Tuesday 20 March 2007

When Team India Became An Airlines Threat!


“Minnows” must be the most dreaded word for Team India players. But once Sehwag and Co. realized that the Bermudians had neither the guile nor the firepower to trouble them, it just rained – and I’m not talking about the drizzle that interrupted play for a few minutes last night – fours and sixes.

Statistics often make boring readings but number has its own charm as well. Apart from 30 boundaries, Indian batsmen heaved as many as 18 sixes yesterday, equalling South Africa's feat against Dutch in the same World Cup on March 16.

Sehwag, Yuvraj and Sachin treated Bermuda bowlers as cannon-fodder and created security threat for low-flying Air Jamaica planes with those sixes.

Meanwhile, Sourav Ganguly continues to intrigue me. I mean his new-found approach to batting, good or bad, makes me wonder is it the same shirt-swirling, combative cricketer who felt left-arm spinners simply had no business in one day cricket?

He insists paternity mellowed him down and he’s more in control of his nerves. Post-comeback, he’s more into playing the sheet anchor and trying to pace his innings. Yesterday, he narrowly missed the opportunity to become the first cricket to post 5 World Cup centuries.

But two more sixes in the match against Bermuda helped the southpaw became the second batsman, after Ricky Ponting (25 in 29 innings), to have recorded 25 sixes in the World Cup.

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