India challenge excites Waqar

Updated at: 0946 PST,  Thursday, March 24, 2011

DHAKA: Pakistan coach Waqar Younis relishes the prospect of playing the last two matches in India to win the World Cup as his team continued its ruthless march in the tournament.Pakistan, led from the front by inspirational captain Shahid Afridi, crushed the West Indies by 10 wickets on Wednesday to advance to their first semi-final since 1999.The easy win set up a potentially explosive semi-final against arch-rivals India in Mohali on March 30, if the co-hosts beat defending champions Australia in Ahmedabad later on Thursday.Waqar said it would be "awesome" if Pakistan was to play India for a place in the final at the Wankhede stadiun in Mumbai on April 2."I would love to play India in India," the fast bowling great said. "There is no bigger rivalry in the game than that. We have not played each other in our own country in recent years."So it should be very exciting. The two are cricket-loving countries. If it happens it will be awesome."Waqar said it did not matter whether they play the semi-final against India, or Australia whom they beat by four wickets in the league to end the defending champions' unbeaten 34-match streak in the World Cup."I have no preference whom we play," he said. "We have to concentrate on what we have to do."All I know is that we are going to be playing in India. There will be a lot of pressure. Not only on us, but probably on the other side as well. Whoever holds their nerves better will come out on top."Waqar was delighted at the emphatic win over the West Indies, and hoped more such games were to follow."A comfortable win is always a good thing," he said. "Hopefully we will get another comfortable win. That's the aim. But we know our opponents are going to be a lot stronger."Waqar was not worried his team may not get the kind of support in India that came its way in the league in Sri Lanka or in Dhaka on Wednesday."Hopefully there will be a few people coming across the border from Lahore and they'll be supporting us in Mohali," he said."I know it won't be like what we got here in Dhaka or in Sri Lanka. That was amazing. The people were right behind us. When we played against Sri Lanka, the crowd was not with us. So we are really comfortable with that."Look, we have to go wherever the tournament takes us. Mohali or Mumbai, we have to play the best we can."Afridi's 4-30 against the West Indies took his tally as the tournament's leading wicket-taker to 21, but Mohammad Hafeez stole the show with his all-round display.The off-spinner, asked to share the new ball with Umar Gul, picked up two early wickets and then hit an unbeaten 61 off 64 balls in the company of opening partner Kamran Akmal (47 not out)"Hafeez is a smart cricketer," the coach said. "He is very confident when it comes to bowling. He has got such self-belief that whenever he is given the ball, he delivers."Bowling was never the issue in this tournament for us, it was the batting. We struggled with the openers, so it was really pleasing to see them getting runs." (AFP)

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Updated at: 1901 PST,  Wednesday, March 24, 2011
hile terming an India-Pakistan contest as the biggest rivalry in the world, Pakistan’s bowling coach Waqar Younis sought to keep his emotions in check ahead of a potential World Cup semifinal clash between the sub-continental giants.Pakistan, who drubbed the West Indies by 10 wickets in the first quarterfinal here on Wednesday, will now travel to Mohali where they await the winners of the second last-eight match between India and Australia in Ahmedabad on Thursday. “It’s just a game and not a war, so just treat it like sport,” Younis emphasised when asked if he would challenge India now. “Don’t put words into my mouth and I will not get into this kind of act. India will do everything in their hands to do well as do we, and so far as not winning a match (against India in a World Cup) is concerned, even Australia hadn’t lost a match for 34 games but eventually they did,” he pointed out.“There is no security issue,” said Younis when asked if his team had any concern going to India. “I don’t see any big reason to be wary about. When we went there in 1999 then things were not that normal but now the situation is quite alright, things are smooth. It’s good to go to your neighbouring country and play some competitive cricket. As of now we are happy to be going to India,” he remarked.Pakistan had the capacity crowd rooting for them here, but the scenario would be quite different in India. “We have to concentrate on what we have to do,” he noted. “We are going to Mohali and hopefully we will have people coming in from Lahore and other parts. We won’t have a support like here but we will definitely have some sort of support there. But we have to go wherever the tournament takes us. Whether it’s Mohali or Mumbai, wherever we go we have to play our best,” he reasoned.Personally, Younis said, he would like to see an India-Pakistan match. “I haven’t spoken to my team yet about it, but if you ask me, I would love to see an India-Pakistan face-off,” he stated. “I don’t think there is a bigger rivalry than India-Pakistan. Yes we do hear about the Ashes and other clashes, but India-Pakistan is different. I don’t think so far there has been a proper recognition of the magnitude of the rivalry between the two nations. The fact that both the countries haven’t played each other for a while now only adds to its interest,” he explained.

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World Cup: India vs Australia is mini-final, mega contest

Updated at: 1901 PST,  Wednesday, March 24, 2011

It is cricket’s equivalent of Brazil vs Germany or Italy vs Argentina in a football World Cup — a high voltage contest. India vs Australia is the match of the quarterfinals, nay match of the championship. Not for nothing Tim Nielsen says it is a mini-final.So evenly are the teams stacked up, separating them will be exercising in futility. A shot, a throw, a wide or a dot ball can decide the outcome of the contest. “We’ll have to be on our toes for 100 overs,” said Ricky Ponting. MS Dhoni concurred, stating that his side cannot afford a blink. One moment of lapse can change game on its axis. A humdinger is on the cards at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera on Thursday.On the eve of the game, the teams’ approach was that of cultivated pragmatism than overt show of bravado. The fear of failure was all too evident among the captains as was the realisation of magnitude of the contest and enormity of the job at hand. There were no mind games nor high decibel rhetoric. ‘We want our cricket to do the talking’ was the general refrain of Dhoni and Ponting.Coming into the match, neither side has exactly justified their billing — the build-up has not been the way they would have expected. The top two one-day teams in the world have been rather lacklustre in the group stage, having managed only one win each over a major team. Australia, in particular, have been scrappy, with Ponting providing fodder for his critics with a string of poor scores. The team has not even shown the typical aggression it is known for. This is very unlike an Australian team.“We’ll play the Australian way and let our cricket do all the talking,” said Ponting with more hope than conviction. Dhoni was cautiously optimistic that his batsmen will be able to curb their avarice and prevent another meltdown in the batting powerplay.

“We’ll not try to go for the broke,” said the India skipper. “We’ll keep smaller targets in mind. Controlling emotions will be a big factor, but I think most of the Indian cricketers are good at it. We win some and we lose some.”One of the big sideshow of the second quarterfinal will be the appearance of Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar in a World Cup game. One of them will have played his last game in the World Cup by Thursday night. Ponting said the contest is not about two individuals but about two teams and then hastened to add that 100 international centuries will be an incredible effort. “We will make sure that he doesn’t get it tomorrow,” the Australia skipper said.Whether or not Tendulkar gets 100th century, India will be looking for a substantial contribution from the Little Master, particularly because of the uncertainty over the availability of Virender Sehwag for the game. A lot will depend on how India start — in both batting and bowling — which means performance of Sehwag (if he is fit) and Tendulkar will be crucial to the team’s chances.Australians have said that they have plans in place for the key Indian batsmen and bowlers. A lot will depend on how these players, particularly the openers, will handle the barrage of short balls from Brett Lee & Co. India, sure, are not a one or a two-batsman team but Dhoni will need his premier batters to get going. When Lionel Messi fires, Argentina’s chances of winning becomes

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Pakistan outplay Windies to storm into semis

Updated at: 1900 PST,  Wednesday, March 23, 2011

DHAKA: Pakistan thrashed West Indies by ten wickets to move into the World Cup semi-finals here at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on Wednesday.Chasing an easy target of 113 runs, openers Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez completed the Pakistan victory without being separated, in just 20.5 overs.Kamran contributed 47 and Hafeez 61 as both made 113 runs together, Pakistan’s biggest opening stand of this tournament.Earlier, batting first after winning the toss, the West Indies could not resist against the Pakistan spin attack, led by Shahid Afridi, and were bundled out for 112 in 43.3 overs.Leg-spinner Afridi, already the tournament's leading wicket-taker, took his tally to 21 as he finished with four for 30, including two wickets off successive balls.Off-spinners Mohammad Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal claimed two wickets each for 16 and 18, respectively, while pacers Umar Gul and Abdul Razzaq took a wicket each.Veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul, brought back to the team after being dropped in the previous match against India, was the only batsman to defy the spinners with a dour unbeaten 44 off 106 balls Except Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan (24) and Kemar Roach (16), no West Indian batsman could get into double figuresThe West Indies were reduced to 71-8 before a 40-run stand between Chanderpaul and Roach, which helped the former champions surpass their lowest World Cup total of 93 against Kenya in Pune in 1996.The West Indies never recovered from the disastrous start when they lost three top batsmen, Chris Gayle, Devon Smith and Darren Bravo, by the sixth over.Gayle, returning to the side after recovering from an abdominal strain, made eight when he drove Umar Gul to mid-off where Afridi accepted the catch.Hafeez, who shared the new ball with Gul, trapped Smith and Bravo leg-before in the space of four deliveries to open up the middle-order.Shell-shocked by the early reverses, the West Indies groped to 36-3 after 15 overs, with Chanderpaul making just three runs off his first 27 deliveries.Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chanderpaul put on 42 for the fourth wicket before Afridi destroyed the innings with three wickets in 11 balls.Sarwan, dropped by Gul at mid-off when he was on 14, added 10 more to his score before Afridi gained revenge by having him caught at point by Umar Akmal.

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Lorgat happy with Mumbai as final venue

Updated at: 1816 PST,  Wednesday, March 23, 2011

AHMEDABAD: ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has defended Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium as the venue for the World Cup final, saying it could provide the perfect setting for a Sachin Tendulkar "fairytale".The climax to world cricket's showpiece takes place on April 2 at the 33,000 capacity Wankhede rather than at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, which can seat 63,000.India great Tendulkar has 99 international hundreds heading into the co-hosts' quarter-final with Aus on Thursday.But Lorgat appears to want him to delay the landmark 100thcentury."Can you imagine a fairytale ending with Sachin Tendulkar getting a hundred in the final and India wins at Wankhede which is his home ground?," said Lorgat on Wednesday."And the fact of the matter is, no matter what the number, we haven't got sufficient tickets."Mumbai is the home town of ICC president Sharad Pawar and the way tickets for the final have been distributed has proved controversial, with some 20,000 going to clubs linked to the Mumbai Cricket Association and 8,500 to the ICC.This World Cup has seen repeated instances of Indian police baton-charging fans in a bid to control frantic crowds queuing for scarce tickets.

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