We have seen two contrasting matches tonight..Tomorrow, it will be the teams from the other group flexing their muscles.. Till tomorrow, ciao ciao
Mushfiqur Rahim says, "Whoever gets set, ends up throwing their wicket.. so definitely not happening at the moment. After you lose a couple of wickets, you need to preserve the wickets, but also score runs because they had some good spinners. We thought about 150 plus as a good total, but unfortunately ended up below that. Two more games to go, so hopefully we can take some positives out of them"
MS Dhoni says, "No celebrations. We were slightly unlucky in Sri Lanka, we lost only one game and didn't qualify for the next round. But we have good players and the next few games are going to be extremely tough. I hadn't batted in a while and asked Yuvi if he was ok. Now everyone in the top five have had a bat. We don't have a bowler who we can bank upon - like Malinga or Narine - so we have to play the bowlers according to who is doing well at that time. We can't ask Virat Kohli to hit wicket and come back (to make games interesting). We can't do much about that (lack of challenge)."
R Ashwin gets the Man of the Match. he says, "Spinners have enjoyed good success, Mishy has won two Man of the Match awards, so I guess it was my turn today. A few difficult matches coming up now. We have played some excellent cricket, we don't need to be too worried (about not being tested enough)."
Another big win for India in the tournament that seals their spot in the semi-finals. Chasing a smallish target, India lost the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan early, but Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli never looked troubled during their century partnership. Rohit got out against the run of play, which gave Dhoni a chance to get some match practice. Another insipid display from the home side.. they were outplayed completely again. The result also makes it practically impossible very hard for Australia to make it to the next round. The win has also pushed India to the top of T20 team rankings, ahead of Sri Lanka
"I don't think Aussies chances are practically impossible. If PAK wins against WI and not against BL and AUS wins remaining 2 matches they still have chance I believe.. hmm at least in distance" -- True Jude.. lowered the degree of difficulty
Ziaur comes back to bowl the 19th
END OF OVER:18 | 4 Runs | IND: 133/2 (6 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 7.38, RRR: 3.00)
- Virat Kohli56 (49b)
- MS Dhoni15 (10b)
- Mashrafe Mortaza4-0-23-1
- Al-Amin Hossain4-0-38-1
END OF OVER:17 | 12 Runs | IND: 129/2 (10 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 7.58, RRR: 3.33)
- MS Dhoni13 (8b)
- Virat Kohli54 (45b)
- Al-Amin Hossain4-0-38-1
- Mashrafe Mortaza3-0-19-1
James: "I think both the "pro" and "anti" Kohli comments here are a bit wide of the mark. He's scored centuries outside India, and played Steyn well, but he's not a complete test player yet. A highest score of 119 says he has a way to go in tests yet (for what it's worth I think he'll get there). He is the complete package in limited overs formats, though."
CSK: "Will Dhoni take the chase till last over?"
Al-Amin Hossain comes back
END OF OVER:16 | 5 Runs 1 Wkt | IND: 117/2 (22 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 7.31, RRR: 5.50)
- MS Dhoni2 (3b)
- Virat Kohli53 (44b)
- Mashrafe Mortaza3-0-19-1
- Al-Amin Hossain3-0-26-1
