’t, he is low on confidence-this means he is afraid in tossing up the ball, and if he is picked the pressure will make him far worse. Add to that an expensive start to his spell, and we have a liability here. So, I think Dhoni will persist with Ashwin. Now, if Ashwin can bowl well at the start- contain the batsmen and pick up a wicket or two, that allows Dhoni to hold Zak for the 30-50 overs. If we can manage to have 8 Zak overs remaining after 30th over, it will be absolutely ideal. That can happen only if Ashwin bowls his 8 overs upfront, just like it happened v/s WI. Yuvraj will be important as he is the lone bowler who will take the ball away from the batsmen. He has to bowl well in the current scheme of things. Except Zak, our bowling looks like we are looking to create pressure by bowling economically and then searching for a wicket due to the pressure created. That is where the difference lies in the two attacks- AUS pick up wickets to create pressure while we look to create pressure to pick up wickets.
Australian bowling looks way better than the batting. Brett Lee is bowling excellently at the start, while Tait, if not aggressive initially, will be lethal when the bowl starts to reverse in the later overs. And he is one bowler who, if he gets his reverse swing Yorkers going, can dismantle a settled pair and pick up the incoming batsman quickly- causing a comfortable 130-2 to shaky 135-4. And right during that period, Michael Johnson will lure batsmen with his away going deliveries to nick one. This makes it 140-5, and the body language in dressing room drops, crowd senses the worst and AUS are masters in finishing their opponents off in such situations. This is the primary threat according to me. Lee’s frontal assault notwithstanding, the middle over blitzkrieg is the one which we need to weather.
Ideally speaking, we should bowl first, keep them around 280-300, bat around Sachin and chase it with 1-2 70+ partnerships. So, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, this is K7 signing off…….
Nah- I cannot prepare for the worst. Simply can’t.
no no... why should we worry even a bit... after all, we have the great man with us, right? hmmmmm? HMMMMMM?
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