India Rocked Early And Out
I said this the other day that the New Zealanders had the attack to upset India. India doesn't like short pitched bowling and likes to hit the ball in front of them. This was a rain delayed game over two days and only chasing a moderate score of 240 it was up for grabs. New Zealand were the underdogs, but it is a knock out game so both teams have a fair chance.
With the ever reliable Sharma, Kohli and Rahul out before 5 runs were on the board the task went from a moderate total to a mammoth total and was just too much and folded for 221 all out. India were rocked early and they just couldn't recover. Like i said before in a one off game everything that has happened before counts for nothing.
India are full of stars and have done well up until this point, but have relied on a few batsmen to take them through each game. The batting had never been tested and they needed this game two weeks ago and not now. Early wickets and great fielding sent the Indians packing and the belief drained out of the team and their supporters.
If you take out Jadega and Dhoni's score who between them added 116 for the 7th wicket India weren't in it otherwise. New Zealand are not a team full of stars but they are a good team and you underestimate them at your peril. Whoever goes through next which I think it will be Australia it will most likely be a repeat of the last World Cup final 4 years ago.
Using the reserve day actually should have benefited India as they knew what score they would be chasing and being a low total they had probably won the match in their heads already. The taking of the early wickets would have shocked the Indians and even still they should have seen it home with ease. I am not shocked with this result as the wicket has played too big a role in this world cup. This was a new wicket with the pitch being under covers over night and moisture around ,it would have had a little extra bounce today.
India has ways been the best a cricket. They can we any team that comes their way. You can come to believe that everyone in India knows Cricket although New Zealand is not also a team country to play with when it comes to that game
I think on the day any team can win. India beat themselves today as they honestly though 240 was an easy score to chase. New Zealand knew what they had to do to win and having that kind of dream start India weren't really in it after that. Throughout this campaign India relied too heavily on one or two players and they failed today. This can happen too any team and I wasn't shocked as I thought New Zealand had a better bowling attack than India.
Oh, yep, another post about cricket. I am definitely going to have to learn more about it if I am going to keep up with your posts! :) It is interesting that some of the sports that are popular other places in the word have never quite caught on in the states. I guess we just decided to do our own thing!