When India won the Toss and decided to bat first,I was excited as I expected both Sachin and Sehwag to fire well,after their ordinary performances against the minnows(Ireland and Netherlands).And boy,they just did that!
What a start it was!87/2 in 10 overs,we were already dreaming of a 400+ total and South Africa losing the match by 150+ runs!For a change,Sachin batted more aggressively than Sehwag,Steyn was pulled for a big Six,Morne Morkel was hit for a pure,clean Straight Drive;and there many more wonderful shots,complimented by a good number of singles to maintain a Superior run-rate.The world's best fast bowlers were promptly thrown out of the attack by Sachin and Sehwag's superior batting.
And then,Sehwag was bowled,but you can't forgive him as India posted an opening partnership of 142 in just 17.4 overs.A dream start to say the least!Not only do the middle order batters have more overs to score runs,but also a Big platform a cash in on!
But what happened?In came Gambhir,thanks to the defensive bowling style adopted by the South African slow-bowlers(Botha et al);Sachin and Gambhir preferred to maintain a still reasonable run-rate by picking ones and twos and go for an odd boundary or two.
Then Gambhir picked up his strike-rate and so did Sachin too after a brief lull,both reaching their personal landmarks of 50 and 100 in style.260-1,even at this rate 350 was not out of sight.Then they took the powerplay,Sachin tried a few unorthodox shots,which made me feel that he might get out soon and he was indeed out for 111.A brilliant knock,though he could have calmly gone for a 150+.It was a bad attempt at slogging,which looked similar to his dismissal against England,when he was on 120.Still again,it was a huge 267-2 in 39.4 overs,any team with a half-decent batting line-up would have easily notched up 330,even if they scored at 6 per over(And not the usual 9-10 runs/over you witness in the slog overs!);and with a Team full of 'Powerful' strokeplayers,that must be a minimum.
What followed was just the opposite!Gambhir,Pathan and Yuvraj all were dismissed soon,trying some very poor Lofted shots,And then Kohli too was out.All of a sudden,we were hoping,at-least we can reach a 320,with Dhoni and the tail.No!Even that didn't happen.The tail-enders couln't even hit the ball for a single or two;and Dhoni,who went after the tired and battered bowling of Steyn and co. in Gwalior making Sachin stranded in 190s then,couln't hit a single boundary today when pressure mounted.We were dismissed for 296,with 9 balls left!
It was like watching a film,which had a lovely feel-good screenplay during the first half,followed by completely mishandled,haphazardly edited and pointless second half!
Many criticised the timing of the Batting Powerplay,instead I don't think Dhoni or Sachin(Who reportedly recommended then) were wrong in implementing during 39th over,the fault was rather the use of extremely low percentage shots,just because it's a Powerplay,those shots wouldn't have fetched you a Boundary in any ground,against any Opposition.2-3 singles and then a boundary or two,you'll still get 8-10 runs per over;it was really brainless stuff.And worse,we can't even justify that it's normal to lose wickets while going for quick runs,as we didn't score runs either(27 runs in 9 overs for the loss of 9 wickets,as good as getting all-out for 30!)
And now,India's chances of winning depended on South Africa's ability to 'choke' under pressure.At first,indeed it looked like that as Graeme Smith struggled against Zaheer Khan as usual,and was out later.Then,as expected Kallis failed to improve the run-rate,adding some pressure on the Team.But I knew,that their chances to win were alive as long as De Villiers is there,being an aggressively player,he can easily reduce the required run-rate with his fast-paced knock,and that's what he did,supported well by Du Plessis later.Still,India's chances looked brighter,when deVilliers and Duminy were dismissed,and what was left were rather tail-enders like Botha and Peterson.30 runs needed of 3overs.What can Botha do?I thought.
But,when you have Munaf Patel as a pace bowler,anything can happen,the idiot who couldn't face even a single delivery while on crease,didn't mind offering 4s and 6s to a tail-ender,and then Botha was out thanks to a brilliant catch by Raina ,than decent bowling.Then Zaheer Khan bowled superbly to concede just 4 runs.13 off last over.A tail-ender Robin Peterson on strike.India can win,if Harbhajan bowls,I thought,as he picked wickets,he might get hit by batsmen;but not tail-enders;at-least he may not concede more than 8 runs.Instead,Nehra was given,despite being an eternal optimist(Unlike my father,who gave up hopes when India was dismissed for 296.),I gave up hopes;I knew this fellow will go all over the place and that's what happened.First ball,ok,he was unlucky as it was an inside edge which went for a 4,but the next one was unforgivable,a huge six and with just 3 more runs needed,I knew South Africa will win and te inevitable happened.
Our bowling performance was like watching Easy Rider,where till the last 3-4 minutes,it all looked pleasant and watchable(Nothing extra-ordinary though.),thought it'll be okay towards the end,instead we had a meaningless anti-climax,which spoiled the initial good mood.
Winning and losing is all a part of the game.I know it.But,not when you allow the Opponents to take advantage from nowhere.It was India which choked the most and worst,when there was absolutely no pressure at all!Damn,even if Yuvraj and Dhoni batted like they did against Ireland(Where they made a heavy weather of a low target.),India could have safely reached 325+.And again,I wouldn't have minded if de Villiers stayed till the end and scored those 4s and 6s,as he is a batsman,and that's what their duty;but not when rank tail-enders like Peterson and Botha score!
As for Sachin Tendulkar,I really feel sorry for him;ther will be the usual whiners and sentimental idiots who will continue chanting "When Sachin scores 100,India loses the match!"That India won on 33 occasions of his 48 ODI 100s won't matter to them.That the problem is India hasn't managed to win a match against a Top Test team in this World Cup,won't matter to them;it was Sachin who gave one of his best against both England and South Africa.If the middle order batters played half as good as him,India would've won one of the 2.
During the 1990s,India's bowling was at-least ok,so they won 20 out of 22 times,Sachin scored a 100(As a 100 from a batsman,often results in the over-all team score being 250+).But,since 2004;it declined miserably,so many times India lost even when they scored 300+,granted pitches have become more flatter and Boundaries have become shorter,but what justifies losing so many times,even after the Team posts 300+(Chasing 300+ is always a lottery.So teams batting first should have an 80-20 advantage.)
As usual,Sachin scores the runs,regardless of the 'Not a matchwinner' tag he has to endure since then,when India loses despite his efforts and also of the mad adulation he receives,when he achieves a record and India wins it!
What a start it was!87/2 in 10 overs,we were already dreaming of a 400+ total and South Africa losing the match by 150+ runs!For a change,Sachin batted more aggressively than Sehwag,Steyn was pulled for a big Six,Morne Morkel was hit for a pure,clean Straight Drive;and there many more wonderful shots,complimented by a good number of singles to maintain a Superior run-rate.The world's best fast bowlers were promptly thrown out of the attack by Sachin and Sehwag's superior batting.
And then,Sehwag was bowled,but you can't forgive him as India posted an opening partnership of 142 in just 17.4 overs.A dream start to say the least!Not only do the middle order batters have more overs to score runs,but also a Big platform a cash in on!
But what happened?In came Gambhir,thanks to the defensive bowling style adopted by the South African slow-bowlers(Botha et al);Sachin and Gambhir preferred to maintain a still reasonable run-rate by picking ones and twos and go for an odd boundary or two.
Then Gambhir picked up his strike-rate and so did Sachin too after a brief lull,both reaching their personal landmarks of 50 and 100 in style.260-1,even at this rate 350 was not out of sight.Then they took the powerplay,Sachin tried a few unorthodox shots,which made me feel that he might get out soon and he was indeed out for 111.A brilliant knock,though he could have calmly gone for a 150+.It was a bad attempt at slogging,which looked similar to his dismissal against England,when he was on 120.Still again,it was a huge 267-2 in 39.4 overs,any team with a half-decent batting line-up would have easily notched up 330,even if they scored at 6 per over(And not the usual 9-10 runs/over you witness in the slog overs!);and with a Team full of 'Powerful' strokeplayers,that must be a minimum.
What followed was just the opposite!Gambhir,Pathan and Yuvraj all were dismissed soon,trying some very poor Lofted shots,And then Kohli too was out.All of a sudden,we were hoping,at-least we can reach a 320,with Dhoni and the tail.No!Even that didn't happen.The tail-enders couln't even hit the ball for a single or two;and Dhoni,who went after the tired and battered bowling of Steyn and co. in Gwalior making Sachin stranded in 190s then,couln't hit a single boundary today when pressure mounted.We were dismissed for 296,with 9 balls left!
It was like watching a film,which had a lovely feel-good screenplay during the first half,followed by completely mishandled,haphazardly edited and pointless second half!
Many criticised the timing of the Batting Powerplay,instead I don't think Dhoni or Sachin(Who reportedly recommended then) were wrong in implementing during 39th over,the fault was rather the use of extremely low percentage shots,just because it's a Powerplay,those shots wouldn't have fetched you a Boundary in any ground,against any Opposition.2-3 singles and then a boundary or two,you'll still get 8-10 runs per over;it was really brainless stuff.And worse,we can't even justify that it's normal to lose wickets while going for quick runs,as we didn't score runs either(27 runs in 9 overs for the loss of 9 wickets,as good as getting all-out for 30!)
And now,India's chances of winning depended on South Africa's ability to 'choke' under pressure.At first,indeed it looked like that as Graeme Smith struggled against Zaheer Khan as usual,and was out later.Then,as expected Kallis failed to improve the run-rate,adding some pressure on the Team.But I knew,that their chances to win were alive as long as De Villiers is there,being an aggressively player,he can easily reduce the required run-rate with his fast-paced knock,and that's what he did,supported well by Du Plessis later.Still,India's chances looked brighter,when deVilliers and Duminy were dismissed,and what was left were rather tail-enders like Botha and Peterson.30 runs needed of 3overs.What can Botha do?I thought.
But,when you have Munaf Patel as a pace bowler,anything can happen,the idiot who couldn't face even a single delivery while on crease,didn't mind offering 4s and 6s to a tail-ender,and then Botha was out thanks to a brilliant catch by Raina ,than decent bowling.Then Zaheer Khan bowled superbly to concede just 4 runs.13 off last over.A tail-ender Robin Peterson on strike.India can win,if Harbhajan bowls,I thought,as he picked wickets,he might get hit by batsmen;but not tail-enders;at-least he may not concede more than 8 runs.Instead,Nehra was given,despite being an eternal optimist(Unlike my father,who gave up hopes when India was dismissed for 296.),I gave up hopes;I knew this fellow will go all over the place and that's what happened.First ball,ok,he was unlucky as it was an inside edge which went for a 4,but the next one was unforgivable,a huge six and with just 3 more runs needed,I knew South Africa will win and te inevitable happened.
Our bowling performance was like watching Easy Rider,where till the last 3-4 minutes,it all looked pleasant and watchable(Nothing extra-ordinary though.),thought it'll be okay towards the end,instead we had a meaningless anti-climax,which spoiled the initial good mood.
Winning and losing is all a part of the game.I know it.But,not when you allow the Opponents to take advantage from nowhere.It was India which choked the most and worst,when there was absolutely no pressure at all!Damn,even if Yuvraj and Dhoni batted like they did against Ireland(Where they made a heavy weather of a low target.),India could have safely reached 325+.And again,I wouldn't have minded if de Villiers stayed till the end and scored those 4s and 6s,as he is a batsman,and that's what their duty;but not when rank tail-enders like Peterson and Botha score!
As for Sachin Tendulkar,I really feel sorry for him;ther will be the usual whiners and sentimental idiots who will continue chanting "When Sachin scores 100,India loses the match!"That India won on 33 occasions of his 48 ODI 100s won't matter to them.That the problem is India hasn't managed to win a match against a Top Test team in this World Cup,won't matter to them;it was Sachin who gave one of his best against both England and South Africa.If the middle order batters played half as good as him,India would've won one of the 2.
During the 1990s,India's bowling was at-least ok,so they won 20 out of 22 times,Sachin scored a 100(As a 100 from a batsman,often results in the over-all team score being 250+).But,since 2004;it declined miserably,so many times India lost even when they scored 300+,granted pitches have become more flatter and Boundaries have become shorter,but what justifies losing so many times,even after the Team posts 300+(Chasing 300+ is always a lottery.So teams batting first should have an 80-20 advantage.)
As usual,Sachin scores the runs,regardless of the 'Not a matchwinner' tag he has to endure since then,when India loses despite his efforts and also of the mad adulation he receives,when he achieves a record and India wins it!
2 comments:
Look at it this way. How many teams can lose 9 wickets for 29 runs and still make a match of it.
Regarding 'still make a match of it';it's because despite losing 9 wickets for 29 runs,Indi's total was a more than decent 296;and when you have a bunny like Graeme Smith and a player like Kallis,who turns out to be a gift to the Opposition teams,while chasing 275+ (:P); it must be quite a close contest and it looked Ok,till the 47th Over of South Africa's Batting. :D
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