SL shatter the hopes of billions

So, here is the first big day in World Cup 2007: Will India win and stay in the tournament? Or will the two big teams from the sub-continent be eliminated by the second round with Sri Lanka left to carry the Asian hopes in the rest of the tournament? We have a cracker of a contest on our hands.

Toss and team news

Rahul Dravid got his first wish of winning the toss and chasing. Both the Indian captain and Sri Lankan coach emphasized the importance of toss yesterday and hence one should say: first strike India. But again, this is a decision that could backfire if the pitch deteriorates a bit, as it would mean playing into Murali's hands during the chase. I think for this strategy to work, the Indian bowlers really need to strike line and length in the early overs and capture a few good wickets, especially Jayasurya. He had not done well in two games in a row in a while if my memory serves me right. So, lets see.

Also, Indians have decided to just go in with only one change: Harbhajan for Kumble. This was not too surprising given how much Kumble has struggled against Sri Lanka. There might have been a case to play Sreesanth but the team management have kept their faith in Agarkar. Keeping faith is something that has worked for this management in the past and hopefully it will pay off again. I am going to keep my fingers crossed and hope that Indians improve on the 10-2 recent winning record against Sri Lankans.

World Cup final 2003 nightmare?

A poor first over from Zaheer, probably not as bad as the World cup but a very poor start. 2 wides down the leg and 4 out of 6 balls going down the leg too..

But what a start by Agarkar. Two lovely deliveries, the first of which was clearly OUT! But Harper probably thought it was going down the leg. Indians definitely need some luck going their way to have a chance to win this game.

Excellent bowling by opening bowlers

After the horrible first over by Zaheer, the Indian bowlers came back strongly to bown excellent lines and exploited the conditions perfectly. With a little bit more luck, they should have had Sri Lanka in dire straits but that was not to happen and they just had to be content with Jayasuriya's wicket after what was an amazing over from Zaheer. Jayasuriya fell in his usual fashion caught at third man. And then Zaheer followed it up with a beautiful over to Jayawardene and with a little bit of luck, should have had his man. There have been four boundaries in 11 overs, two of which have been straky edges and two frustrated heaves over the in field. However, one area of concern for Indians is that the wides still keep coming.

Sri Lanka have by no means run away with the game and Indians have done well to keep them in check. If India can get Jayawardene and Sangakkara early, it will be awesome from Indian point of view.

Game still wide open

It been tough cricket all morning for both team with neither team taking a clear hold on the game. Indians would certainly be happy with the way things have gone so far with Sri Lanka only scoring 78 in the first 20 overs for the loss of two wickets and the powerplays done. But they would have ideally loved atleast one more wicket. Sri Lanka on the other hand will be happy to wait for the fifth bowler now and slowly accelerate. If they can keep wickets in check for another 15 overs and get to around 150 at the end of 35 overs, they will still fancy a total of around 280 which would be a handful on this wicket against the Sri Lankan bowlers. Also, a special mention here for a stunning catch by Dhoni to see the back of Jayawardene. It was a bad ball from Agarkar but he deserved the wicket considering how well he bowled all morning.

Game set and match Sri Lanka

Yes, its over from India's point of view for this world cup (well there is a theoretical probability of BErmuda beating Bangladesh, but lets face it, its not going to happen realistically). Sri Lanka finished with 254, a tad more than they should have considering the big three were dismissed cheaply but the young guys held their nerve and batted beautifully. Chamara Silva has really come off age and he is definitely looking an excellent prospect for Sri Lanka.

Indian reply was a disaster. They started off well and the game plan seemed to be the stroke makers play around Ganguly. Uthappa started of well and was stunned by an amazing return catch by Vaas. Sehwag looked in excellent touch and Indians were well in the game having almost seen out Vaas when in a rush of blood, Ganguly charged him and held out to mid off. It was a needless stroke and was perhaps the turning point of the match and Tendulkar's dismissal immediately made things difficult. But, there was still a lot of batting to come and until the back-to-back dismissals of Yuvraj to a stupid needless run out and Dhoni first ball put an end to all hopes. It is this tendency to lose wickets in quick succession that has hurt India the most. Dravid stayed and played with cramps carrying the hopes of a billion people but it was a lost cause by then and just a formality.

I doubt if anyone even discussed the possibility of India and Pakistan not being in the super eight before the start of the tournament. I doubt there were many people who did not pick India in the semi-final either. Just goes on to show how wonderful this game of cricket is. I think they just had a bad day at office against Bangladesh and were totally outplayed today. I think such things happen and its going to be very difficult for the team to pick themselves up from this defeat. It will be interesting to see who will call quits at the end, but I still think there is nothing to be ashamed about and I am still a proud Indian cricket fan.