Day 19

Well India seems to have an interest in making all matches as entertaining as possible. Otherwise no other explanations seems to fit for why India is letting minnows believe that they have a chance.
Holland began cautiously but in the end their middle order struggled to continue the good work. I expected them to work their way up to 250 given their steady start but they folded for a paltry 189.
India too started as though they were in mood for early dinner but had to put their plans on hold because of some great bowling by Seelar.
Lastly Yuvraj Singh was pathetic - I am sure he must have said sometimes that he plays for the team and blah blah, it is at such occasions that one realises how hollow these statements were. Dhoni should have known better and finished the match as early as possible.

Lankans play the Zimbabweans in what should be a cakewalk for the Lankans on the picturesque ground of Pallekele. Best of luck to Zimbabwe though - they are going to need it.

Day 18

What an innings by Taylor! Single handedly demoralized the Pakistani batting line up and won the game at half time. The commentary team rightly called him the 'Plunderer of Pallekele'. 114 of 6 is something you rarely get to see even in T20. Most memorable was Shoaib Akhtar's ninth over - 28 runs! Murder.

We play the Dutch tomorrow at Ferozeshah Kotla where the curator messed up big time and produced a slow and low wicket after renovation - this bothers me as the Wankhede which is scheduled to hoist the finals was recently renovated - dont know if the curators have preserved the track of relaid it.

Anyways this may be the most boring match of all.

Cheers

Day 17

Was not even a bit interested in today's match. However pleased to know the result that Canada won comfortably and managed to avoid the wooden spoon. After all they are the fifth home team here. Signal for Kenya to improve their cricket administration. (In that area the Canadians are no better either - they stuff their side with Asian expats and an ageing Australian).

Pakistan play the Kiwis tomorrow. Going by the past form of the Kiwis, I dont give them a chance against the in form Pakistanis (wonder how they will handle Shahid Afridi's variations on a spinning track). But Pakistan are known to do the unexpected and we may have a game out of this one (also interesting to see how the Pakistani batsmen fare against Vettori)

Cheers

Day 16

Well Ireland did not come up with an encore performance in batting but were about the pull the match by some tight bowling. But thanks to Yuvraj (all though he ran Kohli out) we did not take away the choker's tag from South Africa. This team unfailingly comes up with stupid performances and loses matches from where even a club side would win convincingly. Maybe some things are written in destiny and one cannot change them no matter what. If they do not make it to the last 2 or maybe 4 of this world cup, I will feel sad for Jacques Kallis.

Kenyans are playing the Canadians tomorrow and both teams will make desperate bids to avoid the wooden spoon! Least interested.

Day 15

Well cannot write much about today as the match was washed out because of rain. But can definitely say something about tomorrow's matches.

In an all important match, the English play the South Africans - always an exciting match. Hope to see scores will in excess of 300.

India vs Ireland takes place in the magical Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. Team batting second always seems to make a mockery of daunting totals here and thus India must look to play it safe with opting to bowl first. But in all I am not too worried about India's performance in tomorrow's match. Wish them best of luck!

Day 14

The most disappointing day of the world cup! Pathetic display by Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. At least Zimbabweans reached double figures. Windies have shown that they are as strong contenders for the WC as are India ans South Africa.

Personally I expected Zimbabwe to show some aggressive cricket against the Kiwis given how the Kiwis had struggled against spin attack in India. Well maybe the ICC's decision to keep the associates out of the WC in the 50 over game is justified after all.

Well in a repeat of the 2007 finale, Sri Lanka play Australia and I am hoping that this game will be a display of fireworks from both the sides.

Good Night

Day 13

After those kind of innings by Amla and De Villers there was no way the Dutch were going to win this. I expected them to give a fight, try to pull an Ireland here but they failed miserably and it is painful when they fail at doing that.

Pakistan must thank the gods for the stupid and inexperienced batting of the Canadians for a Pakistani loss here would have meant that the match fixing ghosts would have come back to haunt them. The Canadians did all the hard work and restricted Pakistan for a paltry 184 only to fall out at 138 themselves. Such a pity! And Shahid Afridi is the man on fire and may very well be Pakistan's trump card this world cup.

We have 2 interesting matches tomorrow which I expect to be full of entertainment. Kiwis play the Zimbabweans and the West Indians play the Bangladeshis. Catch you tomorrow!

Day 12

What a match! Ireland did not look minnows at all and a person with no prior knowledge of the standings of the respective teams could have easily mistaken Ireland for a seasoned ODI side. Guess the time is ripe to grant them a Test status.
We were watching the match in our room and almost gave Kevin O'Brien a standing ovation. After watching England post a mammoth total, I did not have the slightest expectation that the Irish will pull this off. But pull off they did and that too with style. It was a wonderful sight watching O'Brien rip through the English attack like an untethered elephant running amok a helpless crowd.
Pakistan play Canada tomorrow and I am hoping that the Canadians save some pride. (Sincerely wish  that John Davison stops looking like a fool and comes to the party started by Sehwag and carried forward by the likes of Tendulkar, Strauss and O'Brien).
And the Dutch will do some fighting against the Proteas but then again, no big expectations. They just do not have the firepower to cause serious injury to a full member side. It was Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in 1999, Kenya in 2003 and now I hope this WC gives the Irish their due recognition and a Test status - which they fully deserve.

Day 11

Well this world cup the crowd as all been for revenge matches. Revenge for 1987, revenge for Lord's 2009 and so on. Even the Lankans were looking for revenge for 2003 against Kenya. The Lankans stroke upon the Kenyans with great vengeance and furious anger and dismissed them for a paltry 142 thanks to a hattrick by Malinga. (we have had 2 hattricks on 2 days, and remember that these are subcontinental pitches) Naturally they took it as a T20 game later on and chased it in some 18 overs.

The Irish play the Pommies tomorrow and I am expecting one cracker of a match.

Cheers!