I thought there is only one match on day 9 i.e India vs South Africa. When I stwiched on the TV on that sunday morning Jayawardene was batting then I came to know that there is Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan too. Damn! I wasted whole night trying to sleep rather than watching that match. Both matches brought some big surprises.
Game 12: Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan
Mathews won the toss and chose to field first. Sri Lanka brought in Thisara Perera for Kulasekera which according to me was good move. You can't keep players like Thisara Perera out of the game for too long. Malinga and Lakmal began bowling for Sri Lanka but Mathews gave the first break through to Sri Lanka. Lakmal who impressed with his bowling against New Zealand picked up the second wicket. So on the total of 40 Afghanistan was 2 down. Both of their dashers Javed and Mangal were back to pavilion. Asghar and Shenwari made the partnership of the innings. They added 88 runs to the total before Asghar got out after playing superb innings of 54. Then wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals. There wasn't any big partnerships but those small 30-40 run partnerships took Afghanistan past 200. Afghanistan ended up at 232 of its fifty overs.
I think Zadran brothers had some delicious meat in the break. They sent both the Sri Lankan openers back to pavilion on the golden ducks. Sri Lanka was 2/2 just after the day Pakistan registered worst ever start in the history of ODI cricket. An upset was on the cards but Sangakkara and Jayawardene were still there to save Sri Lanka. Hamid Hasan went through Sangakkara's defence with an in-swinging delivery. It brought the wave of belief in Afghanistan camp. Sri Lanka had one more veteran who has brought his team out of such situations lot of times. Jayawardene came to Sri Lanka's rescue and started building innings with Karunaratne. Karunaratne was not being able to hold himself for too long and got out to Hasan's another gem of a delivery.
Jayawardene and Mathews slowly and steadily build the partnership of the innings they added 126 runs before Mathews ran himself out on 44. Jayawardene went on to make 100. He played the role of life guard and saved Sri Lanka from drowning. He followed Mathews back to the pavilion and his wicket raised hopes for Afghanistan again. Jayawardene set the stage for Perera to come and play his shots. Perera did exactly the same he came and unleashed himself. Perera's 47 off 26 balls helped Sri Lanka win the match in 49th over. Jayawardene once again helped Sri Lanka to fetch the victory from the jaws of defeat. Sri Lanka should learn to win the matches without Sangkkara and Jayawardene. Apart from Sangkkara and Jayawardene there are two more batsmen on which Sri Lanka can rely on and they are Mathews and Perera. Both of them played their part well in the victory. I am surprised to know that they dropped Perera. I thought he is out due to an injury. Anyways first win for Sri Lanka in this world cup and they are off the mark on points table.
Game 13: India vs South Africa
Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat first. Thank god! He is not playing gambles in this world cup. Though he has played a big gamble by picking up this team. India played the same team and came out to bat with same plan. Plan was not to loose wickets in first 10-15 overs then to build on to the innings till 40th over and then to give it away in last 10 overs. Dhawan and Rohit Sharma started batting as per the plan. Unfortunately Rohit Sharma got out due to the brilliance of AB DeVilliers in the field. Once again Dhawan and Kohli build up an innings for India.
Dhawan was in good touch he came into this match of good half century against Pakistan and his cut shots was the proof that he is in damn good form. I enjoyed every cut shot he played. Dhawan and Kohli carried on pretty nicely and made 100 run parnership. Both of them carried on till 136 and made South African bowlers work hard for wickets. Kohli got out on the short delivery bowled by Tahir and he was only 6 short of his 50. Next in was Rahane. Frankly speaking I would have gone for Raina instead of Rahane as stage was set for him to come and play his shots but Rahane adapted to the situation well and accelerated the innings along with Dhawan. Soon Dhawan reached to another ODI hundred. It was the best knock he has ever played. He got out after another 100 run partnership with Rahane. He made exit from ground with standing ovation. He truely deserved it. More than 86000 people stood and applauded Dhawan's knock. It is a dream of every cricketer to receive such an ovation.
Raina followed Dhawan after short innings of 6 runs. Rahane got out as well after the great knock of 79 of just 60 balls. He paced his innings pretty well. After Rahane India gave it away. Indian made 307 runs of its 50 overs which were 20-25 runs less of what was projected. India scored only 77 runs in last 10 overs which is very less compared to what other teams has scored in their slog overs so far in this world cup. 300+ had never been chased at MCG but it was South Africa the team with great batting line-up led by world's no. 1 batsman for whom chasing 308 is no big deal. Moreover if you consider India's bowling in front of South African batting it was game on.
When South African innings started I was surprised by Shami and Yadav's opening spell. Both of them were bowling at the pace of 140+. It showed how much pace that MCG wicket had in it. That pace and bounce helped Shami to get DeKock early. Amla and DuPlessis were looking good but a short ball from Mohit Sharma does the trick. Shami took an excellent catch to dismiss Amla. DeVilliers and DuPlessis rose to the ocassion and started building a partnership. They added 68 runs to the total and it looked like that they will take it away from India. Then Mohit Sharma's brilliant throw from the deep ran DeVilliers out. It proved to be a turning point of the match. After DeVilliers' wicket there was not any big partnership. Only Duplessis' 50 was there for South Africa to cheer for. Duminy got out early and another good throw got Miller as well. South Africa's innings was wraped up on 177 and India won by 130 runs. Ashwin was pick of the bowlers. It was a big win for India. Frankly I thought South Africa will crush India but now I think this win against South Africa will take India to semis (hopefully). Ziba's luck is working for Dhoni. Dhawan's form is back on time and all of the sudden whole team is looking very good. Now India will top the table in the group stage.
It was that day in world cup cricket on which we almost had another upset and an outright favourite was beaten by an undercooked team. Every day in this world cup is unpredictable and incredible and that's the best part of it. Next up is England vs Scotland. Let's see what this match has in store for us. An upset? Who knows?
#CWC15 day 10
#CWC15 day 10
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