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Pakistan Pack A Punch
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Waqar all for India-Pak clash
Dhaka, March 23 Pakistan coach Waqar Younis stops short of saying “bring ‘em on!” to India, but he isn’t averse to an India-Pakistan semi-final in Mohali. The post-match press conference here, after Pakistan had decimated the West India, naturally tilted towards a prospective contest between India and Pakistan at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium on March 30, and Waqar was faced with a few teasers about that.
Lorgat refutes fixing allegations
‘Lets play the Aussie way’
Dhoni hits back at aggression talk
India need to think smart and bat smart
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Pakistan Pack A Punch
For Pakistan however, this was a ticket to an engagement with either India or Australia at Mohali. If the batting display, which saw the West Indies capitulate to 112 all out off 43.3 overs against some pretty normal spin from the Pakistanis, wasn’t bad enough, the bowling added to the team’s complete lack of grasp of the situation as they were absolutely hammered by Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez. Hafeez remained unbeaten at 61 off 64 balls and Akmal scored 47 not out off 61 deliveries as Pakistan reached 113 for no loss off just 20.5 overs. The Pakistan think-tank evidently didn’t want any surprises when chasing this poor total, so the openers went after the bowling right from the beginning and the West Indies bowling stars of the tournament, Roach and Ravi Rampaul, came in for some serious stick. Things didn’t improve at any stage and the Caribbeans’ first-choice spinner, leggie Devendra Bishoo, was left trying to fire some flat and fast stuff. This was no bother for Akmal or Hafeez. The West Indies’ only chance, if any, was to dismiss Pakistan, but even they themselves didn’t believe they had a prayer. Even so, a couple of wickets would have been some diluted balm on their injuries. That was also a distant hope, getting further with every boundary. Pakistan also wanted to win big, so while the batsmen did wield their willows with aggression, they never lost the plot, opting to block a few, even affording an odd maiden over. Nothing to worry about really, given the ridiculous target they had to chase. Earlier in the day, the Pakistan bowling merited no answers from the Caribbean batters and a total of 112 off 43.3 overs was not even worth considering a challenge. Shahid Afridi has more than made up for his batting woes with the ball, leading the Pakistani charge against a clueless West Indies to return figures if 4-30 off 9.3 overs. The Pakistan skipper leads the bowling list with 21 wickets. Gayle began with intentions but the lethargy that seems to envelope him translated into an inside-out shot off Umar Gul which was pouched by Afridi. Once that happened, and then Hafeez, opening the bowling from the other end, took care of Dwayne Smith and Darren Bravo in the space of four balls, the innings was over to all intents and purposes. The West Indies top-order’s complete lack of a hint about how to play spin, even Hafeez’s less-than-champagne stuff, was a killer and once Afridi also added to the mix, there was no way back for the batting. Wickets fell at a frequency that left the scorers scurrying to tally all details. A 42-run stand between veterans Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chanderpaul tried to relieve some of the agony, but once the former had slashed one to Umar Akmal off Afridi, the procession resumed. Afridi became unplayable. Kieron Pollard edged one to Kamran Akmal and Devon Thomas was trapped in front off the next ball. The scoreboard was ticking at the wrong place all the time with wickets falling way faster than runs were being scored. Saeed Ajmal then got into the act, removing Darren Sammy and Bishoo in one over. Chanderpaul watched all this with a mix of despair and resignation. He found some assistance from Roach as the duo put up 40 runs for the ninth wicket, but it was all too good to last.
Scoreboard
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Waqar all for India-Pak clash
Dhaka, March 23 “You are putting words in my mouth,” he said amidst laughter to the ‘bring ‘em on’ question. Then he was asked if the team had any ambitions to meet India in the semis. “Well, I haven’t asked the team, but I personally would not mind at all if India and Pakistan met in the semi-finals,” he said. “This contest is the biggest in the world of cricket, bigger than an Australia-England match, so of course it would be great to have a game with India.” But he still doesn’t want to think too far ahead. “We are really not thinking about who we meet in the semi-finals yet. We will of course watch tomorrow’s match carefully and we have six-seven days to plan out fresh strategies.” Asked if Pakistan would be expecting some support in Mohali, as they have got in Colombo and Dhaka, Waqar was realistic. “Naturally, India would get much more support at home. But we are expecting a few people to travel from Lahore and give us some support.” Today’s win was a walk in the park, so Waqar was asked if having such an comfortable win ahead of a crucial match was a good thing or not. “It is a good thing, for sure. We hope we have an equally comfortable win in the semis.” Emotions play a big role in sub-continental cricket, the former Pakistan fast bowler said. “We are an emotional people, and in India, the emotions run even higher, simply because there more people there. My message to the people of Pakistan on this occasion (today is Pakistan Day) is to pray for us and have faith in the team. By God’s grace, we will be successful.”
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Lorgat refutes fixing allegations
Ahmedabad, March 23 "The article...can only be described as fictional," Lorgat said. "We do not comment on the activities of the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) and for good reason. "However, after several misleading and downright false stories appearing in recent weeks it is time for us to show our displeasure and expose those responsible for affecting the integrity of the media," he told reporters here. "It is also patently false of the reporter to claim that the ICC ever suggested to it that the match was corrupted. The ICC confirms that, in terms of its policy, at no stage did anyone from the ICC speak to the journalist on this topic." The 'Times of India' recently carried a report saying the above-mentioned match on February 21 was under ICC investigation for match-fixing, and the ICC has now asked the newspaper to either substantiate its claims of corruption or issue immediate retraction. "To uphold the integrity of the media I expect the 'Times of India' to retract such baseless stories," Lorgat said. The report quoted unnamed sources as saying that three Dawood Ebrahim men had met players in the hotel lobby where a deal was struck for spot-fixing. The reports further said that the Mumbai police tipped off the ICC about the match being fixed. — PTI
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‘Lets play the Aussie way’
Ahmedabad, March 23 On the eve of the crucial ICC World Cup 2011 quarterfinal clash against hosts India at the Sardar Patel Statium at Motera here, Ponting sounded confident about his team doing well, though he was not undermining Mahender Singh Dhoni’s boys. He said the quarterfinal tomorrow would be worthy of a World Cup final. He also set the record straight by saying that he had no plans to quit, as yet. “There has been stuff about me retiring that is completely false, untrue; never contemplated retiring. I am enjoying my cricket”. He said the quarterfinal against India was a “big game” and he was preparing for that. “I will be playing for a few more years”, he asserted.
He said it couldn't have got any bigger, “playing India in India”, though he was disappointed with his team’s last performance when they lost to Pakistan. Ponting said the quarterfinal will be “one of the biggest games I have played as captain and he was expecting a packed house tomorrow, against a very good Indian team” though he conceded that they will be a bit anxious about the outcome of the game.
Ponting said when Australia played Zimbabwe in the Group A league here, the wicket was quite good, “pretty much what you would expect for a subcontinent wicket... slow, spin, going to be nice and hot tomorrow”.
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India need to think smart and bat smart
Lee is consistent because he has a repetitive action and trusts it. He doesn’t need to worry about how he’s bowling because of this. If you were to take images of two or three of his deliveries at the start and then compare those to images later in the innings, you won’t see any difference. But that’s not the case with Tait and Johnson and that’s why they’ve not been as successful as Lee. We all know that those two can spray the ball around; in Johnson’s case, specifically, we’ve seen him sometimes struggle to locate the wicket. Johnson has spoken about targeting Sehwag with the short stuff and that’s a good tactic because it has worked earlier for Australia and Sehwag does struggle with deliveries into his ribs and chest. For India, Zaheer Khan is a great asset. Like Lee, he has a repetitive action and doesn’t waver. India look to him for early breakthroughs, but Zaheer is more effective when the ball is old and he gets that lovely reverse-swing. If he doesn’t start well, I would pull him out and bring him back after say 30 or 32 overs, because he is very effective then. Towards the end of an innings, and in particular during the batting Powerplay, players look to accelerate but they have found Zaheer hard to score off. He is India’s biggest hope with the ball and much rests on his shoulders. Harbhajan is also very important. He hasn’t been at his best of late and though we saw him bowl with control and get some bounce to trouble West Indies on Sunday, I wouldn’t look too much into that because it came against a very shaky batting line-up. Harbhajan has a lot of experience and needs to lift his game against Australia, because India cannot afford to for him to have another off day. As for India’s batting, I have said before that I rate their chances of winning highly when they chase. They know they don’t have the bowling to constantly defend scores against good batting line-ups and that prompts them to bat first and try and put up a huge total. We saw after the tied match against England, after India had posted 338 and failed to win, how MS Dhoni questioned how many India needed for a win. The batsmen are aiming too high and, as we’ve seen thrice now, India have struggled during the batting Powerplay. If I were part of the management, I would sit down all the players and discuss the batting Powerplay as a tactic - how to approach it, when to take it, how to be more selective with their strokeplay. The inability to be selective is hurting India. Because they know their bowlers aren’t dynamic enough to bowl teams out, the batsmen try to get too many runs during the batting Powerplay. That hasn’t worked so far, and it certainly won’t work against Australia in a knock-out match of the World Cup. Think smart, bat smart is the key for India. — PMG
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On paper, Thursday’s match in Ahmedabad is a clash of India’s big bats against Australia’s pace attack. For Australia, a lot rests on how Brett Lee performs. He has been the best so far because he’s consistent with his line and length. He’s got the experience and has been around for a long time. Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson, however, have struggled with consistency throughout their careers because of their bowling actions.
Dhaka, March 23
24.1 to Sarwan.
West Indies
Pakistan
The Aussie captain said presently his thought was focussed only on tomorrow's match. “We just want to go out there and play. We need to play with freedom tomorrow, with conviction...the Australian way”.
He said it had been a very enjoyable World Cup so far, but the real contest would start only now. “The quarters, semis and finals are what World Cups are all about. You can go through with dropping a game, but not so now”. 
He said the Aussies were otherwise also familiar with the Motera track, having played one-day cricket here. He said he was not keen on predicting the outcome of the tie tomorrow. “I hope our cricket does the talking and performing under pressure is what matters”. Ponting said no matter what the pitch does, he would be relying on his team's strength - fast bowling.
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today hit back at the Australians for talking about playing aggressive cricket with shot-pitched stuff in the World Cup quarterfinal, saying his side will not be flustered by such tactics as they have beaten them even in their own den in the past. Dhoni said the talks of Australian aggression were not new to his team and they will play the "Indian way" which had seen his side beat them in their own backyard. "We would play the Indian way, playing normal cricket. People have been talking much about the short-pitched balls, but this is nothing new to us. Australia have good fast bowlers, but not to forget we have won Test matches in Perth and Durban (considered to possess the fastest tracks in world cricket)," Dhoni told reporters at the match-eve press conference here.
— PTI