The Cricket World Cup Thread

[Singha]

bhailog in 2007 WC final, the same crew as today + vaas got smashed for 284/4 in 38 overs by the big bad wolf

Chaminda Vaas 8 0 54 0 6.75
Lasith Malinga 8 1 49 2 6.12
Dilhara Fernando 8 0 74 1 9.25
Muttiah Muralitharan 7 0 44 0 6.28
Tillakaratne Dilshan 2 0 23 0 11.50
Sanath Jayasuriya 5 0 33 0 6.60

the other aussies played respectably, but gilchrist went into berserk ciws mode and made the diff:

Adam Gilchrist c Silva b Fernando 149r 104b

[suryag]

Which makes me think Malinga could possibly be handled better by a left hander

[Singha]

yuvraj is slow to put his bat down (saw that in Pak match) and a shaky starter. better bet is perhaps promote Raina to #3 or #4 if a leftie is needed up the order. he hits clean and is sharper on his feet. he can also safely cut off-spinners like murali as the stock ball would be going out.

the banglacricket and slcricket both seem to be a decent lot - mostly discussing their own teams, not laced with periodic 'inshallah we shall crush the kafir' type shoutings. some amt of hyperbole and overconfidence is expected.

[Singha]

gilchrist was a wild man like sehwag. most bats would down shutters after a couple of 4s in a over, but his mentality is why not 2 more? probably one of the few relatively decent guys in that aussie team.

[Dilbu]

I am very unhappy with people questioning the MOM award for Sachi
You all seem to have missed the critical turning point of the entire
match. It's a well-established truism that if Tendulkar gets a
century, India cannot win. After Tendulkar got to 20, the battle was
well and truly on. Five times Tendulkar tried to give away his wicket
to ensure that India would win, and five times Pakistan refused to
take it, thereby keeping themselves in the match. When Tendulkar got
to the 80s, the tension was nearly unbearable. Finally, the Pakistani
skipper had a temporary lapse of concentration and held on to a catch.
Tendulkar had out-thought the opposition and succeeded in getting out
for under a hundred, making him a deserving MOM.

Website for Answering the critics of the master of cricket Sachin Tendulkar
http://www.sachinandcritics.com/

[krishnan]

Thats nicely designed website

[Rahul M]

guys, let's not underestimate malinga or the lankan spinners, our record against them is 50:50, 70-30 IIRC against malinga himself, remember the first test in SL, our batsmen couldn't stand against him for more than a couple of overs. even the second pacer, if kulasekara is playing has good movement and a decent bowling brain. you saw what wahab riaz did to us.
they also have the best performing top order at the moment, even tharanga is in dilshan-esque form, then there are sanga and jawabardhane. the late middle order might look bad but if they play thisara perara I might soil my lungi. he has a habit of hammering our bowlers like a gilly-viru-yusuf hybrid.

lastly, they have played on this pitch just a couple of weeks back, we haven't, ever.
oh the morons of BCCI, where is the home advantage ?

[Dilbu]

Officially launching the a-j campaign for WC final.
India will lose onlee

[Manish Jain]

Malinga is a threat but not so much when played with a straight bat. We've played him well before and will do it again.

But, India will lose only

[Prasad]

Officially launching the a-j campaign for WC final.
India will lose onlee

India will lose onlee!!

[Dilbu]

I played this song continuously during the match as BGM for anti-jinx. Worked like a charm for me in the last match.

[Singha]

victory or defeat is being decided by how many of you shivering rabble did not wear undie under lungie to work today.
for those in EST/PST/EU-ST there is still time to do you bit for the cause !!

[Dilbu]

God will score 0 onlee.

[ajit_tr]

Afridi Answering the question of a pakistani reporter regarding enmity and rivalry with india @2:54.on his return to pakistan after semifinal defeat at mohali.following is the gist of it....

I don't understand the thinking of us pakistanis,why we are so much against India?Why we hate hate India?Aren't there other teams too?If its all about rivalry with india then every Pakistani home we watch indian movies and serials.Our all marriages are done according to indian customs.So why hate India only?All this talks of rivalry and enmity are all BS.Treat sport as sport.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjwNHWjX ... r_embedded

[Rahul M]

for once I would like to see a good one-sided thrashing of the lankans, I'm sick of this scraping through close matches. too bad it's likely to be the lankans thrashing us.

[Neela]

^^^^

Congratulations! Afridi just got himself an IPL ticket!

[Singha]

I would also favour a one sided match, where someone steps in like Gilly and 'finishes the fight' in 20 over blitz.
enough of this hair-trigger tension.
putting my $$ on Raina being promoted up the order and doing his best deed yet.

[Rahul M]

[ManjaM]

There’s a lot to be said about the cricket tournament, especially our match against India. And it has a lot more to do with Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Gul’s bad luck, and Sachin Tendulkar’s good fortune.

Cricket speaks to our nation in a way our government never has.

And Shahid Afridi addressed the nation in a way our president never has – unselfish, genuine, modest. So when Afridi apologized to Pakistan, millions listened and were humbled by the gesture. Our eyes filled with tears and our hearts with love and strange kind of sorrow. Shahid Afridi, you need not apologize to the nation. We are proud of you and our entire cricket team! You didn’t bring back the cup, but any excitement, any happiness, any hope that Pakistanis have felt in the past few months is because of your brilliance. We’ve been hearing a lot of “Pakistan needs something to celebrate,” but what Pakistanis really needed was something to look forward to, and the green team gave us that with the anticipation of each game played.

The funny thing about cricket is that it can unite the nation through a victory or a loss. It would have been wonderful to go out on the streets and celebrate with dhols, etc, as we did when we won the 20/20 Cricket World Cup in 2009. But even after our loss yesterday, the people of Pakistan, in their state of disbelief, came out and shared their sorrow. Misery loves company. Cars on streets, people driving around slowly, quietly, patiently. No honking, no cursing, no where to go, no where to escape. It was surreal. This only goes to show what cricket means to us and the massive void it fills for our nation.

Cricketers, you made us patriotic. You made us passionate. You made us proud.

And these precious adjectives are some that Pakistan rarely gets the chance to associate itself with.

So again, Afridi, your apology is appreciated but not needed. You conducted yourself with patience, grace and dignity, encouraging your own with a smile, and congratulating the opponents with an even bigger smile. You didn’t win the semi-finals, but you won our hearts. Thank you for showing the world we are not an aggressive nation.

To Pakistan, I propose this: if there’s anyone who needs to apologize it’s us.

So to Afridi and the team, I apologize for the pressure I put on you to win the World Cup. It comes from my own shortcomings. So lazy and so cowardly am I that I am incapable of creating for myself a reason to celebrate Pakistan. Since as far as I can remember, my patriotism has tenaciously clung to cricket. It is unfair. I know.

To those Pakistanis who thought this was a match between Hindus and Muslims, I’m glad India won. This was never a battle between nations, or a jehad against Hindus. It was a semi-final cricket match, and if a loss is what it took to be reminded of this then I’m glad we lost. Victory would have only made you gloat over something you had wrong all along anyway.

However, if there was one thing I was relieved to discover it was that we don’t hate India. We may hate America, but we don’t hate India. No burning of the Indian flag, no bitter remarks, no threatening reaction. Phew! Just healthy competition and a pure love for the game.

So we don’t hate India. In fact, we hate Zardari. What pleased me even more were the numerous text messages and facebook statuses I came across that poked fun at Zardari. My personal favourite is, “ We congratulate India on winning the semi-finals. As a good-will gesture, India can keep Pakistan’s prime minister. And if it wins the finals, we will give our president too.”

Ahhh, Zardari jokes. They never get old. He’s our scapegoat now. It’s his fault we lost. Somehow.

That being said, think. It’s time we stop asking of our cricketers something we should have been asking of ourselves. Or our government. Lets find ourselves a reason to be patriotic and celebrate Pakistan, and let cricket be a sport, not an identity. If we all just took a little responsibility, maybe our beloved team can finally approach the pitch as cricketers, not as soldiers entering the battlefield. We owe it to them.

Welcome back, boys!

This article has been written by Maheen Sadiq

http://www.maati.tv/beta/to-afridi-with-love/

One defeat against Kafir India has made them self effacing, "patient and peaceful" and even improved paki driving skills, " No honking, no cursing" (in the authors own words). This is a lesson to the world on how to fix pakistan. Second cricket defeat against india will solve Kashmir, third one will bring in world peace.

[shaardula]

what is that? battery change for the lankan run machine. sube sube kya kya dekate re baap ye logaan.

[ManjaM]

aiyoo, and we are going to lose onree

[Prasad]

I for one would love a carefree dhoni step up to the mantle and whack them like only he can!



But we will lose onlee

[Chinmayanand]

for once I would like to see a good one-sided thrashing of the lankans, I'm sick of this scraping through close matches. too bad it's likely to be the lankans thrashing us.

Mullah , joo badly need a carton of Mountain Dew. Just take the doses in time.

[Hari Seldon]

From twitter:

@REUTERSFLASH: Sri Lanka all rounder Angelo Mathews ruled out of World Cup final - ICC

[Dilbu]

I have a feeling VS will take off like a Brahmos in tomorrow's game. But I am kafir and what do I know. India will lose onlee

[Rahul M]

sehwag doesn't have too good a record in crunch matches. we depend on gambhir and kohli.

[Chinmayanand]

sehwag doesn't have too good a record in crunch matches. we depend on gambhir and kohli.

He was the lone man standing in the 2003 WC final. After he got out, i gave up.

[Nirantar]

I predict (NOT) a good knock coming from Dhoni this time.
In any case, TI is gonna lose onlee.

Jai ho anti-jinx mata ki. Buri nazar walon tumhari aankh me red chilly smoke.

[SandeepA]

Either of the lefties Gambhir or Raina will come good..Mendis will be mauled...but India will lose onlee

[Rahul M]

cheen me anand, so ? one match 8 years back which we lost is hardly a good example. the only one I remember is the champions trophy final in SL where he was batting well but the match was washed out.

[Hari Seldon]

from twitter:

Sri Lankan president to worship ahead of the World Cup final at Tirupati shrine http://bit.ly/gRIvl4

Ayyo.... And sure Rajapaksa will get Tirupati laddus for the entire SL team....."groan!"

Some may call this desi soft power and all that but srivaru's blessings should first and foremost be with team Yindia onlee.....

Perhaps Gawd can quietly put a small drop-in to Siddhivinayak at Dadar, eh?

[Chinmayanand]

[SandeepA]

Randiv has replaced angelo matthews in the SL squad

Can a spinner replace a seamer?

[Dilbu]

Lankan President is already here and he is off to Tirupati for blessings before the final. He doesn't know it yet that God himself is opening India's innings.

[Austin]

Lankan President is already here and he is off to Tirupati for blessings before the final. He doesn't know it yet that God himself is opening India's innings.

Coz he does not know the match is fixed and India will win

[Rahul M]

ai baap, austin is here !!

now waiting for jagan and shiv ji to turn up as well.

[KJo]

Yes that is aleem dar. But he is a competent umpire. Besides I think we've gotten the hang of using DRS by now and will use it properly if need arises.

Man, that Caddick 6 at 2:40 still gives me goose bumps. Too much talk and come match time, get whacked over square leg for 6!!

That was beautiful!

[SaiK]

Lankan President is already here and he is off to Tirupati for blessings before the final. He doesn't know it yet that God himself is opening India's innings.

Coz he does not know the match is fixed and India will win

So was the India->>>Pak fixed.
here is one proof:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket ... 09008.html

[Chinmayanand]

Why so many maulanas here are hellbent on self-goal, hainji?

[Lalmohan]

indian disease onlee