MS Dhoni and his team come into today’s Bangladesh fixture on the back of six consecutive wins in the group stage. The team has managed to click as a unit at just the right time, the bowlers have bowled out all of those opponents so far and the batsmen too have stepped up and delivered.
Now, with just three matches standing between them and a successful defence of their title from 2011, the Men in Blue take the field in just a little while against Bangladesh in the second quarterfinal of the tournament.
The Tigers however will be no pushovers, having qualified to their first ever World Cup quarterfinal on the back of some inspirational performances in the group stage. They beat England to seal the the knockouts spot and even managed to push co-hosts New Zealand in a dead rubber.
Match starts 9AM IST
Now while Bangladesh has put up a good show in the World Cup so far, former Indian skipper Anil Kumble believes that it “does look an unlikely” that they can pull off an upset against India today.
In his column in the Times of India, Kumble writes, “I’m not saying victory is totally beyond them, but, in all honesty there are only two ways you could see it happening. Firstly, India would need to do something they haven’t yet done in this tournament, which is let their guard down. The second factor depends on Bangladesh. It’s vital they don’t start thinking beyond this game. If Mashrafe Mortaza and company allow the thought of a semifinal or even a dream final to creep into their minds at any stage tomorrow, they would be courting serious trouble.”
About the pitch he writes, “The pitch is set to be the same one that was used for the Bangladesh-Sri Lanka match, so it’s set to be full of runs. That should offer encouragement to someone like Rohit Sharma who hasn’t quite hit his stride yet while Shikhar Dhawan too will be looking to continue his fine run.”
Read the full piece in Times of India here.
AB de Villiers and his South African side put up a cricketing masterclass in the quarterfinal against Sri Lanka on Wednesday, beating the island nation by a massive 9 wickets to seal a spot in the semifinals.
Spinners Imran Tahir and hat-trick man Jean-Paul Duminy shared seven wickets between them to wrap up the Lankan innings at 133 in 37.2 overs. Duminy, in the process, also picking up this World Cup’s second hat-trick.
In reply, the Proteas romped home with ease, getting to the target in 18 overs to register their first-ever knockout win in the World Cup.
And as AB de Villiers replied in the post match conference, the “choke” was on the doubters.
Read full match report here.
Mohammad Irfan’s pain could well turn out to be the entire Pakistan team’s gain. The 7-foot tall fast bowler has been ruled out of the tournament due to an injury and the PCB have now finally relented, saying they could send spin wiz Saeed Ajmal to join the team, if they beat Australia on Friday.
Presently working as an expert on a television channel for the World Cup, Ajmal was forced to sit out of the event because his banned bowling action was cleared by the ICC only after the Pakistani squad for the World Cup had already been selected.
Two Pakistani players have been replaced in the squad since, but the PCB refused to pick Ajmal saying he lacked match practise. That fact hasn’t changed even now, but the PCB clearly seem to have run out of options.
Read full report here.
Ivan Rakitic struck the only goal of the match as a Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona sealed a place in the last eight of the Champions League with a 1-0 victory over Manchester City.
Though Messi did not find his name on the board, the Argentine delighted the home fans in a packed Nou Camp, relentlessly teasing the City players with his party tricks as Barca completed a 3-1 aggregate victory.
Read full report here.