India vs.. Pakistan &Ndash; 30th March 2011: My Personal Match Preview

So, just like myself, it’s the game most people have been waiting for. It was inevitable tbh. The two teams have met in most major tournaments before and there’s been some splendid series between the two countries. This however, seems to be one of the biggest matches. I think there’s been a lot of media expansion on this match and the use of technology has allowed many more people to follow cricket and this game in particular, entitling people to their opinions and thoughts with polls, surveys and other forms of communication. True cricket followers will have watched most matches so far, or certainly their own team all the way through and waited for this match. I, not only have watched every single India match, but where possible, I have watched every single match of this 2011 world cup thus far. The anticipation has certainly been worth it. So here we are…

Late March in Mohali. A fine cricketing ground in the heart of Panjab. Many Indians will know this pitch well, the match being in India. But so will Pakistan, seeing as the two Matches India and Pakistan have ever played at Mohali (non-world cup), Pakistan have won both. On both occasions, India have batted first and Pakistan have managed to successfully chase. Interestingly, the two matches were surprisingly contrasting in scores; the first one being under 200 for each team and the 2nd being over 320 for each team. That said, the two teams have met four times in World Cups and India have a 4-0 winning streak over Pakistan, so this one is not as easy to call as people say.

So is it a batting or bowling pitch, you may be wondering? Well, that dependsCup? »

Mohali is a ‘fast’ and ‘bouncy’ pitch. Immediately you might think this plays to Pakistan’s strengths and to an extent, I guess it does. I personally wouldn’t want to play against Umar Gul on a fast-swinging pitch hitting the best part of 85-90mph consistently…but then again I’m not Sehwag,Tendulkar, Gambhir and Yuvi. They’ve played it all 

before. The Indian batsmen have all the experience in the world and Sehwag in particular, loves the pace and when the ball is right, bounce too. Gambhir scored an unbeaten ton (138*) vs New Zealand late in 2010 at Mohali and Gul is only one man. So Pakistani’s may be wondering what about the influence of Afridi. Now, as impressive as Afridi has been this tournament, I don’t think he’s quite as big as the hype he’s been given. Don’t get me wrong the man is a skilful bowler but has anybody else noticed that his two 5-wicket hauls were against Canada and Kenya? No disrespect to their batsman but my kutha could probably take 5 wickets against Kenya.

The match is day-night, will this make a difference? As we’ve seen, most of the  matches this world cup have been day-night ones. The main difference this will make is ‘dew’, especially at Mohali. During the second innings, when the sky is darker, in order for the cricket to continue, floodlights will be needed to resume. This usually results in the grass of the pitch filling up with dew.

What does this mean? Why does it make a difference? Well, dew is simply water droplets in the form of water vapour. This makes a difference because as the ball slides across the grass it will get wet. Being wet will mean it will constantly be needed to dry and generally will be harder to grip for bowlers. Successful bowling is about getting the right line, length, pace and variation. With a ball being hard to grip, correcting all of those factors for every single ball will be harder to do and maintain.

Toss? I think the toss is an important one because of the dew and the history. As I said above, India have batted first on the two previous losing occasions so if I was them, I’d win the toss, try something different and set Pakistan into bat and restrict them to ideally under 250. This isn’t an impossible task. India; vs Australia in 2010 at Mohali have batted 2nd and restricted the Aussies to 250. This will also mean that they will avoid the fast swing of Gul who would absolutely loveeeeeeeee to bowl first (trust me, I’m a left arm fast swinger, so would I at Mohali  ). And after that successful chase of 260+ vs the Aussies in the Quarter-final, I think India’s strength and depth in batting will allow them to chase down that score. Pakistan, I think will want the same, to set India into bat and restrict, so the toss is vital.

I think it’s quite clearly established that India on paper have the stronger batting line-up, but many seem to write-off their bowling. Many seem to forget that India have variation, in that they could bring in Sreesanth who manages to swing the ball with greater pace than Gul, and both he and Bhaji have had impressive figures on this pitch before. I think spin is going to be a huge factor of this match and imo it will suit Ashwin and the Singh-twins more than Afridi and Hafeez’s length hasn’t been quite as good as I thought it was, but then his economy and line makes up for it.

Many seem to write off Pakistan’s batting, in comparison, but Indians cannot be quite so confident as Pakistan can score the big scores if the bowling isn’t accurate. Hafeez and Akmal, can both bat and give Pakistan a strong start, I guess their ability just seems to be overshadowed by the fact that the Indian openers are Sehwag and Tendulkar. But Pakistan pack plenty of experience to bat through, with Afridi, Younis, Misbah and several others. As good as the Indian batting line-up may be, never write-off Pakistan’s batting!

India have the edge in fielding, not only because of the sharpness of Kohli, Raina and Yuvraj, but the pace of Gambhir and work ethic of Tendulkar, would put the Indians and coupled with the majority-crowd, in great spirit. That said both teams will want to give it everything and want to win for their own country and own fans so Pakistan will be fully alert and going for it. The outfield will be slower for the team batting second due to the dew so this is one advantage of batting first, but in my opinion, if the team who batted first can’t put the ball in the right place bowling second, does it matter how fast or slow the outfield is? Personally, if I was coach of either team I’d tell them to come back to the dressing room with a win otherwise they won’t be given roti and dahl all week, as part of motivation xD

Summary:

Batsmen to watch out for (quick-scoring openers): India – Sehwag; Pakistan – Hafeez

Bowlers to watch out for (quickies): India – Khan; Pakistan – Gul

Batsmen who will hold the innings: India – Gambhir + Yuvraj; Pakistan – Misbah + Afridi

Experience which will be vital to the team: India – Tendulkar; Pakistan – Younis Khan

So there’s my match-preview. It should be a cracker of a game and all bias aside, I still think I would favour India to progress as a neutral, despite Pakistan’s impressiveness so far because of the strength, depth, and experience in batting and the variation and spin options in bowling. Tactically, from a bowling perspective it’s going to be Gul’s swing and pace, coupled with the useful spin of Afridi & Hafeez vs Dhoni’s favourite tactic of attacking with spin and the legendary Zaheer Khan who knows better than anybody else on the pitch where to put the ball, with how much pace and at which time. The bookmakers have India at 8/15 and Pakistan at 13/10. I don’t think this does Pakistan the justice they deserve. Yes I agree that even in a financial perspective India should be favourites but they’ve written off Pakistan almost entirely. Apparently Man Utd are less likely to beat West Ham than India are of beating Pakistan. Strange. I think Pakistan will give it one heck of a go and if they do not reach the final, they’ll ensure their fans have something to be proud of, but I do have India as slight favourites. But you never know, anything can happen on the day and the anticipation to the day, followed by a nail-biting but thrilling match is what we all look forward to

Posted in: sachin tendulkar