The Best till now, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

The best batting and bowling performances till date in this World Cup

Batting

1. Virender Sehwag - 175 Vs Bangladesh

2. Kevin O'Brien - 113 Vs England

3. Andrew Strauss - 158 Vs India

4. Ross Taylor - 131 Vs Pakistan

Bowling

1. Shahid Afridi - 34/4 in 10 overs Vs Sri Lanka

2. Kemar Roach - 27/6 in 8.4 overs Vs Netherland

3. Lasith Malinga - 38/6 in 8.4 overs Vs Kenya

4. Stuart Broad - 15/4 in 6.4 overs Vs South Africa

I have thoroughly enjoyed these performances, tell me your favorite ones...

India Vs Netherland - Match Preview

This is India’s last match against the so called minnows or a weak team. This is the last game where they can experiment a bit with their team combination. I would love to see them go into the match with 5 genuine bowlers as this is their weak point at the moment.

This would provide more flexibility to this side and as it is you cannot expect Yuvraj Singh to pick up 5 wickets against stronger opponents. My five bowlers would be Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh and R Ashwin. I would drop either Yousuf Pathan (more likely) or Gautam Gambhir to accommodate the extra bowler.

India should be able to win this comfortably but as Ireland showed against England as also to a certain extent against India, no team in this World Cup can be taken lightly.

Key Battles to look out for in the match between India and Netherland on this Wednesday, the 9th of March 2011 at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

1. Indian Fast Bowlers VS Ryan Ten Doeschate

2. Harbhajan Singh VS the Netherland middle order

My review of Team India for the game Vs Ireland

Marks for the Indian Players for the match Vs Ireland

Virender Sehwag – 1/10 – didn’t do anything in this game, got out cheaply.

Sachin Tendulkar – 3/10 – Got out just when he was starting to look good, needed to carry on.

Gautam Gambhir – 0/10 – failed again, looks too fidgety at the moment.

Yuvraj Singh – 9/10 – took 5 wickets and was sharp in the field, made a 50 and took India home in crunch situation.

MS Dhoni – 4/10 – made some runs but got out at the wrong time, needed to finish the game off.

Yusuf Pathan – 3/10 – dropped a catch in the first over, looked good with the bat.

Virat Kohli – 4/10 – was good in the field and contributed some runs.

Harbhajan Singh – 0/10 – as a senior spinner in the side failed to apply any pressure on the batsmen, failed to take even a single wicket.

Zaheer Khan – 6/10 – started excellently, picked up 3 wickets… looked sharp.

Munaf Patel – 4/10 – bowled ok, could have been better.

Piyush Chawla – 0/10 –bowled short balls all through, bowled wides, no balls and long hops...

Overall Points

Batting – 6/10

Bowling – 6/10

Team – 6/10

India Vs Ireland – Match Review

India Vs Ireland – 06 March 2011, ICC Cricket World Cup

India stuck to the same side that tied the match with England – I thought that they would experiment a bit by playing 5 bowlers, but that was not to be!!

India started off well by reducing Ireland to 10 for 2 but then failed to pick up wickets for a long time. Piyush Chawla again dished out rubbish and Harbhajan Singh was again not able to either pick up wickets or look threatening. It was the part time spin of Yuvraj Singh that came to the rescue of India as he ended up with a 5 wicket haul and Ireland folded up for 207. All eyes were on Kevin O’Brien but for once he failed with the bat!

Sehwag started in his own style hitting the first ball that he faced for a boundary but then a leading edge saw the back of him. Gambhir followed him soon after to the pavilion. And at 100 for 4, team India looked in some trouble and a tad nervous. But it was a day that belonged to Yuvraj Singh as he scored a patient 50 and steered India over the line with 24 balls to spare.

Not a very clinical performance by India but a win is a win nonetheless!!

And a word on Ireland – they showed a lot of heart even though they lost but they are a joy to watch as they show a lot of promise and competitiveness.

India VS Ireland

First things first… Indian bowlers have been rubbish so far and they look the worst amongst all the major teams participating in this World Cup 2011. They have a very good chance to hit their straps in this game and show that they are not as bad as they have been so far!!

I don’t think hat the Indian batsmen will be tested so much but then taking teams like Ireland lightly can cost any team big time and who this better than this Indian team.

But Ireland is no mug and will definitely provide some resistance to the Indians. After all they defeated both Pakistan and Bangladesh in the previous edition of the world cup in the Caribbean.

Many of the Irish players take part in the competitive English County Cricket and some of their players like Ed Joyce, Niall O’Brien, Kevin O’Brien and George Dockrell are very good players.

Key Battles to look out for in the match between India and Ireland on this Sunday, the 6th of March 2011 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore :

1. Indian Fast Bowlers VS Ed Joyce/ Paul Stirling

2. Harbhajan Singh VS the O’Brien Brothers

3. George Dockrell VS the Indian Middle Order

UPDATE

Ireland have defeated England and the Indians now, must be very worried... Especially their bowlers... If India doesn't bat first and get about 400 runs then I think it will be mighty close game!!

My review of Team India for the game Vs England

Virender Sehwag – 5/10 – got off to a flying start, needed to carry on.

Sachin Tendulkar – 8/10 – a brilliant hundred… paced his innings very well.

Gautam Gambhir – 5/10 – got a start again just like the previous game… again failed to make a bigger score.

Yuvraj Singh – 4/10 – made a 50 but slowed down in the batting powerplay… bowled poorly, fielded ok.

MS Dhoni – 2/10 – made some runs but a poor display of captaincy… never put any pressure on England till he was forced to do so when they took the batting powerplay.

Yusuf Pathan – 2/10 – got out cheaply… bowled poorly.

Virat Kohli – 2/10 – got out cheaply… dropped a catch.

Harbhajan Singh – 0/10 – got out for a duck… then as a senior spinner in the side failed to apply any pressure on the batsmen… dropped a catch too early on of Strauss.

Zaheer Khan – 3/10 – started poorly… came back strongly in the 3rd spell.

Munaf Patel – 2/10 – bowled poorly... gave width early on and could not defend 14 runs in the last over.

Piyush Chawla – 1/10 – looked extremely nervous… bowled short balls all through… gave two sixes in the 49th over.

Overall Points

Batting – 7/10

Bowling – 3.5/10

Team – 5/10

Who would be more happy… India or England?

After making 338 runs, batting first any team would be confident of defending it.

But at the stage when England needed about 70 odd runs from 60 balls, the match had almost slipped out of India’s grasp.

Panic and pressure caused England to lose quick wickets and they needed 29 runs from 2 overs with 3 wickets remaining.

From here on, India should have won the game! No question about that! You call yourself the biggest favorites of the tournament and do not have the bowlers who can defend 29 runs from 2 overs with only tailenders batting.

I think India should be more disappointed that they didn’t win this one… Really… After all the fluctuations of fortunes… after 98 overs of play, India was in a very strong position … But the match was tied… Well, it’s almost a loss for me!
 
So, I think that England would be happy with a tie in the end…
What are your views?