Deshi's in disarray as Sehwag and Kohli smash India to Victory

Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli absolutely blitzed the hapless Bengali attack to amass a mammoth 370 from their allotted 50 overs. The tigers bowling was absolutely woeful, with not a single bowler returning figures to be proud of. The bowling was a mixture of poor line and lengths, lacklustre effort and ill discipline as a total of 15 wides were sent down. Mind you perhaps this was the effect of the brutal onslaught that Kohli and Sehwag subjected them to. Sehwag had the highest world cup score in his sights when he was finally bowled out for 175 while Kohli too reached his century. By reaching such an imposing total in the first match of a world cup and that too on Bengali soil sends a very ominous message of intent to the other teams in the competition.

The Bengalis did their best not to be over-awed and gave their suffering fans something to cheer at long last by starting their innings in blistering fashion. Imrul Kayes latched onto Sreesanth to the tune of 24 runs in an over to typify Bangladesh's frenetic start. Surprisingly the tigers most attacking player, Tamim Iqbal was rather subdued and meandered along to a half century. It was Munaf Patel that extinguished any outlandish hopes Bangladesh may have had, with his nagging line and length.

Nonetheless the Bengalis did put up some serious resistance with their top six batsmen all scoring above 25 runs, with Shakib and Tamim posting half centuries to lead their team to 283-9 in their 50 overs. Under normal circumstances this wouldve been seen as an excellent effort from the tigers but on the day it paled into insignificance in the face of India's colossal score.

The Indians thus start their World cup campaign with a resounding 87 run win.

Osiris's Views

Well cricket fans all over were psyched up for a cracking opener to CWC 2011, in the event it turned out to be depressingly one sided. I must admit that having to sit and watch India mauling the Bengali bowlers was not particularly pleasant, but this is a fact that we must all accept, the Indian batting lineup is simply awe inspiring. India's opponents need to make plans to not only restrict the free flowing nature of the Indian top order but to dismiss them early with the new ball, for if the likes of Sehwag or Tendulkar get set with Dhoni, Kohli, Yuvraj and Pathan waiting in the hutch....quite frankly you'll be toast. New Zealand found that out in Chennai when India smashed 360 against them in a warm up game and the Bengalis found that out first hand today.

The indian bowling is perfectly suited to the conditions though the Bengalis did show today that it can at least be tackled. India were out for revenge today and boy did they banish the ghosts of that 2007 match in style. At this point in time the Indians are looking like an unstoppable force.

The Bangladeshis are likely to be quite depressed but I feel they can take a lot of heart out of their batting performance, and with home conditions in their favour I would tip them to knock over one or two of the more fancied teams in their group and advance to the quarter finals. Dhaka might be a little gloomy tonight but I think it won't be long before the spark and vibe returns.

Finally it is very interesting to draw a direct comparison with Pakistan here, for we also played Bangladesh at this very same venue in a warm up match. On paper it would seem that the Indians trumped our performance by miles since we scored 285 in our first innings in comparison to their 370. However interestingly our margin of victory was by 89 runs while Indias win today was by 87 runs. This shows that despite the dew factor, the bengalis found life a lot tougher against Pakistans bowling attack than they did against Indias. Despite this though the fact still remains, India are hot favourites while Pakistan are very much outsiders. Lets see what exactly we can muster up as the tournament progresses!

Tomorrow I will be reporting on the New Zealand vs Kenya match, while Isis will be reporting on the match up between Sri Lanka and Canada. So join us then for Day 2 of the World Cup!

Bangladesh vs India - (25 over update)

10: 15 am - So here we are, the World Cup 2011 is here and welcomed by a roaring Dhaka full-house, the home captain Shakib won the toss and perhaps a little surprisingly chose to bowl first, he claimed this was down to the dew factor during the second innings. Be that as it may, I personally feel that this was a rather negative move and that too against a power packed Indian batting lineup, first sign of Bengali nerves perhaps?

If there was any doubt about a nervy home team, they were confirmed with the very first ball as Shafiul Islam was slammed through the covers for four of the very first ball of the tournament! India then ravaged the Bengali attack to the tune of 32 runs of the first 3 overs. The bowling was abysmal, no pace…the line and length was all over the place, varying from wide of the off stump….right through to loose balls on the batsmans legs, it was absolutely abysmal from the Bengali seamers and they only gained a semblance of control with the early introduction of spinners.

A farcical run-out gave reason for the packed stadium to finally celebrate, as both Indian batsmen ended up at the same end and Shakib was left with the easy task of running Sachin out. However its been all India from there on end, the Indians including Sehwag are batting for the long term, the Bengali attack looks completely benign and despite the massive score, I don’t think this pitch is in fact as easy to bat on as the Indians have made it look.

Things finally started to change a little bit with the introduction of Mahmudullah, how dismissed Gambhir in his very first over! The ball skidding through, keeping a little low and knocking back Gambhirs off stump. Nonetheless Sehwag is looking in murderous form and unless the Bengalis get him out soon, he is likely to single handedly take the game away from Bangladesh

At the halfway mark of the Indian innings then, India are a mammoth 160-2 overall the Bengali attack has looked very benign and when you think that India still have Yuvra, Dhoni and Pathan to come, Bangladesh are very much staring into the abyss of a chase of around the 350 run mark unless something rather dramatic happens.

Bangladesh are facing an embarrassing and a very heavy defeat here while the Indians are looking every bit the tournament favourites that they are.

The Road to the World Cup 2011 - Flashback

This is the first in a series of videos we will be releasing in the build up to the World Cup 2011. The excitement and anticipation is building and so what better way to whet the appetite than a look back at the previous editions and winners of crickets illustrious and premier tournament. Presenting....The path to the 2011 World Cup, produced by our video specialist Isis!

1^st February 2011: New Zealand vs Pakistan 4^th ODI – Napier

Background

A buoyed up Pakistan faced the hosts in a key ODI at Napier. The Kiwis absolutely thumped Pakistan in the first match of the series, the Pakistanis then launched a comeback in the rain abandoned match at Queenstown before leveling the series in convincing style at Christchurch. The Pakistani batting was in destructive form, their bowling was clicking, could they put their unpredictability aside and continue their momentum? With the series tied at 1-1 and three matches to play, this was a crucial game for both teams.

Brief Match Analysis

The pitch at Napier has a reputation for being an absolute belter, so much so that in the build up to this game the local commentators were saying that a score of around about 300 would in fact only be a par score! Both teams were therefore chomping at the bit to win the toss and bat first. As it turned out it was Daniel Vettori who called correctly and elected to bat rightaway. If Pakistan weren’t careful this could be a definitive early setback for them in this game.

As expected the Kiwis got off to a flyer, with Guptill in particular laying into the Pakistani opening bowlers, epitomized by a cracking six that flew into the midwicket stands off Razzaq. However very much against the run of play, the Kiwis starting throwing it away. Tight and pinpoint bowling from Wahab Riaz and Razzaq saw the Kiwi top order throwing their wickets away. From a position of strength, the New Zealanders slipped to 44-3 on a flat batting paradise of a pitch!

The severe fluctuations in this match had only just begun though, New Zealands all rounders played aggressively to stage a good fightback lower down the order and in the end allow their team to post a relatively respectable total of 262-7.

The Pakistani openers walked out knowing that on this pitch, they should achieve their target at a canter, however they soon found themselves at 84-3 despite the powerful hitting of Ahmed Shehad. Pakistans steady middle order duo of Misbah and Younis Khan added 90 odd runs together….before we got the customary batting collapse! Pakistan were reduced to 198-6 and NZ were back in it!

Perfect time then for the Razzler to hit his straps and when he smashed a boundary and a six it looked like game set match to Pakistan…not quite though. Razzaq spooned a catch to Vettori of Hamish Bennett and when Wahab Riaz had an epic brain failure and swiped across the line to give McCullum an easy catch, Pakistan were suddenly 250-8. Still needing another 15 runs to win from 12 balls and just 2 wickets in hand.

It was Misbah ul Haq who was holding the Pakistani innings together, with a classy knock that included a good mixture of rotating the strike, and some big hits of his own. A very calm and collected….almost masterful knock and that too at above a run a ball! In the end Sohail Tanvir cracked three boundaries to get Pakistan over the line, with Misbah finishing on 93 not out. A thrilling match but in the end Pakistan taking the plaudits as well as a 2-1 lead in the series with another two matches to play.

Osiris's Views

Most cricket websites appear to be saying that Pakistan made a mountain out of a molehill in chasing a target of 263. While this is true to an extent, I do not completely agree with this assessment. The pitch was excellent for batting, but in my opinion also a bit slower than the pundits expected. A target of 263 was not as easy as it was made out to be and that too under lights. Pakistan were never really in complete control, even at 173-3 the required run rate was still rather high, and when Pakistan lost wickets in the batting powerplay in my view the Kiwis held all the aces.

Therefore the Pakistanis deserve a lot more credit than they are getting for overhauling this target, Misbah’s batting was nothing short of coolness personified and in the end he was unlucky not to get what would have been a very much deserved century.

Pakistan are gaining some much needed momentum ahead of the world cup and this is crucial to say the least. However there are worrying signs as well, I personally feel that Sohail Tanvir’s bowling is simply not upto the mark and in the sub-continent he will be cannon fodder. Perhaps this is not such a bad thing though, since he can quite easily be replaced by a spinner, either Abdul Rehman or Saeed Ajmal. Pakistan have now won 2 matches on the bounce but there are still 2 matches to go, no matter what happens in this series, the Pakistanis will still be underdogs at the world cup and that is testament to the massive challenge that faces our cricket team. How they respond to this challenge remains to be seen.

Signing off till the next game!

Osiris

January 21^st 2010 - South Africa vs India 4th ODI

Background

Current Situation: South Africa 1 – 2 India (5 match series)

South Africa took on a surging India at Port Elizabeth today in match 4 of this ODI series, it was a must win game for the Proteas. As a Pakistan supporter PE of course holds some very good memories back from 2003, when crushing centuries from Elahi and Razzaq led Pakistan to an unprecedented score of 330+ before Waqar Younis, Sami and Afridi ran through the South African batting to hand Pakistan an unexpected massive victory. So therefore perhaps it was no surprise at all that when Graeme Smith won the toss he had absolutely no hesitation in deciding to bat first!

Brief Match Description

It was soon apparent though that this wasn’t that same old batting paradise of a PE pitch, not only was there a bit of spongy bounce in the wicket, but it was a little two paced with the ball not coming onto the bat quite as easily. Despite this, Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla negotiated the early threat from Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel. South Africa manouevered themselves into a brilliant position at 106-1 before embarking on a case of serious self destruction, they suffered no less than 3 very unnecessary and silly run outs as well as a stumping. They were only led out of that middle order collapse by a magnificent fighting innings from JP Duminy who hit an unbeaten 71 and he was ably supported by Botha and Peterson lower down the order. All this meant that South Africa in the end fought their way to a very competitive total of 265-7.

Nonetheless expectations were that the much vaunted Indian batting line up would at least make a very good fight of it if not overhaul the total entirely. As it turned out, nothing of the sort happened. The Indians collapsed to 128-6 before rain saved them from further embarrassment. The Duckworth Lewis method was applied and South Africa won by a comfortable margin of 48 runs.

Osiris's Views

I won’t deny that as a Pakistan fan, the only thing that comes close to the joys of watching my own team perform well is in fact watching the Indians lose heavily…heck just watching India losing fullstop is brilliant! Well I guess that’s the nature of the India – Pakistan rivalry. Therefore watching this game was great, it shows a very distinct fallability in the Indian batting setup. Having said that, adding some fair perspective…one must question the relevance of this current series to the upcoming World Cup. India are missing Gambhir, Sehwag and now Tendulkar as well, all of whom are in the Indian World Cup side. However the South Africans too are missing the colossus that this Jacques Kallis.

Overall, India are likely to view this South African series very positively, they drew the test series and are now 2-2 in the ODI series. As good as it is to watch the Indians losing or performing poorly, they do deserve respect for playing some very good cricket on this tour and once their star batting trio are back in the team for the world cup, their batting line up will assume formidable proportions that too in home conditions! With that in mind, I would say without hesitation that the Indians are favourites in my opinion to win the upcoming World Cup.

So then the most that is up for grabs in this series is a morale booster before the big showdown in the subcontinent, who gets that series clinching win? Well we’ll find out after the final match at Centurion on Sunday!

Signing off till then!

Osiris

Opening Post!

Hello and welcome to The View from the Valley’s Sports section! I’m sports correspondent Osiris and in conjunction with Isis will be keeping an eye on all major sporting happenings and events. Cricket and Football will be the focus of this section, while of course other major sporting events will also be covered. Although there are alternative websites, which may offer expert analysis like ourselves, we aim to add a personal spin to the day's play, in order to provide both an informative and entertaining account of each match.