Jump to content

Cricket 30: World Twenty20 and beyond


ljkeane

Recommended Posts

6 hours ago, Paxter said:

Is there any hope for Pakistan in the final? My head says that this will be another one-sided affair, but my heart says that Pakistan can do something special and turn the game into a tight contest.

Sure they can win. If they bowl as well as they did against England they're in with a chance, winning the toss and having a similar pitch would probably help as well. The problem for Pakistan is with the balance of their side plus the current one day game really helping the batmen the path to them winning is a pretty narrow one. They can't even have a very good performance from their bowlers, they need an excellent one. They've had that for a few games in a row but you'd think they're going to have a bit of a dip at some point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, they probably didn't want to bat first though and the pitch doesn't look overly helpful for the bowlers. I'm just not too confident Pakistan are going to be able to post a total India will struggle to get.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

Yeah, they probably didn't want to bat first though and the pitch doesn't look overly helpful for the bowlers. I'm just not too confident Pakistan are going to be able to post a total India will struggle to get.

Their bowling has been excellent though. It's possible to see them bowl well again, similar to how they did versus England, of course, they were bowling first in that game.

What is up with these pitches though? Were they the same when England played South Africa?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Raja said:

What is up with these pitches though? Were they the same when England played South Africa?

I wasn't paying that much attention but I don't remember them being too bad. In fairness all the rain probably hasn't helped. I think there's also probably a reluctance to prepare pitches which are too lively in England for a major tournament. If you turn up for a final and it's overcast and the ball's swinging plus doing loads off the pitch you might not see too much of all these superstar batsmen.

Anyway, credit to them, this is an excellent start for Pakistan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, ljkeane said:

Yeah, they probably didn't want to bat first though and the pitch doesn't look overly helpful for the bowlers. I'm just not too confident Pakistan are going to be able to post a total India will struggle to get.

Yup. They really need to aim for 330-340. This is a great Indian batting lineup and a cracking pitch.

How good was Fakhar!? Not bad for his fourth international match...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Competitive total. Pakistan will hope they can produce a comparable bowling performance against this formidable Indian batting lineup. Sharma, Dhawan and Kohli are the key wickets. While India have plenty of quality batsmen, their middle order hasn't had much batting to do and could be caught cold.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

338 is a good result in the end, although you get the sense that Pakistan could have gotten more. India's death bowling was pretty good but I think Imad Wasim got too interested in little flicks and moving around the pitch...if he had stayed his ground and thrashed a few more big hits he might have collected a few more boundaries. Always easy to say from the comforts of the armchair though.

This is a battle royale now - quite possibly the tournament's best batting lineup against its best bowling attack - a fitting way to cap off the tournament.

If any team can chase down 338 in a final it's India. Pakistan need to hold their nerve here, the onus is on India to chase and if they can keep things tight at the beginning, wickets will begin to tell in the middle overs.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, The Winged Shadow said:

 

Feel's so wrong hoping for a Pakistan win, but they are the underdog so can't help it :P

I hate all of y'all :crying:

It's a pity I head into work in an hour. It's going to need a *very* good/ patient batting performance to win us this game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Raja said:

I hate all of y'all :crying:

It's a pity I head into work in an hour. It's going to need a *very* good/ patient batting performance to win us this game.

If any batting lineup can chase it, it's India. I mean, even if top order goes cheap, India has got a really experienced middle order with Yuvi and Dhoni who is an excellent chaser. They haven't had a lot of time in the middle under pressure thanks to the top order, so that would be the only worry.

edit: holy shit, they dropped Kohli....

edit 2: and rectified...

Holy shit, this is good stuff from Pakistan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On a fairly tangential note, great to see Mohammad Amir bowling so well in the final.

Given the match fixing problems at the start of his career and the 5 year ban he could easily have walked away from the game. Now he is back in and showing his real talent - hope he keeps on the straight and narrow. Cricket is much better for having him there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pakistan have been excellent so far (aside from the dropped catch which didn't prove costly). India's middle order will be under some pressure which is something that they haven't had to deal with during this tournament. However, Yuvraj and Dhoni have seen and done it all before. At least Pakistan did not implode and have put India under the most pressure they have had to deal with in the entire tournament.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yuvraj, Dhawan and Dhoni are all very formidable batsmen in this form of the game. Jadhav and Pandya may not have the same level of experience but their track record so far looks very good.

With 2 wickets down, it still gives India five frontline batsmen to play with, plus the fact that we know Jadeja and Ashwin can handle themselves pretty well and could stick around with any of those five if needed.

There is still definitely a route to victory here for India in the game, although they'll need to make sure the rate doesn't get out of control.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...