Open with Spin : Kumble

India should open with her spinners, opined the leggie, Kumble. Remember in the IPL final in SA, Kumble opened the bowling. Gilchrist danced down the wicket, to hit Kumble for six and was stumped !

Gayle was taken in that fashion by Botha, the SA offspinner in the first over. The ball spun, Gayle edged it and was caught at slips ! But one wonders if Dhoni will ever listen to that advice !

Gary Kirsten told the Indian team to unwind. Do not listen to the opionion of experts and just go and watch comedy movies or serials !

India finds herself in a high pressure situation, with four wins needed to lift the World Cup.

There is great criticism against Indian bowling. Only Zaheer is amongst the wickets. Yesterday when Simon Hughes said Bajji should learn from Swann, Sidhu retorted ' You mean a bowler who has taken 400 wickets should learn from him ?"

This is what happens when bowlers do not perform.

The match was already in the bag and it was the ineptitude of the West Indies who lost the match. But full credit must be given to Strauss and Co. When WI needed only 22 runs with 3 wickets in hand, Strauss brought a short leg and the next ball from Swann was a magical ball. It turned and lifted and all that Sarwan could do was to give a dolly catch to short leg ! Then next ball Swann got rid of Roach and then the run out and the match was over. Just 3 runs added from then on for three wickets !

Meanwhile, Jonty Rhodes, the Mumbai coach, has said that Australia are stil champions. Their bowling is formidable and they are undefeated in this World Cup. The other teams - SA, India and SL - can lift the Cup, but he says the Kangaroos are favourites. He was speaking to newspaper reporters at Kumarakom, a health resort in Kerala. He will be flying shortly to join the IPL team in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Shoaib has announced his plans to retire after the WC ( He has had enough ? ). He said this move is to give chance to other youngsters !

Threats to India

IF BD beats SA

and if Ind lose to WI what will happen?

Suppose, WI scores 300 in 50 overs and bowls out Ind for 200 runs ? What will happen ?

This will be the equation

(1605/282) - (1617/299)

= 0.28

Still India will be ahead of Eng in NRR, Eng having only 0.07 !

Mind you, this is the worst scenario imaginable ! The Law of Probability states that there is only a slim chance that India will be out of QF !