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THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2011
Afridi inspires Pakistan past Windies
PAKISTANI players celebrate with captain Shahid Afridi after he dismissed West Indies’
Kieron Pollard during their quarterfinal match in Dhaka yesterday. — Reuters
AHMEDABAD — Going by
the relative strengths of India
and Australia, the World
Cup quarterfinal between two
strong rivals here today will
be fought on level terms at the
Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera
here.
India will have to tighten
their game, and the batting in
particular, if they harbour any
hopes of avenging their 2003
final loss to the defending
champions.
If the Australians hope to
cash in on their tearaway pacers,
the Indians think their solid
batting line-up can handle
the thunderbolts; if Australia
feel they have adequate batting
resources to take them across
the line, the Indians are confident
that they have bowlers to
stymie them.
The one area the four-time
champions score over the 1983
champions is in the fielding —
the Aussies can convert ones
into twos and cut off the possibilities
of the Indians taking
a second run. It is one for the
throw when Australia are batting
and none when they are
fielding.
The one big psychological
factor in India’s favour is that
they had beaten Australia in
the only game played in last
year’s three-match series, the
other two being rained off.
The pre-match mindgames
by both sides generated a fair
bit of heat.
If Yuvraj Singh sounded
the battle-cry saying Aussies
are ripe for picking, Australian
coach Tim Nielsen hit back,
insisting that the co-hosts will
be under pressure playing at
home.
In the run-up to the game,
both teams had issues to ponder
over.
Australia’s 34-match un-
beaten run in the World Cup
ended last week when Pakistan
beat them and the news that
the Australian cricket establishment
is divided over Ricky
Ponting’s continuance as skipper
after the World Cup has not
helped matters.
PONTING CLEARS AIR
OVER RETIREMENT
Ponting, however, cleared
the air saying he is not retiring
and is looking forward to the
‘toughest challenge of his career
as an Australian captain’.
For India, too, it doesn’t
look all hunky dory. Their
bowling has not been able
to bowl top sides out and the
middle and lower-order batsmen
have failed to cash in on
the good starts.
Overall, Australia have an
impressive record against India
in the World Cup. They
have won their last five games
against Australia — one each
DHAKA — Pakistan captain
Shahid Afridi led from the
front again to inspire his team
to a 10-wicket victory over
West Indies in the first World
Cup quarterfinal yesterday.
Afridi took four for 30 as
West Indies collapsed to 112 all
out from 43.3 overs to take his
total to 21 for the tournament
and overhaul Imran Khan's Pakistan
record at a single World
Cup.
Man-of-the-match Mohammed
Hafeez, who had taken
two cheap wickets with his offspin,
then scored his maiden
World Cup half century with
61 not out as Pakistan reached
their victory target from only
20.5 overs.
They will face the winners
of today's match between defending
champions Australia
and co-hosts India in the second
semifinal in Mohali on
March 30.
"Personally I just tried to
maintain line and length, these
were perfect conditions for
spinners if you bowled in the
right areas," Afridi said.
"In each game we've tried
to make some plans against the
players and we tried to stick to
our plans and the boys have
done a great job doing that.
The bowlers have done a great
job from the first game to the
seventh game."
Nothing went in West Indies'
favour who, after a pathetic
batting display, were
also poor in the field with Kieron
Pollard dropping Kamran
Akmal on six before wicketkeeper
Devon Thomas grassed
Hafeez on 17. Kemar Roach
was the unlucky bowler on
both occasions.
in 1992, 1996, 1999 and twice
in 2003, including the battering
they gave the Indians in
the final.
Ponting knows India will be
tough to beat at home and said
his boys will be treating the tie
as a ‘mini grand final’. He believes
his pace battery led by
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
was the only batsman to defy
the Pakistan attack, scoring an
unbeaten 44 from 106 balls.
WICKETS IN CLUSTERS
West Indies, the 1975 and
1979 champions, never recovered
after losing their first
three wickets with only 16 on
the board.
After Darren Sammy had
won the toss and elected to
bat, Chris Gayle (8) struck
Umar Gul straight to Afridi
at mid-off. Devon Smith (7)
and Darren Bravo (0) both fell
lbw in the space of four balls
to Hafeez, who had shared the
new ball.
India-Australia quarterfinal to be fought on level terms
Sehwag doubtful
AHMEDABAD — Opener Virender Sehwag is doubtful for
India's quarterfinal against Australia with a right knee problem,
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said yesterday.
"On Viru (Sehwag) we are taking a call late in the
evening or tomorrow morning before the start of the game,"
Dhoni told reporters.
"Apart from him everybody else is fit for the game."
Sehwag missed India's last Group 'B' match against West
Indies on Sunday.
The explosive batsman had earlier been hit on the rib during
a net session last month and rushed to Delhi to consult
his personal physician before joining the squad. — Reuters
Brett Lee has the ability to stop
the Indian top-order.
“I know that we will be
facing some 30 overs of spin
bowling, but the Indians will
also face some 30 overs of
genuine fast bowling. Two
contrasting ways to look at it,
but they are the strengths of the
The experienced Guyana
pair of Ramnaresh Sarwan and
Chanderpaul took the total to
58 before Sarwan was caught
by Umer Akmal off Afridi for
24.
Afridi then dismissed Pollard
(1) and Devon Thomas off
consecutive balls.
Sammy was dropped by
Younis Khan at slip off Saeed
Ajmal on one but lasted only
one more ball before he was
lbw to the off-spinner. Two
balls later, Ajmal bowled Devendra
Bishoo for a duck.
Roach recorded his best
one-day score of 16, helping
Chanderpaul to add 30 for the
two sides,” Ponting said.
“I think if our fast bowlers
bowl well against their batsmen,
we have a good chance.”
The Australian skipper,
however, warned his
team-mates not to take India’s
pace spearhead Zaheer
Khan lightly.
“We had a close look at him.
After a short opening spell, he
has been held back until the
26th over when the ball gets
old and starts reversing. And
he has got the wickets when
the batsmen went after him in
the later stages of the game,”
said Ponting.
India’s top order batting has
come good despite the inexplicable
middle-order collapse.
Tendulkar and Sehwag and
Yuvraj Singh have set the platform
for the middle-order to
dominate. Powerplay has been
India’s major problem. Yuvraj,
Gautam Gambhir and Virat
Chief Executive Officer ABDULLAH BIN NASSIR AL RAHBI. Editor-in-Chief FAHMY BIN KHALID AL HARTHY
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PAKISTAN captain Shahid Afridi (second left) greets team-mate Mohammad Hafeez (third right) after their
victory over West Indies at the Sher-e Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka yesterday. — AFP
ninth wicket.
"Definitely not enough runs
on the board," said Sammy.
"They bowled well at us.
We didn't counter the bowling
well and hence we were
bowled out for a low total.
"We lost wickets in clusters
to spin through the tournament
and today was no different. We
were on the backfoot early and
never recovered."
SCOREBOARD
West Indies
D Smith lbw M Hafeez .................. 7
C Gayle c S Afridi b U Gul ............ 8
R Sarwan c U Akmal b S Afridi ..24
D Bravo lbw M Hafeez .................. 0
S Chanderpaul (not out) ...............44
Kohli have shown their individual
brilliance, but it is time
the Indians put up a collective
performance with the bat.
All eyes will be on Tendulkar
as fans are eagerly waiting
for him to get his 100th international
century.
Ponting has other plans for
Tendulkar.
“It is an amazing record.
But we have to make sure that
he doesn’t get a hundred and
I am sure he is also working
how to get to the feat,” said
Ponting.
Ponting, who is going
through a rough patch, will try
to draw inspiration from the
2003 final, when he blasted
a majestic 140 not out from
121 balls. Statistics also show
that Australia have won 24 of
29 ODIs when Ponting hits a
century.
Ponting has watched videos
of the special knock at least
K Pollard c K Akmal b S Afridi ..... 1
D Thomas lbw S Afridi .................. 0
D Sammy lbw S Ajmal .................. 1
D Bishoo b S Ajmal ....................... 0
K Roach c Y Khan b A Razzaq ....16
R Rampaul b S Afridi .................... 0
Extras: (lb-2, w-7, nb-2) ............. 11
Total: (all out, 43.3 overs) ......... 112
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-16, 3-16,
4-58, 5-69, 6-69, 7-71, 8-71, 9-111.
Bowling: U Gul 7-1-13-1, M Hafeez
10-3-16-2 (w-2), W Riaz 6-0-29-0
(nb-1, w-2), S Afridi 9.3-1-30-4 (w-
1), S Ajmal 8-1-18-2 (w-1), A Razzaq
3-1-4-1 (w-1).
Pakistan
K Akmal (not out) ........................47
M Hafeez (not out) ....................... 61
Extras: (lb-4, w-1) ........................ 5
Total: (no loss, 20.5 overs) ........ 113
Bowling: Roach 5.5-0-39-0, Rampaul
5-1-28-0 (w-1), Bishoo 5-1-24-
0, Sammy 5-1-18-0.
INDIAN players pictured during a training session on the eve of their quarterfinal match against Australia in Ahmedabad yesterday. PICTURE RIGHT: Australian captain Ricky Ponting (left) leads his team during their practice session.
four to five times and said it
has given him the much-needed
confidence coming into this
game.
The stage is set for him to
strike form, after all today’s
game could be the last duel
between the two greats in a
World Cup.
India (from): Mahendra Singh
Dhoni (captain and wicket-keeper),
Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar,
Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj
Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan,
Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf
Patel, S Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla,
R Ashwin, Ashish Nehra.
Australia (from): Ricky Ponting
(captain), Shane Watson, Brad Haddin,
Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey,
Cameron White, Steve Smith, Mitchell
Johnson, Brett Lee, Jason Krejza,
Shaun Tait, Callum Ferguson, Tim
Paine, David Hussey, John Hastings.
Umpires: Marais Erasmus
(South Africa) and Ian Gould
(England). Third umpire: Richard
Kettleborough (England).
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle
(Sri Lanka). — IANS
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