Tie is a Tie is a match that's Tied,
Don't know how many have died !
Zaheer ran one and a three quarter,
Never seen anyone half smarter !
Don't know how many have died !
Zaheer ran one and a three quarter,
Never seen anyone half smarter !
Dedicated to the Great Indian Bowling Team that made this result possible !
Give them a total in excess of 350 and they will manage to scrap through.
Give them a total in excess of 330 and they will manage a Tie.
Give them a total of par 300 and the Captain can blame the batsmen.
England's batsmen from 7 to 10 made 48 runs of 30 balls between them belting 3 sixes.
India's 7 to 10 made 14 runs from 14 balls and still managed to run one short.
The way Indian lower order batted and ran was plain disappointing. When the Umpire signaled Zaheer Khan as short as he ran himself out like a blind mouse, I had told my Cricket crazy Mom that 'This Run" might well become the difference in the end. Am I the New Cricket Prophet ?
But Dhoni's decision to bowl Piyush Chawla in the 49th over, was Stupid. A bowler would be able to fire down flat would have done a better job. Sehwag, Pathan or even Yuveraj should have been the choice.
Munaf Patel's last over proves once again why he is a liability when it comes to death bowling. For once, I missed Nehra.
In spite of all this, if this match ended up as a Tie, England's fielding has to be blamed. They were far below their normal standards. Are they experimenting with KP as opener at the wrong time ?
The final Analysis:
In the end, Tie is a fair result only because neither of them deserved to Win !
SPun Doctor
I have no complaints as far as Munaf's last over is concerned... but that Piyush decision was DAFT.
ReplyDeleteI was sooo praying for Pathan.
Yes, in fact I also missed Raina. He is perhaps our best death bowler these days.
ReplyDeleteThose two sixes in Piyush's over were definitely spoilers and Munaf must have felt let down. Imagine having Nehra who would have restricted them to 6 - 8 runs of the over which would have meant over 20 from last over.
But even Munaf bowled length balls and that is not done at death.
Dhoni should have learnt something from the first innings where Yardy's darts were very effective during the Batting Powerplay. His last over may have been costly, but even then he managed a wicket!
ReplyDeleteBut the biggest impact to this match, in my opinion, was made by the UDRS call on Ian Bell. All the other acts in the field were either brilliances or follies of the men playing the game themselves. There was just this once act that had nothing to do with the players... but the umpires!
To say that that decision proved to be crucial would be the understatement of last 3 World Cups!
When you score 338 runs, loss of one run does not seem critical, isn't it? Murphy's law!!
ReplyDeleteI don't mind Munaf bowling at death. He is most accurate among Indian bowlers, if not with variations as Zak. Having not seen the second half of the game, I can't comment on Dhoni's decisions, but he probably miscalculated as Zaheer might have finished earlier in an attaempt to get wickets. Yuvraj would have been better perhaps? Well, he also could have gone for 14; it is easier to comment after the fact. To be honest, to come back after Poms were 270 odd for 2 was excellent. At that time, to me it looked English had already won it. I read about UDRS in the morning and as before, I don't like the application of the technology. I can't understand that if Hawk eye is not full-proof, why use it? Let us stay with umpiring decisions. Dhoni and Indians are totally justified in refusing to use it. I believe it should be scrapped from this WC immediately. I have seen a couple of bizzare calls before in this tournament as well. Also, I hear that Strauss was out caught behind earlier but no one appealed?? Indian fielding is probably the key; if they have to win this cup, it must improve. Also, it proves my gut feeling that Poms are a dark horse in this tournament.
Munaf is accurate, no doubt. But he is too monotonous at death. Even lacks the proper yorker. But I don't blame him for what happened yesterday. I just said, he can be a liability at death.
ReplyDeleteChawla was a gamble and that will be remembered as one that failed. Conventional wisdom would have meant a bowler who can go flat should have bowled and not the one who flights. I would have gone for Sehwag / Pathan / Yuvi [Most likely].
But Indian middle and late order slump was pathetic. 305 / 3 to 327 / 5 and 338 all out ! Whatever people might say, Yuveraj's promotion misfired because he would have been better at the position where Kohli failed.
Imagine if the Top-4 take a holiday, India would be all out for 75 !