 Andrew Strauss is the Man of the Match | |
| Strauss: Am I happy with the tie? A YES and a NO. We started off well but then had a forgettable batting powerplay. Thanks to Shahzad and Swann for bringing us back. We back ourselves to play better than that, we lost three to four quick wickets. In some ways we are disappointed and in some ways we are elated to have ended the game like this. Some good things to take out from this game, it is hard to stand and comment on it. It was a great game of cricket, Tendulkar played really well. This is the perfect advertisement for 50-over cricket. I haven't actually played better than this before. We needed a platform to go out and achieve the target. I'm just trying my best to win games for England and this was one among the best knocks. | |
| Dhoni: Andrew batted really well, there was a time when England were running away with it and at the end of the day I'm happy with the result. Zak played really well, he lifted us from nowhere and brought us back. If not for him, the game would have been wrapped up by 48 overs. If 338 is not enough, we would have to score over 350 in every game which can't happen. If our bowling does not improve, there will come a time in the tournament when things will get tough for us. We have quite a few slow fielders and we can't do much, but there is room for improvement in the bowling department. | |
| This has been a nerve-wracking encounter to say the least. The balance of the game shifted from one side to the other, at the halfway stage the Indians were sitting comfortably at the top, but sensational batting from Strauss took the game totally away from them. But there was a Zaheer Khan, who decided to change a thing or two, came back strongly in the batting powerplay, took crucial wickets to bring India back into the game. But Swann and Shahzad held their nerves and this was a fitting end to an evenly contested game. Absolute thriller! This has surely been the best game of this WC, and lets hope there are many such games coming our way though the heart takes a bit of a beating in such games. | |
| Zaheer Khan: Strauss batted really well, he put pressure on us and it was a cliffhanger. Always knew that 340 was a big enough score to win, we thought we will win it easily, it was a close contest between the bat and ball. Powerplays can go either ways, we got wickets in quick succession and came back into the game. We are clicking as a batting unit, as far as the bowling is concerned, we need to improve but there is time. | |
| Turning points: 1) What if the last ball of the Indian innings had been a single instead of one short as Zak did not complete the first run? 2) What if Harbhajan Singh had held on to Andrew Strauss' catch when he was on 22? 3) From an England view point, they would feel what if had the ball gone past Yusuf's right off the last ball of the game. There are so many ifs and buts, so leave all those for the pundits and just marvel at what a magnificent game it has been. | |
| Zaheer Khan came back and bowled a fabulous spell to give his side a real chance of winning. The penultimate over saw the game swing again - when England garnered 15 runs and two sixes were hit. Shahzad struck a mighty blow to stun the crowd into silence and in the end a tie was the justified result for both teams would have been heart-broken had they lost. There were many turning points and what if's and here are some of those. | |
| Phew what a game! One of the best you will get to see in the 50 over format. The game had everything from the first ball - when Sehwag edged it wide of a flying Swann at 2nd slip to the last - when Yusuf slid to his right to keep it to a tie. The packed Sunday crowd got their money's worth and much much more. Sachin's 47th ton was neutralized by a fantastic captain's innings from Andrew Strauss. Just when it looked like that England would walk away with an easy win, they took the batting power-play and the game witnessed a dramatic turn-around. |
0 comments:
Post a Comment