Mar 30 - Pakistan v India (Semi-Final 2)

[shripathee]

Pakisthan lost the match in the first innings itself. It is well known that Pakisthan had the best bowling attack in the tournament. In that pitch they should have bowled India out for under 220. They lost the plot because of dropped catches and India's resilient batting. (Sachin, Raina played crucial though unattractive knocks).
Their batting is short of quality and experience.
In that pitch they never looked like chasing it down despite India missing Ashwin.

 

[SaiSrini]

True true.

And what is heartening is that India has won because of solid team effort, not because one bowler got 5 wickets or a batsman made a brilliant century (of course Tendulkar's half centuries made a big difference) but all the players in this team have put their hands up when it counted. Even when the batting was under pressure.

Even Nehra is putting _some_ effort in the field

There were some failures sure, but I don't think any one team dominates like Australia has done in the past 10 years.

Did you see that effort put by Nehra on the field? If he had pulled off that Afridi catch (which he said wasnt clean), it would have been spectacular. He also dived and made a few saves in the circle. Also Munaf and Nehra bowled well yesterday. Their line and lengths were very disciplined and atleast Munaf induced the mistakes from the batsmen. Razzaq's bowled was a gem (and he is a dangerous batsman). Harbhajan's beauty to Akmal was just that, a BEAUTY!!! And Akmal was looking downright dangerous (I had this worrying visual of Akmal holding arms aloft and the Pakistan players running in to hug him after their win, which eventually didnt happen).

Zaheer was the off colour guy last night, but he too had some good moments.

 

[jkartik]

just saw GEO TV's interview with Afridi's two daughters.
their innonence and 'from-the-heart' opinions were just the most sweetest thing!

btw, is GEO TV the INDIA TV of Pakistan ?
interviewing the losing captain's daughters after the loss is just a bit too much.

 

[s2sschan]

Pressure

Gul was disappointing but surely the bowlers collectively did the job restricting India to a chaseable total. Come on, I think this is Indias lowest total in the WC batting first so surely the batsman should take that and put up a performance? Gul had a bad day but that played a less part in our loss and it was inadequacy of our batting that cost us the game.

Lol, this is now getting annoying. Ask any neutral fan, and he will tell you Pakistan lost not that India won. I am not saying we deserved to be in the final but our lack of application at key moments cost us the game. Which other team drops Sachin Tendulkar 4 times? Which kind of team makes Nehra, Munaf look like good bowlers? Have a look at the wickets in the game man, you will see the skill our bowlers used to take your batsman out, and the level of skill it took yours to do take our batsman.

Any team with a decent batting order could take India out yesterday. We didnt have it and hence lost.

In substance, what you are saying means the same thing as what I am, but if you look carefully its not the same as well. Point is India beat Australia in the QFs, but in the SF Pakistan lost to India. To some it may seem the same, even the end result is similar but if you are a man who looks more than just the result you can figure that difference out

If Cricket was all about Individual Skills and Talents Pakistan would be the No. 1 Team.

Cricket is more about Guts and Discipline than Individual Talent. Australia has proved that point to Pakistan by beating them a Million Times. You guys still don't get it.

 

[Kabooka]

I don't have a team - Poland don't even play the sport

Obviously India won, but it was more due to Pak's incompetence than your own brilliance.

You supported Bangladesh zealously. I remember your posts in the first match and you also bet all your VCash on BD. Obviously someone who supports such a rubbish team is a Bangladeshi supporter. So you DO have a team and we (amongst others) mopped them out of the tournament.

Also if we were to agree that yesterdays match was won by India because of Pakistan's incompetence, on thing to ponder over would be "what made the leading team of group A, crash out against us in a such a manner?" And if it is not our skill then what was it ?

I guess then the only reasonable answer to this question would be that after such a lame batting performance (by our own high standards) it was the CONFIDENCE of our players to defend this total and not throw the match away. We had the KILLER INSTINCT which Pakistanis lacked and with this we CHOKED them into submission. (as we have been doing for the last 4 times)

So we can conclude that Team India had the Confidence and the Killer Instinct which Pakistan lacked and hence they choked under pressure by this Indian team. hmmm sounds good to me.

 

[Varun]

I guess then the only reasonable answer to this question would be that after such a lame batting performance (by our own high standards) it was the CONFIDENCE of our players to defend this total and not throw the match away. We had the KILLER INSTINCT which Pakistanis lacked and with this we CHOKED them into submission. (as we have been doing for the last 4 times)

Really? You don't need to be that darn overconfident about India.

 

[jkartik]

Really? You don't need to be that darn overconfident about India.

anyone who bangs 2 swedish chicks at the same time is bound to be overconfident!

 

[Varun]

Smurf is true actually. Misbah actually showed a big sign of incompetence, when he could've just extracted singles instead of defensive shots and could've been a big boost to Pakistan in the powerplays. That would have also relieved some pressure of others to score.

 

[Haarithan]

And people in Chennai are already talking off building a statue tributing him for that blitzkreig cameo of his .

 

[Lassana Dias]

So, how's your feeling now....

feel the same way you felt after ENG vs SL and NZ vs SL games

 

[Sedition]

Pakistan played this match the way they play any match. They've always been ridiculed for their fielding and with just cause. Poor throws, dropped catches and just generally bleeding runs by not stopping singles, twos or a few simple 4's.
On occasions when they get it right, they can restrict any side, it just doesn't happen consistently.

Batting-wise they are known to play some unorthodox shots at weird moments and look ridiculous when they get out. When a bit of luck is on their side, they can score at an alarming rate, but in the long run it leads to too many collapses.

If Pakistan played better than expected, they might've won, but they exceeded all expectations making it this far anyway.. the luck had to run out sometime.

 

[Zidanes]

WOW 1000 posts for jusy one match!! Really awesome

Its the Indian cricket spirit of a match with our neighbours "PAKISTAN".

 

[ballers101]

You supported Bangladesh zealously. I remember your posts in the first match and you also bet all your VCash on BD. Obviously someone who supports such a rubbish team is a Bangladeshi supporter. So you DO have a team and we (amongst others) mopped them out of the tournament.

Also if we were to agree that yesterdays match was won by India because of Pakistan's incompetence, on thing to ponder over would be "what made the leading team of group A, crash out against us in a such a manner?" And if it is not our skill then what was it ?

I guess then the only reasonable answer to this question would be that after such a lame batting performance (by our own high standards) it was the CONFIDENCE of our players to defend this total and not throw the match away. We had the KILLER INSTINCT which Pakistanis lacked and with this we CHOKED them into submission. (as we have been doing for the last 4 times)

So we can conclude that Team India had the Confidence and the Killer Instinct which Pakistan lacked and hence they choked under pressure by this Indian team. hmmm sounds good to me.

Not Killer Instinct but pressure by powerful fielding. HOWEVER, there pressure was first put on by terrible batting and ability to give away wickets at the wrong time.

 

[cricket12345678]

Except Newzland match Pakisthan played better cricket throughout series

 

[ballers101]

Pakistan played this match the way they play any match. They've always been ridiculed for their fielding and with just cause. Poor throws, dropped catches and just generally bleeding runs by not stopping singles, twos or a few simple 4's.
On occasions when they get it right, they can restrict any side, it just doesn't happen consistently.

Batting-wise they are known to play some unorthodox shots at weird moments and look ridiculous when they get out. When a bit of luck is on their side, they can score at an alarming rate, but in the long run it leads to too many collapses.

If Pakistan played better than expected, they might've won, but they exceeded all expectations making it this far anyway.. the luck had to run out sometime.

Wow. Really got some problems with this right here. Pakistan did not make it to the semi-finals because of "luck", they made it because of their bowling. Pakistan in my opinion has the strongest bowling attack without Amir and Asif. I think they proved it in the world cup, even though Umar Gul did not have his day, he is still a very dangerous bowler and is widely considered one of the most dangerous fast bowlers in the world when he is in good rhythm. Afridi was by far a stand-out with the ball and he was by far the best spinner and in opinion he was the best bowler in the world cup. Put in a strong Ajmal, a very tight and consistent Hafeez and very good young talent in Wahab Riaz and Pakistan has an amazing bowling attack.

And there is no way you can tell me there fielding was ever THIS bad. It has been bad, yes I will agree to that but this was absolutely horrible. Never once did I see a good hustling play were the fielder picked up the ball and restricted a run or two. If you watch Pakistan play against Australia they weren't great but they were FAR better than in this match. Dropping Tendulkar 4 times come on, he was like a cat today Tendulkar had like 6 lives but just couldn't get out. I do agree their batting plays some horrible shots for no reason when everything is going perfectly. But still Pakistan did not win because of luck at all.