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."

Sachin smashes 98th century !

What a beginning ! Sehwag slashes the first ball, Swann gets a finger to it and then it flies for four. Next ball gets the top of Sehwag's bat and it flies over the fielder's head. Next ball Sehag chips one and it goes over Anderson's head. Three chances which could have been taken.

Anderson swung the ball in the first over and Sehwag was lucky !

The first ball of the next over - Sehwag hits it through the covers for four ! Ajmal Shehzad is the bowler bowling at 83 mph ! He is generating fairly good pace, but is not known as a swing bowler like Anderson. The swing bowlers may get some help, as it was overcast conditions for the last two days.

Chawla is playing. India will take advantage of the English weakness against spin on spin tracks ! Swann will of course be dangerous. Yardy also will be dangerous, if the pitch takes spin, but then Indian batsmen play spin well !

We had said in our columns that time before 0250 is adverse. Now India is 33/0.

Sehwag looks confident and so does Sachin. Chawla will come at No 9. NO 7 is of course Y Pathan. No 8 will be Bajji.

Shehzad impressed with his pace, but there was not much swerve in his bowling. It was Anderson who moved the ball and he did impress with his ability to swing !

Sehwag is now out, caught Prior bowled Bresnan. India 46/1 off 8 overs !

India are now 132/1, with Sachin 53 no.

After Sehwag's exit, Gambhir came in and gave a solid stand to Sachin. Sachin ruined the figures of Swann, who went for 26 runs off 4 overs.

The No 3 is very important and Gambhir proved that today. With the loss of the first wicket, India would have in trouble if she had lost another. Gambhir saw to that it did not happen. He is on 41 no. The No 3 can change the game. If he gives a solid performance, the team will be redeemed.

Responsible batsmen win matches. Just see yesterday's game. Misbah and Y Khan, two of the most experienced Pak batsmen, played responsible cricket and guided their team to victory.

Sachin now has hit 2 sixes and 3 fours in his 59 no. Gambhir has hit 4 fours in his 44 no. India 144/1 off 26 overs.

We had earlier remarked in our columns that the Indian batsmen will silence Swann, who said he will silence the Indian crowd. Two mighty sixes by Sachin and Swann may as well forget this match ! 15 runs off that over ! And 41 runs off his 5 overs !

India were all out for 338, with 35 fours and seven sixes. This is a terrific display of batting, as Sachin hit 5 sixes and ten fours. Yuvraj hit a blistering 58 off 50 balls and Dhoni 31 off 25 balls !

Swann gave 59 off his 9 overs. The crowd silenced him !

Bresnan was the most successful of the English bowlers and took 5/48.

Now England have started weill and are 23/0.

This is Sachin's 47th hundred in ODIs. Now he is the leading scorer in the WC with 1944 runs ! He has now taken his tally to 98 international hundreds. Will he complete a century of centuries in this World Cup?

Yuvraj was sent at No 4, in order to keep the left hander - right hander combination going. Gambhir and Sachin were playing well, when Gambhir was out. Then again Yuvraj came in and when Sachin left, the Commander, Dhoni and Yuvraj took over. England bowled well in the death overs, restricting India to 338!

Facing India our toughest challenge : Bopara

Dashing middle order bat, Ravi Bopara, opined that facing India on Sunday is indeed tough.

This is one of our toughest challenges in this tournament. We know what the Indian batsman are capable of but we do have our plans to keep them quiet. We will see on Sunday."

"If it is a spinning deck, we have got our own spinners who can cause problems. A pitch that spins is going to cause trouble for any team. It is going to cause problems for India as well. A lot is going to depend on the conditions," he added.

"Every match is big for us. Even the game the other night was also big for us. But against India in India is going to be huge.

"We are not thinking too much about it. If you think too much about it you will get out of the mould. We want to stay relaxed."

He said England has definite plans for the Sunday match.


"We have plans against each bowler and every batsman but it is how the batsman feel on the day. We generally play aggressive cricket. We know in places like Bangalore, there can be high totals like 270-300. It is a good wicket to bat on, especially against the seamers. It slides onto the bat quite nicely. Last time I played in Bangalore, it did not spin."

He is not bothered about not playing in Calcutta.

"We won convincingly against Pakistan in the warm-up game. I wasn't there in Australia. So I cannot comment about it. As soon as we arrived here, it has been back to usual work. The last two to three years, England have been excellent in ODIs. I am used to winning with England."

England's No 6 was eloquent about England's batting ability.

"It can be really hard work if the ball is not coming on but if we get some good wickets, like what we got the other day, it would be a lovely place to bat. We can free our arms and with the small grounds in India, we can generally score sixes," Bopara said.

He said he will be the last man not to seize opportunities.

"It is a big opportunity to get back into the side. I have got two opportunities so far, one in the warm-up game and then in the opening match. I haven't thought about that competition (with Yardy). I am just trying to do my best in every practice session."

India proves her batting strength

India are at the moment ( 0411 PM ), 160/3, in the warm up match against NZ, at Chennai.

Sehwag and Sachin were clean bowled and India were 42/2. Then came India's young talent, Kohli. He has just smashed 50 and Gambhir is on 36. Gambhir survived a chance, as Franklin dropped him.

Sachin was bowled by a slower ball from Southee and Sehwag was bowled by Oram. Kohli flashed at a wide ball from Oram and was snapped behind the wicket by McCullum. Gambhir is not out on 54 off 63 balls. Run Rate - 4.96.

In the other warm up match, England were 142/5 and then finally managed 243, thanks to Prior, who scored 78. Trott scored 57. Canada are now 227/9, needing 17 runs for a win, with one wicket remaining.

No, no upset. England won by 16 runs.

In the powerplay, India played well and seven fours came off it. But Gambhir was snapped behind off Southee for 89 off 81 balls. India 216-4 !

This is going to be the biggest WC ever, as almost 40 K people turned up at Bangalore and Chennai.

Now India has advanced to 235/4 off 41 overs and a total of over 300 seems achievable. The Chairman of Selectors, K Srikanth was seen applauding as the Indian batsmen ran up a mammoth 360/5 at Chennai.

Raina hit Oram for three sixes and got his 50 off 26 balls. Dhoni silenced his critics with a superb 108 not out, with three sixes.

'Formidable batting' and 'mediocre bowling' - that is how the media sums up the Indian team. Is this theory true ? We will know about it in 45 days time.

The buzz in the India media is that "Will this be Kohli's WC?" and "Will India avenge her 2007 defeat?"