India and England in poised balance!
It has been an exhalirating first 15 overs of the second semifinal here at The Oval between India and England! England who won the toss and decided to bat, have run away to 82 runs but in the process, have lost 3 wickets which has tilted back the balance to the middle! Andrew Strauss and Trescothick started off superbly smashing the Indian opening pair of Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji to the cleaners! Strauss was the most flamboyant of the two, caressing Balaji for two superb boundaries - one through the midwicket and one to the third man fence!
Against the grain of play, Strauss was adjudged LBW off the bowling of Irfan Pathan! It was a vicious incutter from Pathan and Strauss shuffled across the line and played onto the ball and was hit on his thigh! The replays proved inconclusive as Strauss trudged back to the pavilion probably thinking that he was hard done by! Micheal Vaughan then joined Trescothick who probably looked less attacking today, trying to score runs off singles and two's. Vaughan stamped his authority into the match hitting a six off Balaji and was scoring at over run a ball! Just then, Trescothick trying to emulate Vaughan, mistimed a lofted cover drive and the fielder at cover made no mistake in latching on to the catch!
Kevin Pietersen was the next man to come in, and more surprisingly, the next man to go too! Pietersen's aggressive tactics can always not work out everyday and he came to know of that today when in a rush of blood, he tried to clear the midwicket boundary but instead holed out to the midwicket fielder inside the circle! It was absolutely mindless cricket from Pietersen who probably should have given support to his captain, especially after the fall of two quick wickets that of the openers!
At the end of the 15th over, England are placed at 82/3 ! Zaheer Khan was the chief wrecker with 2 wickets, that of Marcus Trescothick and Kevin Pietersen! The wicket is getting more turn and it should be good news for Harbhajan Singh and part timers like Sehwag and Tendulkar. If India can restrict England to a total between 250-270, then they would have done themself a lot of favor!
India and England in poised balance!
It has been an exhalirating first 15 overs of the second semifinal here at The Oval between India and England! England who won the toss and decided to bat, have run away to 82 runs but in the process, have lost 3 wickets which has tilted back the balance to the middle! Andrew Strauss and Trescothick started off superbly smashing the Indian opening pair of Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji to the cleaners! Strauss was the most flamboyant of the two, caressing Balaji for two superb boundaries - one through the midwicket and one to the third man fence!
Against the grain of play, Strauss was adjudged LBW off the bowling of Irfan Pathan! It was a vicious incutter from Pathan and Strauss shuffled across the line and played onto the ball and was hit on his thigh! The replays proved inconclusive as Strauss trudged back to the pavilion probably thinking that he was hard done by! Micheal Vaughan then joined Trescothick who probably looked less attacking today, trying to score runs off singles and two's. Vaughan stamped his authority into the match hitting a six off Balaji and was scoring at over run a ball! Just then, Trescothick trying to emulate Vaughan, mistimed a lofted cover drive and the fielder at cover made no mistake in latching on to the catch!
Kevin Pietersen was the next man to come in, and more surprisingly, the next man to go too! Pietersen's aggressive tactics can always not work out everyday and he came to know of that today when in a rush of blood, he tried to clear the midwicket boundary but instead holed out to the midwicket fielder inside the circle! It was absolutely mindless cricket from Pietersen who probably should have given support to his captain, especially after the fall of two quick wickets that of the openers!
At the end of the 15th over, England are placed at 82/3 ! Zaheer Khan was the chief wrecker with 2 wickets, that of Marcus Trescothick and Kevin Pietersen! The wicket is getting more turn and it should be good news for Harbhajan Singh and part timers like Sehwag and Tendulkar. If India can restrict England to a total between 250-270, then they would have done themself a lot of favor!
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