CSK will not take Kochi Tuskers Lightly

After great victory over Mumbai Indians, Kochi will take on defending champions CSK at Kochi. Looking at last match performance of Kochi, CSK will not going to  take Kochi lightly that is sure. CSK is defending champion and most importantly it is the most consistent team of IPL, so it will definitely have upper-hand in the contest.

CSKs Bating is bolstered with the inclusion of Mike Hussey who played brilliant innings of 83 in the first match he played in IPL 4. CSK also have in-form batsmen in their ranks as all of them got the runs under their belt in the tournament. M.Vijay, Raina, Dhoni, Badrinath, S.Aniruddha are capable enough to score big runs at brisk pace. CSK also have advantage of having two all-rounders in Albie Morkel and Scott Styris. CSK bowling is their strong point  as they have Bollinger, R.Ashwin, Albie Morkel, Suraj Randiv and Shadab Jakati in their ranks. Icing on the cake is the brilliant captaincy of MS Dhoni which is huge plus for CSK.

As far as Kochi is concerned they lost their first two matches but stunned everybody by scoring the win over Mumbai Indians in Mumbai. They defeated Mumbai in a nail biting contest which has given them much needed momentum. They have very good players in their ranks but in the first two match they did not play as a unit, but they corrected their mistake in a match against Mumbai and played like a unit and won the game. Laxman, McCullum, Jayawardene, Ravindra Jadeja, Parthiv Patel forms good batting line-up. Bowling also have the names like RP Singh highest wicket-taker in IPL, S.Sreesanth, Muttiah Muralitharan, etc. but somehow their bowling did not click in last 3 matches but with confidence of win under their belt, they will definitely come out with improved bowling performance. Also they played on true and flat surfaces which did not help their bowling.

If pitch will have some grass than it will certainly help Kochi because on dry wickets they will struggle against the spin trio of CSK. So it will interesting to see what kind of wicket Kochi curator offers for this match.

CSK clinched cliffhanger from KKR. DC will take on RR and Kochi will face RCB challenge

 

Everything is going Mahi’s way. After brilliant World Cup victory, MS Dhoni once again pulled out miracle victory over KKR in IPL 4 opening game at Chennai after glittering opening ceremony. IPL 4 kick-started in style with the thriller. Captain Cool kept his nerves and did everything possible to beat Gambhir’s Knights. On the other hand after brilliant beginning to the modest chase KKR faltered badly as they lost wickets in a hurry and finally KKR lost by just 2 runs. Junior Srikkanth played brilliant inniings for CSK and given them platform to build par score on a pitch which was turning square. Junior Srikkanth have to thank a lot to Yusuf Pathan who dropped him early on and that proved expensive for KKR. In the last over Albie Morkel’s lusty hitting took CSK score past 150 which proved winning score for CSK in the end.

It was surprising that Gambhir came into bat after 5 down. Certainly Shahrukh & co. wouldn’t have expected this move of Gambhir for whom KKR paid highest price.It looked like Gambhir was tired after his World Cup effort and wanted some rest.  Yusuf Pathan who fetched second highest price in auction also failed to do justice to his price and dropped 2 important catches and didn’t score required runs as well even after getting promotion to bat at No.3. Kallis batted brilliantly and till the time he was on crease hopes were alive for KKR but poor running between the wicket. Poor shot selection by Kallis and hopeless fielding and catching played important role in KKR's defeat against CSK.

Shahrukh Khan must be thinking what else he have to do to win IPL . He changed captain, Management and almost entire team,  yet his mis-fortune continues.Although its too early to predict anything as lot of matches remaining for the KKR and hopefully they will win them.

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DC will take on RR

2nd  edition IPL Champion Deccan Chargers Hyderabad will take on inaugural IPL champion Rajasthan Royals. It’s a battle between two  former champions.

Rajasthan failed to buy players of their liking at the auction due to limited purse. But good thing for them is that they were able to retain their magical captain Shane Warne who inspire them to win the inaugural IPL trophy. Rajasthan although failed to buy enough players but they still have very formidable side which includes the likes of Rahul Dravid, Ross Taylor, Shane Watson, Johan Botha. Shane Watson will miss initial round of IPL due to ongoing series between Australia and Bangladesh. But still Rajasthan can win the games because they have capable players to do so. It’s a brilliant opportunity for the young domestic players like Deepak Chahar and Pankaj Singh to impress the selectors with their performance in IPL. Remember Deepak Chahar and Pankaj Singh played important role in Rajasthan’s Ranji triumph this season. Both were among highest wicket-takers in Ranji season. So Team India have the chance to get fresh bowling ammunition from this IPL.

Team Info:

Rajasthan Royals

Rahul Dravid, Pankaj Singh, Aakash Chopra, Abhishek Raut, Aditya Dole, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Paunikar, Ashok Menaria, Deepak Chahar, Dishant Yagnik, Faiz Fazal, Nayan Doshi, Pinal Shah, Samad Fallah, Siddharth Trivedi, Stuart Binny, Amit Singh, Dinesh Salunkhe, Swapnil Asnodkar, Sumit Narwal, Ankeet Chavan (Foreign) Shane Warne, Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Johan Botha, Paul Collingwood, Shaun Tait.Shane Warne(Coach/Captain).

DC has undergone great changes this year. Adam Gilchrist, the captain who help them in winning 2nd edition of IPL will be captaining Kings XI Punjab this year. So they will have new captain in Kumar Sangakkara. With the loss of batting stars like Adam Gilchrist, Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds, Deccan don't look that formidable and they would hope that their new players get them off to a winning start.Their new skipper Kumar Sangakkara, who stepped down from captaincy after Sri Lanka's loss to India in the World Cup final, is in good form and would hope that players like JP Duminy and Michael Lumb help the side to start its campaign on a high. Pietersen pulled out of the World Cup to undergo a hernia surgery and is still recovering from it. The English batsman will miss the entire season for the Chargers.White, on the other hand, is part of the Aussie squad playing three-match ODI series in Bangladesh. Deccan looks vulnerable in the batting department.  But their bowling looks strong as the world's fastest bowler Dale Steyn is up in their rank. He can be supported by Indian pacers Ishant Sharma, who played for the Kolkata Knight Riders till last season, and Manpreet Gony, who was a part of Chennai Super Kings' squad. Meanwhile, Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha will be the options in the spin department.

Team Info:

Deccan Chargers

Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Manpreet Gony, Akash Bhandari, Anand Rajan, Ankit Nagendra, Arjun Yadav, Ashish Reddy, Bharat Chipli, DB Ravi Teja, Harmeet Singh Bansal, Ishank Jaggi, Ishan Malhotra, Jaydev Shah, Kedar Devdhar, Sunny Sohal (Foreign) Kumar Sangakkara (Captain/Wicket-Keeper), Kevin Pietersen, Cameron White, JP Duminy, Dale Steyn, Daniel Christian, Chris Lynn, Juan Theron, Michael Lumb.Darren Lehmann(Coach)

So watch the battle of champions in IPL today at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

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Kochi will face RCB challenge

Today’s second game will be between Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Kochi Tuskers Kerala is new entrant in IPL. Although team belongs to Kerala but its promoters are Gujaratis. This team had lot of controversy surrounded around it and they were almost rejected due to some irregularities in its formation. Cabinet minister Shashi Tharoor lost his ministry because of this team. But finally Kochi franchisee got little life-line from IPL governing body and now they are here.

Kochi, one of the two new teams in this year's IPL, will be led by Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene with Geoff Lawson being the coach. On paper this team doesn’t look that formidable. Although it has names like VVS Laxman, S.Sreesanth, Brendon McCullum. It also has Players like Parthiv Patel, Brad Hodge, Owais Shah and above all recently retired Sri Lankan legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. Ravindra Jadeja who was banned from IPL last season will also feature in this team and it is great platform for him to get back into the Indian team. Bowling looks far more formidable as S.Sreesanth will spearhead the bowling attack and he will be supported  by R.Vinakumar, Muralitharan, and highest wicket-taker of IPL RP Singh.

Team Info:

Kochi Tuskers

VVS Laxman, S Sreesanth, RP Singh, Parthiv Patel(Wicket-Keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ramesh Powar, R Vinay Kumar, B Akhil, Chandan Madan, Deepak Chowghule, Kedar Jadhav, Raiphi Gomez, Sushant Marathe, Tanmay Srivastava, Y Gnanswara Rao, Yashpal Singh, Prashant Padmanabahan, (Foreign) Mahela Jayawardene (Captain), Brendon McCullum(Wicket-Keeper), Steven Smith, Muttiah Muralitharan, Brad Hodge, Thisara Perera, Steve O'Keefe, Owais Shah, Michael Klinger, John Hastings. Jeff Lawson(Coach)

Talking about RCB, they will be captained by the former Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori. RCB retained only Virat Kohli from their last year’s team. So RCB has also gone under makeover. Compare to Kochi they are far more strong side on the paper. They have likes of AB de Villiers, Tillakaratane Dilshan, Virat Kohli, Saurabh Tiwary, Zaheer Khan, Dirk Nannes, which makes them far more superior compare to their opponents. Dilshan, after a brilliant World Cup where he finished as the tournament's top scorer, is most likely to open the innings for Challengers. Zaheer Khan will spear head their bowling attack and that gives them big edge over other teams because Zaheer is in superb bowling form right now and bowling at his very best. Even after having formidable team and legendary Kumble at the helm of the affairs, RCB failed to win the IPL title in last 3 seasons. They reached the finals in 2nd edition  but lost to Deccan Chargers. So this year they will be determined to win the title after failing to win it thrice.

Team Info:

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Daniel Vettori (Captain), Virat Kohli, Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB De Villiers (wicket-keeper), Zaheer Khan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Dirk Nannes, Saurabh Tiwary, Mohammad Kaif, Abhimanyu Mithun, Charl Langeveldt, Luke Pomersbach, Rilee Rossouw, Johan van der Wath, Jonathan Vandiar, CM Gautam (Wicket-Keeper), S Arvind, Mayank Agarwal, Arun Karthick, Asad Khan Pathan, Abrar Kazi, Ryan Ninan, Bhareth Narayanan, Nuwan Pradeep.Ray Jennings(Coach)

So edge is with RCB in this match and it will be interesting to see how Kochi performs against formidable team like RCB.

Preview:1st Semi-Final - Sri Lanka favourites against jubilant Kiwis

Beating lion in his own den is not a easy task. Sri Lanka is lion and very difficult team to beat at home. England lost convincingly other night. Will Kiwis beat the  the mighty Lankans in Colombo today? Majority of the people will find the answer simple and that is 'No'. Kiwis can't beat Lankans in Colombo because they never won in Sri Lanka since 2003. But Kiwis are the same team which knocked out tournament favourites from the tournament other night at Mirpur and based on that performance Kiwis cannot be written-off easily. Also cricket is great game of uncertainties and nobody can predict its outcome.

I believe this Kiwi team has found the much needed momentum in last match against South Africa and now this team has certainly become dangerous. They are playing as a unit and their bowling has been improved tremendously under the supervision of legendary  South African fast bowler Allan Donald. Taylor, Guptill, Ryder, Williamson, McCullum, all are among the runs and batting looks far more formidable, thanks to the efforts put in by ex-India coach John Wright who is their current coach. Wright has just put in oxygen in this down and out Kiwi team and awakened the hunger to excel. Southee is their most successful bowler in this tournament with 15 wickets from 7 games and lot of Kiwi hopes depends on his bowling.

I think Kiwis are putting emphasis on basics and keeping things simple. They have simple plan which was visible against Proteas and that was just to keep attacking and piling up the pressure and they going in with the same plan against Lankans as well. I think if Kiwis beat Lankans then that won't be a surprise, however, road to the finals for Kiwis is difficult but not impossible. Daniel Vettori and his men are upbeat and confident after their victory over Proteas. But they have to play Lankan spinners well and have to attack them from the very beginning. If Muraltharan don't play due to injury than that will make Kiwi job bit easy but yet they have to face Malinga, Mendis, Herath alongwith Angelo Mathews. I believe, Kiwis play to their potential and put in little more effort than they can easily beat Lanka and make it to the finals.

As far as Lankans are concerned, they are tournament favourites and have all the ingredients to go into the finals. Conditions. pitch and home crowd are all in their favour and Premdasa Stadium is their fort where Lankans can't be defeated easily. Lankans have the team which suits to the conditions and they are heavily loaded with the spin which is the weakness of their opposition. Lankan opening pair is leading the charts in terms of opening stand in the tournament. Both Tharanga and Dilshan are in superb from and batsmen following them in Sangakkara and Jayawardene are deadly customers. They have superb allrounder in Angelo Mathews who can turn the match with the bat as well. 

Lanka bowling is by far the best in the tournament. They possess lethal weapon in Lasith Malinga who is dangerous with new as well as old ball. His toe crushers are nightmare for the batsmen. He has the great variation in his bowling and his unique action itself pose lot of problems to the batsmen. Although Lankans will suffer little bit if their master spinner Muralitharan miss this game due to injury. Lankans although have the fire power to dismiss the opposition and if Lankans beat Kiwis, then they will reach the World Cup finals for the 3rd time.

Good contest in prospect as Kiwis found some momentum and looking keen to reach finals this time after missing it for 5 times and Lankans will be determine to reach finals for the 3rd time.

Kiwis go the wings to fly as chokers choked again. England will face Lankan challenge

Bizzare batting.Shattered dreams. Agonising moments. Captain quits after premature loss.That is  story of the team which considered tournament favourites and had all the resources to win the tournament but couldn't get rid of their chokers tag. 5 times they reached to the knockout stage in Cricket World Cup.but never crossed the line, this reflects the entire picture of South African cricket since its return to the International Cricket. Now there will be definitely talks of lot of changes but I think Proteas have find ways to improve their luck.

Team which got whitewashed at the hands of India and Bangladesh few months ago and also lost the home series against Pakistan won the game simply because of its opposition's mistakes will now move to semis. Probably the biggest upset of the tournament. Kwis knocked out tournament favourites convincingly. This tournament unfolded with full of uncertainties so far and its difficult to say who will win the elite trophy. Any team which will play better cricket than its opposition on a day will win and now on there are no favourites with two tournament favourites in Australia and South Africa exited prematurely. 

Looking at yesterdays match. South Africa started the game on a promising note they picked early wickets and put the pressure on Kiwi batting but Ryder had other ideas as he stuck at one end and kept picking up runs in the company of Ross Taylor and duo build the partnership of over 100 runs which provided some stability to the Kiwi innings.South Africa failed to pack a punch after to early wickets and John Wright's impressions were clearly visible in the batting of Kiwis. I think it was good strategy by Kiwis to build a partnership rather than going bang bang and losing wickets. Although it looked like Proteas will get them below 200 but young Williamson and Nathan McCullum helped Kiwis to achieve the score which can be considered competitive but not the winning score. 

In the innings break everybody were assured of South Africa's win looking at their strong batting line-up and target of 222 looked easy on a pitch which was quite good for the batting but as the innings started Amla got out in a unfortunate way which is rarely seen in cricket but it happened and from there on indications were coming that day don't belong to South Africa because Kiwis scored 20 runs extra and Amla got out in unfortunate manner in the 3rd over. South African innings progressed with Smith-Kallis partnership and it looked like game is in the pocket of Proteas. But Proteas destiny took another twist and with 100 for 2 Proteas bowled out for just 172 runs and losing the match by 49 runs. Three incidents which clearly suggested that day didn't belong to South Africa. First one, Kiwis scored 20 runs extra, Second, Amla got out in a unfortunate manner and Third AB DeVilliers got run-out which rarely happens with the athlete like DeVilliers. So it was simply not the Proteas day and it was sad end to the promising team's journey. Smith quit from the captaincy right after the match. It was really disappointing for the Smith to quit on a losing note.

Kiwis bowled and fielded very  well and grabbed the chances which came their way. Vettori's captaincy was also very impressive as he made South Africa earn their runs and put too much pressure by field placings and forced Proteas to take the risk and Proteas failed miserably by doing so. Normally you don't find Kallis getting out by playing such a reckless shot but pressure created by Vettori forced Kallis to play that kind of shot under the circumstances. New Zealand now in semis for the sixth time and it will be interesting to see that they will be able to cross the line this time or not.

Overall unpredictable contest and Proteas have to blame their destiny rather than their game because in yesterday's game everything was controlled from the heaven for the Proteas otherwise player like Amla don't get out in such unfortunate manner. If we talk about South Africa, I think they are not destined to win ICC tournaments. In 1992 they lost because of rain and rain came in when Proteas were very near to the victory but rain changed all the equation. In 1999 they got tied with Australia and thrown out of the tournament and yesterday 3 incidents happened where they were unlucky. It clearly suggests that South Africa's destiny is against them.

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England will face Lankan challenge.

Today Lankans will take on English at Premdasa Stadium,  Colombo. Lankans are favourites for the contest considering they are playing in their home conditions but remember they lost to Pakistan in a league match against all expectations at the very same venue and with Proteas loss against Kiwis yesterday nothing can be predicted. One factor that favours England  is the way England survived in the tournament. I think they survived, so there must be something in store for them in the tournament.

Looking at Lankan side, They rely heavily on their top 4 batsmen. If England crack their top-order than it will be easy for the England to win the contest. Captain Sangakkara is in sublime form and he is the biggest threat to England. He is one man who can win game from any situation, so its important that England pick up Sangakkara as early as possible.  Engalnd also have to win the toss because batting second in Premdasa and against the spinners like Murali, Mendis and Herath on a turning pitch will not going to be easy. So England have to win the toss. Malinga is bowling nicely and he will definitely pose threat to the top-order English batting. It takes a while to get used to the Malinga's so called 'Slinga' bowling action and remember he is the second bowler after Roach who picked up hat-trick in the tournament. 

Lankans have Dilshan. Tharanga, Sangakkara and Jayawardene in their batting line-up who are quite experienced and very dangerous in their home conditions. Also England don't have too many spinners to take advantage of turning track. Engalnd possess Greame Swann who is No.1 spinner currently in ICC ranking but how effective he will be against Lankan batting which play spin well, that time will tell. Withdrawal of the left arm spinner Yardy due to depression is also a very big blow to England. England is already facing injury problems and now Yardy going out of the tournament will not go well with English side. 

England have the batsmen who can do the job. Strauss as captain performing well with the bat and Bell, Trott, Morgan and Bopara are in reasonable form as well so things are not that bleak for England but Yardy incident have put England on the back-foot.One of Sangakkara's comments that was of interest is how he saw England as having a well-balanced side and one of the best in the tournament. Yet they have struggled and this is not just a matter, or even a question of the Michael Yardy departure from a stress-related problems. Whether is because he felt he wasn’t performing, as he should be is another matter.

Not too surprising, the British media were more interested in the Yardy story than the game which looms and is a chance for England to pull together a repeat of their ICC World T20 success in the Caribbean a year ago. It is a far from pleasant condition. In the case of Yardy, the stress concern is one, the player has to handle at such pressure areas of the game. The World Cup is one of them. More importantly now, is how England need to get their nose in front. These things are not always that easy. It is a matter of being focussed and application.

Overall, good contest in prospect and Sri Lanka will start as favourites because of their spinners but  it will be known late in the evening who will emerge as winner and go to semis. Cricket is game of great uncertainties and anything can happen in this miraculous game.

Dull games continues in Cricket World Cup 2011: Today Its Sri Lanka V/s Kenya

I think its really pity on the part of the ICC associate  teams like Netherlands, Canada, Kenya,  and Ireland that they are losing matches one after another in the World Cup. Netherlands did raise some excitement against the England but failed to pull out any upset. Canada was expected of giving tough fight to the Zimbabwe but they also surrendered quite easily. So no upsets so far in this World Cup and the way associate countries performed so far also signals that there will be no major upset will happen in this World Cup.

Yesterday two matches played between Zimbabwe-Canada and West Indies-Netherlands but both ended as one sided affairs where stronger teams scored  more than 300 runs and bowled out opposition for paltry total. Apart from Kemar Roach's hat-trick nothing was interesting in both the matches. Roach picked up sixth hat-trick of the World Cup against Netherlands.  I think, decision taken by the ICC of reducing the teams from 14 to 10 in the next World Cup is correct because nobody likes to watch dull matches in the event like World Cup. There were hardly any spectators in the ground during these dull matches which is quite unique for the tournament like World Cup. One  can understand from the fact that out of the 49 World Cup matches 26   involves weaker teams, so more than 50% matches are useless in this World Cup. 

In earlier World Cups atleast one or two upsets happened but this time it looks like all the big teams are playing carefully and negating the chances of upset by learning from the earlier World Cups, but yet you can't predict anything about the teams like India and Pakistan who can lose match to any team. India lost to Bangladesh in last World Cup. Sri Lanka was defeated by Kenya in 2003 World Cup and went on to play semi-finals.So hopes are still alive but it is highly unlike that any upset will happen and  create some excitement.

In this World Cup New Zealand is the one team which does not look  strong on the basis of current form and looks vulnerable but they also played very well against Kenya in their first match and crushed Kenya badly. Today one more dull game going to happen and that is between Sri Lanka and Kenya. Cruel memories of 2003 World Cup must be fresh in the minds of Lankan players and they will definitely going to take revenge of that loss. It is also important from the Lanka's prospect to play this match with high intensity and beat Kenya by big margin in order to increase their run-rate after unexpected loss against Pakistan. Its important for Sri Lanka to try out few things in this match and they will be bolstered by the return of Lasith Malinga who is fit and likely to play today's match. Malinga will provide teeth to the Lankan pace attack and also get match-practice ahead of their remaining big matches against Australia and New Zealand. On the other hand Dilshan and Tharanga have a chance to fine-tune their batting skills because both the Lankan openers were clearly struggling in the matches played so far. Sri Lanka have to include Ajantha Mendis in this line-up because he is far better spinner than Rangana Herath. 

Squad:

Kumar Sangakkara(Captain/WK), Upul Tharanga, Chamara Silva, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Mahela Jayawardene(Vice-Captain), Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Kulasekara, Chamara Kapugedara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Thisara Perera, Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis, Tillakratane Dilshan. Trevor Bayliss(Coach)

As far as Kenya is concern, nothing going right in their favour so far in this tournament. They lost both the matches they played and will go in this match with lot of pressure. However they can take inspiration from the 2003 World Cup match against Sri Lanka. Tikolo, Ododyo and Collins Obuya are key players for Kenya and they have to fire in this match if their team have to do well. Kenya is capable team but somehow they don't look confident enough, like they were in earlier World Cups. I believe if they play as a unit and with some confidence then they ask few questions to the opposition. Lets hope today's match becomes exciting and Kenya give some fight to the Lankan team to break the jinx of dull matches which involves minnows.

Squad:

Jimmy Kamande(Captain), Thomas Odoyo, Tanmay Mishra, Peter Ongondo, James Ngoche, Elijah Otieno, Shem Ngoche, Maurice Ouma(WK), Rakep Patel, Steve Tikolo, Seren Waters, Alex Obanda, Collins Obuya, David Obuya(WK), Nehemiah Odhiambo. Eldin Baptiste(Coach)

Sri Lanka faced the unexpected as Pakistan won well fought contest

This was one of the match which Sangakkara and his team wants to forget as soon as possible. They trapped badly in their own plan. The ground which witnessed only Lankan victories became witness of Pakistan team's victory for a change. I think moment Sangakkara lost the toss on slow and sluggish pitch it was evident that day was not favourable for Sri Lanka.There was atmosphere at the R Premadasa from the off, music and noise for once. Pakistan's openers came out at Sri Lanka's bowlers and a game was on our hands. Soon there was comedy, in Mohammad Hafeez's run-out, when men lose their wits utterly to the occasion itself. Soon two more wickets fell and one of them was Kamran Akmal's who literally threw his wicket.

There was then intelligence and wisdom in the partnership of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq. For those who lack an appreciation of subtlety, the middle overs are hell. But how beautifully the pair manipulated angles and found space, a dink here, a deflection there, and how hard they ran. With barely any boundaries, the pair put on a 108-run stand at near enough a run a ball and the pace never felt as if it was slacking. In all they ran 65 singles and ten twos, true descendants of Asif Iqbal and Javed Miandad. Simultaneously there was the very physical appreciation of Sri Lankans in the field. Inside the circle they zipped around, like flying fish, hungry. Sri Lanka missed Lasith Malinga badly in this game because he was one player who would have made huge difference in this match from the Lankan prospects.

There was individual genius. In the build-up to this game, Pakistan spoke of Muttiah Muralitharan as if he wasn't Muttiah Muralitharan. He's too old, we play him well enough, he doesn't take wickets against us as he used to. All of this is essentially correct. Pakistan have learnt to play Muralitharan well but he still turned the entire nature of their innings, with his bowling at the death. It was mesmerising stuff, a reminder of his quite immense brain, against a bright young talent, and a batsman set and in real form. Basically it was defence, but beautiful and actually a form of attack.

Two passages of action were outstanding. The first was Shoaib Akhtar, who even at this stage in his career, is capable of recreating the heat every now and again of his early years. As a spectacle, pinging back Mahela Jayawardene's middle stump was difficult to better and it probably turned the game. In the next over, Shahid Afridi's delicious undoing of Thilan Samaraweera effectively sealed matters. Pace at one end and leg-spin at the other: it is not an unusual combination any more but the richness of its choreography and the vast possibilities it contains has always been brought out best by Pakistan. 

Sangakkara once again lived upto his reputation and tried hard to win the game on his own but run-rate was mounting and that forced Sangakkara to play the shot which he would have avoided on most occasion. Later, we saw how men and collectives can fall apart. Pakistan do it often but there's always a strange calmness about how it happens. To the eye, it doesn't feel like anything is breaking down. No one is running about shouting or screaming, there are smiles and expressionless faces and bemused smiles. Yet easy catches are dropped, run-outs missed, misfields, wides and no-balls bowled, poor decisions made and so on. I think Kamran Akmal missed too many catches and everytime he drops the catch he comes under scrutiny after that  famous Sydney test match where he dropped too many catches and faced the charges of match-fixing.  Chamara Silva came close to pulling off the most cunning heist so that there was always punch and counter punch, so that for every wicket that fell late on, a boundary was the response, cricket in perfect balance as it should be. Of course the result sets the rest of the tournament up just right. Co-hosts and favourites beaten by dark horses is a story that sells and sells.

Its good to see Pakistan winning this match and this clearly show that they have forgot all the unfortunate happenings and approached this game with fresh and blank mind. I believe Pakistan can make a mark in this World  Cup and if they reach finals then it will not surprise anybody if they continue to perform like they performed against Lankan giants but they have to improve on their fielding and top-order batting which is becoming bit of worry for them. Important thing from Pakistan's aspect is the bowling of form of their captain Shahid Afridi who is leading the team from the front atleast with the ball. He looked unplayable at times and had two very good games with the ball. I think if he continues to perform like this then this will definitely inspire youngsters in the team to do well.

Sri Lanka have to erase this match from their memories and have to focus on the coming games and try to win all of them to sail smoothly into the quarters and I believe one loss does not make the worst team.