An incredible match !

Sachin scored his 5th WC century, overtaking the records of Ganguly, Mark Waugh and Ponting yesterday.

Sachin blasted 10 fours and five sixes in a devastating display of batting.

Strauss' reply was grand. He scored 158, a brilliant innings and won the Man of the Match Award.

Yesterday during the time of the toss, an adverse star Moola was ruling ( adverse for India ). We had warned Dhoni, Sehwag and Sachin about the adversity and advised them to be careful !

Was Imran right ? The Dew Factor. The Make Up or Break Up factor. The bowlers will not be able to bowl with a wet ball and this comes as a huge advantage to the team batting second !

India was well poised to reach more than 350, at 300/3. Then England bowled really well and the last seven wickets fell for a mere 38 runs !

Some weaknesses of both teams stand out. Both teams are formidable in batting and mediocre in bowling. The fielding of both was below par. India will have to improve her rate in the death overs and there is a feeling that Kohli and Pathan simply threw their wickets away. But then that was the situation !

After England became the T20 World Champions, their game changed. They thrashed Australia Down Under. They had given so much of their energy in doing so, with the result they were tired when they went in for the ODI series. It is true they were thrashed 6-1 by the Aussies, by Watson & Co, but then they were exhausted !

No wonder, the bookies gave the same odds to Australia and England, 5/1 !

When the last over commenced, I was sitting numb. I had more or less become a nervous wreck. When Sehwag was out, I became nervous and put the Net off. When Strauss and Bell were going strong, I put the TV off. When England lost Bell, then I put on the TV and lo ! Zaheer got Strauss plumb lbw ! Zaheer then clean bowled Collingwood, bowling India back into the game.

I was numb and couldnt move when Munaf started the last over. And when two runs were needed off the last ball, I watched helplessly as the batsman ran for a single and the match was tied. Both Dhoni and Strauss heaved sighs of relief !

When asked whether he is happy with the result, the polite Strauss said at the end of the match " Yes and No. We were in a great position to win after 42 overs. It was a tough target to chase. We got to a position towards victory at the end of the 42nd over, where we need to have good powerplay runs."

"But it was a great game of cricket and great advertisement for the sport. Some ways we are happy, and some ways distraught. But I am privileged to be part of this ODI.

It was an outstanding wicket to bat on."

He said Ian Bell was lucky.

"I do not know it was part of rules but it is luck that he got away with that," Strauss said.

About Powerplay, he said "Powerplay can affect. In fact it affected both ways. The Indians regrouped grabbing the situation. But we got to celebrate the fact that it was an unbelievable act in cricket.

In a 50-over format you can get great performances from both sides. Today both sides are happy party sides."

"Zaheer Khan produced a couple of good balls when it mattered. You need to give credit to the opposition as they responded well to the powerplay overs."

About Bresnan's performance, he said "He was outstanding. There were some good performances all round in batting, bowling and fielding. It was hard to stem the runs. Sachin played brilliantly. I think both teams will carry some positives and negatives from the match."

About his own mammoth innings, he said "It is my best one-day knock, given the importance of the game and in the backdrop of playing in the World Cup and chasing such a total.

In the end I was not really proud of. Of course, if I had stayed we might have won. But that is the way cricket goes."

SA appear formidable !

SA crushed Australia in a warm up game by 9 wickets.

We have warned all teams about SA. They have five world class batsmen in Amla, Smith, Kalli, Duminy and De Villiers. They have two world class fast bowlers in M Morkel and Styen. All teams beware !

Smith was confident when he said that he will lift the Cup ! On paper, they appear to be formidable with the form of their batsmen and fast bowlers.

Imran Tahir is their secret weapon. In both warm up matches, they have won.

Clarke, the Aussie skipper, said the warm up games do not count. His opinion was seconded by Amla.

"Obviously the result did not go the way we would have liked but again we all understand that they are practice games. It's more about giving boys an opportunity than about winning." said Clarke.

"A practice game is a practice game. So it's important to maximize the chance to give everybody the opportunity to bat and bowl, and more importantly, to get used to the conditions."

"We play Zimbabwe in a week's time. Everybody had a bit of a run around and seen the conditions. So it's about preparing well for the next six days to be in right shape before the game against Zimbabwe."

"Spinners probably gonna play a big part in the tournament. All the players have their plans against spin bowling and we have good players of spin bowling."

"But there are obviously areas we need to improve."

"I think we know enough about both India and South Africa. They are very good one-day teams and we have played good amount of cricket against them."

Amla said that warm up games are merely warm up games. "It is a warm-up game, you don't play 15 all the time.

They are a very good team and certainly beating them gives a lot of confidence but, as I said, it's a warm-up game."

The master SA batsman said Aussies cannot be written off. "Australia are a very good team. They are just coming off from a series win against England. As I said both teams were experimenting and trying to find the right combination. Once the competition starts you will see everybody giving their 100 per cent."

"I don't think we have too many concerns about unprepared pitches. I think the pitches will be fine. Coming to the sub-continent you got to expect to play lot of spinners. We are kind of expecting the wickets to turn.Fortunately, we been here quite a number of times in the last 2-3 years."