New India! Now to conquer the Greens!
India heads off to Mohali! The men in Blue, after rolling over the Yellow brigade now awaits the Greens for a place in the World Cup finals. It will be a dream match come Wednesday and surely the whole of both the countries will come to a halt.
But before that, just spare a though for the three time World Champions for the last 11 years. Australia arrived this world cup with a reputation to defend but without the proper effective ammunitions. Their biggest drawback was the lack of quality spinners in the side. Touring the sub-continent without world class spinners who could take wickets, apply pressure at one end cost them the world cup. India scored in this area, with Ashwin and Harbhajan bowling with discipline to keep up the pressure on the Aussies. Zaheer kept up the momentum with another power packed bowling. 30 overs of pressure really forced the Aussies to take risk on the other bowlers like Munaf Patel and Yuvraj Singh. But Yuvraj has matured ages in the last couple of months, coming back from some layoffs and depressing performances. His intelligent way of handling spin bowling has already earned him accolades as the most successful spinners of the Indian side this world cup. Aussies took chances against him and paid dearly.
That India had catapulted to a side which could not be recognised from their performances in the league phase. The confidence amongst the bowlers was visible. They were bowling at the right areas mostly. The fielding was inspiring. Skipper Dhoni attacked from the beginning, kept a minute watch on the field setting so as to cut down the number of singles. Kept the pressure up by changing his bowlers. If that was not enough proof, then digest this. The Indian middle order, for the first time in the tournament, didn't panic in the middle but kept their cool and nerve to guide the team to the victory podium.
This was a team which lost 9 wickets in 29 runs and 7 wickets in 51 runs very recently. More than anything else, lack of self belief was doing the Indians in. The good thing is, in the quarter finals none of that could be found. Sachin was in his elements during his stay. He created another milestone in the process - crossing 18000 runs in ODIs. Sehwag was surprised by a short ball, but Gautam Gambhir steadied the loss with a stylish knock. Virat Kohli was unlucky not to time the full toss from David Hussey to get caught at mid-on. Dhoni couldn't believe his well struck square cut could be caught by Michael Clarke.
With 74 runs to go, shivers went down to everybody's spine as the fear of another collapse and the subsequent loss was lurking vividly. However, Yuvaraj and Suresh Raina dispelled all the threats with their confident strides, the lofted strokes and sudden shifting in gears. They played with vengeance and took the challenge head on. That was the turning moment in the match.
That defined the new India.
India heads off to Mohali! The men in Blue, after rolling over the Yellow brigade now awaits the Greens for a place in the World Cup finals. It will be a dream match come Wednesday and surely the whole of both the countries will come to a halt.
But before that, just spare a though for the three time World Champions for the last 11 years. Australia arrived this world cup with a reputation to defend but without the proper effective ammunitions. Their biggest drawback was the lack of quality spinners in the side. Touring the sub-continent without world class spinners who could take wickets, apply pressure at one end cost them the world cup. India scored in this area, with Ashwin and Harbhajan bowling with discipline to keep up the pressure on the Aussies. Zaheer kept up the momentum with another power packed bowling. 30 overs of pressure really forced the Aussies to take risk on the other bowlers like Munaf Patel and Yuvraj Singh. But Yuvraj has matured ages in the last couple of months, coming back from some layoffs and depressing performances. His intelligent way of handling spin bowling has already earned him accolades as the most successful spinners of the Indian side this world cup. Aussies took chances against him and paid dearly.
That India had catapulted to a side which could not be recognised from their performances in the league phase. The confidence amongst the bowlers was visible. They were bowling at the right areas mostly. The fielding was inspiring. Skipper Dhoni attacked from the beginning, kept a minute watch on the field setting so as to cut down the number of singles. Kept the pressure up by changing his bowlers. If that was not enough proof, then digest this. The Indian middle order, for the first time in the tournament, didn't panic in the middle but kept their cool and nerve to guide the team to the victory podium.
This was a team which lost 9 wickets in 29 runs and 7 wickets in 51 runs very recently. More than anything else, lack of self belief was doing the Indians in. The good thing is, in the quarter finals none of that could be found. Sachin was in his elements during his stay. He created another milestone in the process - crossing 18000 runs in ODIs. Sehwag was surprised by a short ball, but Gautam Gambhir steadied the loss with a stylish knock. Virat Kohli was unlucky not to time the full toss from David Hussey to get caught at mid-on. Dhoni couldn't believe his well struck square cut could be caught by Michael Clarke.
With 74 runs to go, shivers went down to everybody's spine as the fear of another collapse and the subsequent loss was lurking vividly. However, Yuvaraj and Suresh Raina dispelled all the threats with their confident strides, the lofted strokes and sudden shifting in gears. They played with vengeance and took the challenge head on. That was the turning moment in the match.
That defined the new India.
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