Pakistan thrash Kenya, African lions take on Calypso Kings today

As expected Pakistan thrash Kenya comprehensively at Hambantota. This match was very important for Pakistan to get into the groove of World Cup and they succeeded in this. Their middle-order got good opportunity of getting among some runs which they grabbed with both hands. Bowlers also had good work-out and Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi stood out with the ball as he claimed five-for. However worry for Pakistan is the way their openers  approached the game and failed miserably in the process can be a warning for Pakistan team. Kenya lost its second match in a row. 

They started brilliantly but failed to continue with the early over momentum. Kenyan bowlers torn apart by the Pakistani middle-order. Pakistani batsmen forced them to bowl wrong lines and which resulted into 47 extra runs. Overall bad match for Kenya and here on their hopes of doing well in the tournament also finishes. It was completely one-sided affair and Pakistani won it convincingly and started their World Cup journey on a high-note.

Big match coming-up later in the day where African Lions will take on Calypso Kings at Ferozeshah Kotla,Delhi. This is first international match to be played on the Kotla ground after pitch fiasco in 2009 so it will be interesting to see how pitch behaves. Apart from the pitch, focus will be on two teams in South Africa and West Indies. South Africa is coming in this tournament after beating India at home 3-2 in ODI series but that result does not indicate how close that series was as India fought very well. As far as West Indies is concerned they lost the ODI series to Sri Lanka before the World Cup but good thing for West Indies is that they played their last series in Sri Lanka and they are more acclimatised to the sub-continent conditions and that can help them in this key match. Both the teams  will start their World Cup campaign with this match and whoever win this contest carry big  advantage in coming matches. 

If we look at South African squad it looks very balanced and with the return of star all-rounder Kallis this team looks pretty formidable. If we talk about strength of the Proteas then it is their bowling which stands out. They have two fearsome opening bowlers in Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel who can run through any side on any ground and pitch. Both have great pace with good accuracy. However, Proteas lack a bit in spin department where they have only Johan Botha who is experienced but not a kind of bowler who can make much impression. South Africa is banking highly on leg-spinner Imran Tahir who is Pakistan origin player and rated very highly in South africa but he is inexperienced and that can prove costly for Proteas. As far as batting is concerned Proteas are also having advantage as they have in-form opening pair in Hashim Amla and Greame Smith. Amla loves playing on sub-continent pitches and prolific scorer for proteas in last two years. Form of AB DeVilliers is a big concern for South Africa as he failed to score against India in home-series but he is class player and can hit the form anytime.

As far as West Indies is concerned they are not the formidable side now but they still have very good players in their ranks. Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Keiron Pollard and Shivnarine Chanderpaul can win matches single-handedly. West Indan bowling is not that great but they still rely heavily on the pace but they don't have any impact pace bowler in their ranks. Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor,etc. can bowl one or two great spell here and there but lacks consistency and remember they are plying in sub-continent where pitches don't help fast bowlers  too much so this is huge disadvantage for them. They have one spinner in Sulieman Benn who is not that dangerous and will do containing job rather than picking up wickets. I believe West Indies are not favourite to win today's encounter against Proteas but as they say cricket is a game of high unpredictability and whoever play well will emerge as winner.

So great contest in offering after few dull matches and hoping to see lot of sixes and fours from the big bats of Gayle and Pollard.

Squads:

Greame Smith(Captain), Hashim Amla, Jacque Kallis, AB DeVilliers(WK), Morne Van Wyk(WK), Jean-Paul Duminy, Collin Ingram, Faf DuPlessis, Johan Botha, Robin Peterson, Imran Tahir, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell. Corrie Van Zyl(Coach)

Darren Sammy(Captain), Carlton Baugh(WK), Adrian Barath, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo,  Keiron Pollard, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ravi Rampaul, Nikita Miller, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Sulieman Benn, Devon Smith. Ottis Gibson(Coach)

Team South Africa: Analysis and Odds for ICC World Cup’11

South Africa (Group B)

Group Rivals :-	India, England, West indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and Netherlands
Coach :-	Corrie Van Zyl
Captain :-	Greame Smith
Best Performance in WC :-	Semi-Finalists 1992, 1999, 2007
Highest Score in WC :-	356-4 (50 Overs) v/s West Indies in WC’07
Lowest Score in WC :-	149 All Out (43.5 Overs) v/s Australia in WC’07
Best Individual Score :-	188*, Gary Kirsten v/s U.A.E in WC’96
Best Bowling :-	5-18 Andrew Hall v/s England in WC’07
Matches Won/Lost/Tied/NR	25-13-2-0
The Odds :-	11-5
ICC ODI Ranking :-	No.4

MAN TO WATCH Jacques KALLIS Jacques Kallis is the top all-rounder  in World Cricket. He is pivotal member of South African team around whom entire South African batting revolves. His records speak volumes about his ability. Being consistent player with both bat and ball  for more than a decade Jacques Kallis is rated at par with the likes of Tendulkar. He has immense concentration powers and very difficult to dislodge once he gets his eye in. He can play aggressively as well as defensively. His abilities with the ball is no less than his abilities with the bat. He is equally good bowler. He has the ability to play in all kind of conditions and he will be keen to win the first World Cup for his country. This is probably the last World Cup for the Jacques Kallis and he is desperate to do well. He is plagued with rib injury and will be a nervous starter  but once he will get into the groove he will certainly make the most out of his outing in the middle. Although South Africa possess good match-winners in their ranks but they will be highly dependent on Jacques Kallis. Watch out for new records in this World Cup which this man will create. Career-best performance: Batting: 139 v/s West Indies at  Johannesburg  in 2004 Bowling: 30-5 v/s West Indies at Dhaka in 1998

South African team popularly known as Proteas. They have chokers tag with them since they re-entered international cricket in 1992. This tag they achieved due to their inability to cross the final hurdle in important tournaments. They always had the privilege of very talented and world-class players in their ranks but these players often choked under-pressure. They failed to win World Cup since 1992 though they had best of the team compare to some other teams in World Cricket. Proteas always rated very highly by the cricket experts but often faltered. South African team  is currently in top form as they won the ODI series against India at home and coming into this World Cup with great momentum. They don’t have much injury problems compare to other teams and their star performer Kallis is  fit and raring to go. They have best of the opening ball attack in Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel and both of them  can demolish any batting line-up in the world with their sheer pace and swing. The have good batsmen in Hashim Amla who is in top form and loves to perform in sub-continent. Form of AB DeVilliers is a matter of concern but apart from that they don’t have much weakness. Greame Smith is captaining the side for many years and this is one team which looks quite balanced. I believe South African team is firm favourites of winning the World Cup this time round simply because of their resources and also law of averages. They are force to reckon with in this World Cup and very difficult team to defeat in its group.

 Key Players for South Africa:  Greame Smith, Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn  and Morne Morkel

Poor strategy by MS Dhoni and pathetic batting help Proteas in levelling the series

What do you call  a person who just keep repeating his mistakes. I believe I don't have to mention that word but intelligent people are aware of that word. So MS Dhoni once again repeated his mistake of going defensive when opposition was in all sorts of trouble at 118 for 5. Had Dhoni applied pressure on Duminy and Botha by bringing the field in then I believe India could have easily restricted Proteas for 170 or 180 and chase would have become more easy for Team India. But our very own cool captain opened the field and allowed both the batsmen to take the singles at will which helped them in building good partnership which eventually resulted into big score at St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth. Proteas ended at 265. Dhoni did same mistake in the final test match at Capetown by opening the field after reducing Proteas to 130 for 6. All credit to Botha , Duminy and Peterson for taking advantage of the mistakes done by Dhoni which helped them to put very good score on the board. Dhoni's bad-luck with the toss continued in this match as well.

I believe target was still achievable because nowadays chasing 300 has become common phenomenon and this was only 266. But thanks to our top-order batsmen including captain Dhoni, they made mess of the  target and also missed opportunity of sealing the series in 4th ODI itself and that too in the conditions which were suitable for Indian style of cricket.  Its good that Rohit Sharma is not included in the World Cup squad. But what about Suresh Raina, he just looks completely out of sorts and in last 15 ODIs he failed to score single half-century. I will be surprised if he will be included in playing 11 ahead of Virat Kohli. Kohli is in tremendous form and has to be included in final 11 of  the World Cup team. He played gem of an innings once again yesterday and showed that he is matured and technically more sound than any other batsmen in the team.I believe Dhoni missed the trick yesterday and with this he has lost golden opportunity of winning the series in South Africa for the first time.

For Proteas, I must say they thought over their mistakes after two back-to back losses and bolstered their batting a bit and which paid rich dividends to them.As usual bowling was again superb from Proteas, especially Morne Morkel is trump card for them. Morkel is in scintillating form and looks unplayable. The delivery on which Yusuf Pathan got out was real peach. Morkel read the mind-set of the Yusuf Pathan who was expecting short ball but Morkel bowled full delivery to Yusuf and picked up his wicket. Great display of fast bowling. Tsotsobe is the another bowler who has grown  leaps and bounds as the tour progressed and right now he is the most successful bowler of the series. I also appreciate the strategy of Smith in this match as he utilized his spinners bit early when India was resurrecting their innings and saved the faster man for the later stages for bowling against Yusuf Pathan who took on the spinners like hurricane in 3rd ODI. Rain played spoil-sport in this match but I don't feel that rain had any impact on the result of the match.

Now series is locked 2-2 and it will be interesting to watch the last match at Centurion. I believe Proteas have upper-hand going into that match after yesterday's victory and Team India looks completely out of sorts, especially their batting which failed to play  entire quota of 50 overs in all the matches of the series so far. As per my analysis, Proteas will seal the series in Centurion and Team India once again return home without series win in South Africa.

Pathan and Bhajji helped India in clinching cliffhanger at Capetown

There was time in Indian innings when 5 players including captain MS Dhoni were sitting in dressing room and scoreboard was showing just 93 runs in reply to the Proteas total of 220 runs. In came Yususf Pathan and blew away the South African attack with his hurricane innings and opened the door for Team India to win the match from virtually impossible situation. Although Pathan got out when India was in delicate position but Bhajji finished the job with the help of Nehra and Zaheer and sealed the victory for India. Pathan declared Man of the Match in his first game in South Africa after cooling his heels in dressing room during the first 2 ODIs. He has also hinted to MS Dhoni about the big error which Dhoni had committed by not playing him in first two ODIs.

India bowled out Proteas for 220 runs after losing the toss and it was Zaheer, Harbhajan and Munaf who did fantastic job by restricting Proteas. Proteas kept losing wickets at regular intervals but one steady partnership of 110 runs between JP Duminy and debutant Faf DuPlessis helped South Africa to post respectable total. I must say DuPlessis really played very well under pressure and scored brilliant half-century.DuPlessis was the dominant partner in that partnership and it never looked like that he was making his debut in this match. South Africa really found a great talent in DuPlessis. DuPlessis replaced Miller in this match and justified his selection. Smith played scratchy innings of 43 at the top before getting out but apart from Smith, Duminy and DuPlessis, none of the South African batsmen succeeded in making any impact. I must give credit to the Indian bowlers especially Zaheer, Harbhajan and Munaf as they bowled brilliantly and never allowed Proteas to get off the hook. 

India opened with Rohit Sharma and Murali Vijay. Rohit looked scratchy in this innings and never looked comfortable even after spending reasonable time on the crease and finally got out on personal 23 runs. Vijay failed once again and increased the pressure on rest of the batsmen. Raina played good hand of 37 and did crucial partnership of 70 odd runs with Yusuf Pathan which helped India in consolidating their position after poor start. Although Raina panicked bit early and threw his wicket. Morkel, Steyn and Tsotsobe bowled very well especially Morkel was virutally unplayable throughout the match. He bowled superb line and length. He used his height very well in extracting bounce from the low wicket. Botha bowled very well till that one over in which Yusuf Pathan took him on and hit 3 sixes and accumulated 19 runs. Botha will not forget that over for long time and I feel that over proved turning point of this match.Parnell also failed to impress his captain as he bowled poorly. Over all India did very  well in the match but for them worry is the form of their top-order batsmen. Kohli played one good knock so far, Yuvraj is also sailing in the same boat as Kohli. Raina till date failed to play big innings on this tour so far. So plenty of problems in store for Dhoni and needs to be rectified if India wants to win the series in South Africa for the first time. Although India is leading the series 2-1 but not to forget both the matches they won were very close. So team's think tank have to do some work on the batting of our top-order batsmen otherwise I will not be surprised if India lose this series after leading it.

Well what to say about Murali Vijay. I feel he is immensely lucky to be in the team due to the injuries to our main player. I believe he don't have  any future in International Cricket. He is in the team  till now only because of the Chairman of Selector's love for him as both of them hails from same zone, state and city. There are  lot of talented players in our domestic cricket and they are not getting much chances or seldom they get the chance then they are dropped after one or two failures or lose their place because of players like Murali Vijay who keep getting regular chances even after failures. We have talented players in Robin Uttahppa, Manish Pandey, Saurabh Tiwary, Bhubneshwar Kumar, Abhishek Nayar and list continues but these players always overlooked and thats the great irony of Indian Cricket because Indian Cricket is in trap of zonal bias and quota system. I give example of Saurabh Tiwary, this guy did very well in whatever chances he got in International cricket yet he is out of the team.