Another World cup Loss for Team Pakistan against India...

Virat Kohli has become a big name in World cricket and World cup is an ideal stage for champions like him. He has definitely set the stage rolling for India to defend the World cup. Performance such as this would rub onto others and brings the best out of every one. Aaron Finch, Brendon Macullum did it for their teams too, but Kohli's innings was special as he was out of form prior to this match.

Cautious approach by the top order batsmen and Partnerships won the match for India against the Arch-Rivals on Sunday. Rohit Sharma started off very cautiously along with Dhawan and both of them left and defended the balls brilliantly. A rush of blood costed Rohit Sharma his wicket, but Dhawan was in no hurry, as he and Kohli ran well between the wickets and rotated the strike thereby building a strong partnership. Only a Run out could have broken the partnership and that is exactly what happened when Misbah ran Dhawan out. Dhoni kept the Right-Left combination going on when he sent Raina ahead of Rahane and Suresh Raina mixed caution with aggression and made sure that Kohli focused on the big Hundred.

Virat Kohli was so upset, when Dhawan got run out and Suresh Raina was so elated, when Kohli reached Hundred, that he started celebrating even before Kohli's fist pumped the air - A clear testimony to the bond that this team has. During the fielding and bowling effort, the celebrations went to another level, as this team yearns for each other's success.

Saeed Ajmal was missed on this crucial encounter, as he would have kept a check on flow of runs throughout the innings and a regular wicket keeper was also missed as Umar Akmal dropped the catch behind the stumps. Umar Gul and Sohail Tanveer might have been handy, considering their international exposure, but they were not picked for the World cup. Having said that, Sohail Khan and Wahab bowled excellently, constantly hitting 150k in the speed gun. However, they could not stop India from scoring 300. Afridi and Yasir were very ordinary as Indians attacked them in right patches. Sohail Khan deserved his 5 wicket haul, but his wickets came too late in India's innings, by which we had posted a match winning score.

The pressure of chasing 300 in a world cup and that too an India Pakistan encounter did not augur well for Pakistanis. Mohammed Shami surprised Younis Khan with a quick off-cutter bouncer, which was gloved to Dhoni behind the stumps. The 2nd wicket Partnership between Ahmed Shehzad and Harris Sohail provided hope, but Ashwin bowled a lovely little spell to remove left hander Harris, who edged it to Raina in slips - A classical off spinner dismissal!! What followed was expected. Pakistan collapsed by losing the next 3 wickets for 3 runs on the board. Shehzad square cut the wide delivery from Umesh Yadav into the hands of Jadeja at Point. Two balls later, Maqsood edged another wide delivery from Yadav to Raina in slips and 2 overs later, Umar Akmal was given caught behind off the bowling of Jadeja. Pakistan score board read 106 for 5 and the whole world knew that match was sealed by Indians at that point itself.

Umesh Yadav might leak runs, but his pace might unsettle any batsmen. Though he did not bowl wicket taking deliveries consistently, Credit should be given to Dhoni for trusting him and bringing him back after he leaked 30 odd runs from his initial 3 overs. Dhoni started to choke the opponents with his bowling changes and field placements, which never allowed Misbah and Afridi to feel confident that they are still in the hunt. He kept on rotating the bowlers and Afridi fell for another full toss, trying to heave it outside Adelaide, off the bowling of Shami. Harbhajan singh would have had a smile in his face seeing it, as in 2011, he used the full toss tactic to dismiss Afridi.

The pick of the Indian bowlers, undoubtedly was Mohit Sharma, who dried the runs at crucial times, followed by Ashwin and Shami. Jadeja and Yadav has to be more consistent and complement the bowlers from other end. Fielding was top notch. Bowling is still a weak link and if we keep getting better, we would be a force to reckon with and one would definitely see India going beyond Quarter finals too. Next target is South Africa and then, we have series of matches to practice well before the knock out stage. Pool B might see upsets and there is a good chance that we might have a non-test playing nation in the Quarter finals. But, India would not be affected because of it, as morale would be very high, after beating the Arch-Rivals...