Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar got India off to a flying start in their crucial Group B game against South Africa at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur on Saturday.
Earlier, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first.
Piyush Chawla is likely to be retained again in the squad.Ashish Nehra is likely to partner Zaheer Khan in the pace department.
With injury to Imran Tahir South Africa will bring Johan Botha in place of him.
India: Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra.
South Africa: Graeme Smith (Captain), Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers (WK), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Morne van Wyk, Robin Peterson, Johan Botha, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel.
The Pitch at Nagpur as always provides a high scoring thriller and similar score line is expected in India and South Africa game. With green lush outfield,ball will certainly reach the boundary if it is hit in a gap as soon as blink of an eye.Team winning the toss is likely to bat first in such a pressure game.
So far in Group B India is the only team who has not lost a single game but the games against Ireland and Netherlands they failed to register a convincing win.
An earlier victory against Bangladesh and a tie with England has fixed the place in a quarterfinal with seven points from four matches.On the other hand South Africa has four points in three games.They looked more balanced & dominant side till they choked against England while chasing the modest 171 runs target for victory in Chennai.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was positive, despite his team's stuttering performances in chasing targets of 208 against Ireland and 190 against the Netherlands.Indian team most concern part is their bowling which is yet to be clicked together. Apart from Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh no bowler looked like picking up the wickets. Harbhajan Singh has picked up just one wicket so far in his four outings.India batting looked settled,however Sachin and Sehwag needs to built on the start rather than throwing there wickets away.
With both teams are looking strong,it will be an interesting encounter.
Sachin Tendulkar reached yet another milestone when he became the first player in history to reach the 2000-run mark in World Cups. The 37-year-old Tendulkar reached the landmark during the match against Netherlands at the Ferozeshah Kotla.
The little master, who was just 18 runs short of the 2000 before this match, scored 27 off just 22 balls.
Earlier in the World Cup Tendulkar also became the first batsman to score five hundreds in the tournament with a majestic 120 against England at Bangalore.
Playing his sixth World Cup, he also holds the record for the most half-centuries in the flagship event of the ICC.
Zaheer Khan took three wickets and Yuvraj Singh scored an unbeaten half-century which helped India to beat Netherlands by five wickets in Delhi.Although at one point India were 82 for three in reply, they eventually clinched victory with more than 13 overs to spare.
Netherlands made a good start to their innings as openers Eric Scwarczynski (28) and Wesley Barresi (26) gave their side a useful platform making a 56-run opening partnership.
Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla bowled Szwarczynski to end the partnership.Yuvraj Singh trapped Baresi in front.
Tom Cooper then made 29 but the Netherlands then lost four wickets for nine runs when Ryan ten Doeschate (11), Cooper, Bas Zuiderent (0) and Tom de Grooth (5) all fell in quick succession to leave them at 108 for six.
Some hard hitting from Peter Borren, who made 38 in 36 balls, and Mudassar Bukhari, who hit 21 in 12 balls, got the Netherlands up to 189.Zaheer broke this partnership,taking his third wicket,having already removed Zuiderent and Borren.
Chawla took two wickets for 47 and Yuvraj took two wickets for 43.
Virender Sehwag then blasted 39 in 26 balls with five fours and two sixes and Sachin Tendulkar 27 in 22 deliveries scoring 69 in 7.3 overs.Left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar struck to have Sehwag caught by Kervezee.
He struck again as he took the prize wicket of Tendulkar, caught by Bradley Kruger.He took his third wicket when he caught and bowled Yusuf Pathan for 11.
When Virat Kohli was bowled for 12 by Peter Borren, the Netherlands sensed the chance of an upset.
But first Gautam Gambhir (28), then Yuvraj (51 not out) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (19 not out) steered India to their third win of the competition.
Yuvraj was declared the ‘Man of the match’ for his outstanding performance with both bat and ball.
Ashish Nehra who was not fully fit for the previous games would likely to replace Munaf Patel who has not performed well so far.
India: Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra.
Netherlands: Alexei Kervezee, Wesley Barresi (WK), Tom Cooper, Ryan ten Doeschate, Bas Zuiderent, Tom de Grooth, Peter Borren (Captain), Mudassar Bukhari, Pieter Seelaar, Bernard Loots, Berend Westdijk.
India will look to continue their habit of remaining unbeaten in 2011 world cup as they take on Netherlands who have not performed well yet.Indian batting so far in the tournament performed well and they need to continue the good show but the worry sign for Dhoni is the Indian fielding and some of the bowlers. Apart from Zaheer Khan none of the regular bowlers including Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Munaf Patel looked close to picking up the wicket.
The Pitch at Feeroz Shah Kotla is known for its slow and low bouncy wicket.So team winning the toss is likely to bat first and put in excess of 275 runs on the board.
Yuvraj Singh first got his maiden five-wicket haul in One-Day International cricket and then scored an unbeaten half-century.Yuvraj took five for 31 and then scoring 50 in 75 balls.He provided a breakthrough for India when he took a wicket of well-set William Porterfield who scored 75 in 104 balls caught by Harbhajan Singh . He also got the wicket of Andrew White caught by Dhoni for five, caught and bowled Kevin O'Brien for nine and finished off the innings of Alex Cusack (24) and John Mooney (5) by trapping them in front leg before. Yuvraj Singh was declared Player of the Match for his all-round performance with both bat and ball.
William Porterfield hit six fours and a six in his inning of 75 in 104,holding his side's innings together as wickets fell at the other end.He finally got out when Yuvraj had him caught by Harbhajan Singh with the score on 160.
The arrival of Yusuf Pathan after the dismissal of Dhoni to the middle bring storm of sixes and fours which ended the hopes of Irish. Yusuf Pathan hit 3 huge sixes and two four in his inning of 30 runs off just 24 balls.
Ireland Inning– 283/9 in 50 Overs
W.Porterfield- 75 N.O’Brien – 46
Yuvraj Singh– 10-0-31-5 Z.Khan- 9-1-30-3
India Inning– 210/5 in 46 Overs
Yuvraj Singh- 50* S.Tendulkar–38
T.Johnson– 5-1-16-2 G.Dockrell- 10-0-49-2
An allround performance with both bat and ball from Yuvraj Singh helped India to register a hard fought victory by five wickets over Ireland in their ICC Cricket World Cup match in Bangalore.
Earlier M.S.Dhoni won the toss and put Ireland into bat. Zaheer Khan gave India a perfect start after reducing the Ireland to 9/2 in the 3rd over. But calm and compose partnership between W.Porterfield (75 runs off 104 balls) and N.O’Brien (46 runs off 78 balls) put Ireland inning on track.
Yuvraj bowled excellantly as Ireland failed to bat out their 50 overs,dismissed for 207 despite William Porterfield’s inning of 75 in 104 balls.He received little support from the top order aside from Niall O'Brien's 46 after Paul Stirling (0) and Ed Joyce (4) were picked off by Zaheer Khan, who took three for 30 in nine overs.The partnership of 113 between Porterfield and O'Brien was broken when O'Brien was run out by Virat Kohli and Dhoni.
He got the wicket of Andrew White caught by Dhoni for five, caught and bowled Kevin O'Brien for nine and finished off the innings of Alex Cusack (24) and John Mooney (5) by trapping them in front leg before.
Munaf Patel then dismissed Trent Johnston - also trapped in front - for 17 to end the innings of Ireland.
Defending the target of 208 runs for victory, Ireland struck with the new ball when Johnston had Virender Sehwag caught and bowled for five and Gautam Gambhir caught by Cusack for ten to reduce India to 24 for two.
Sachin Tendulkar (38 runs off 56 balls) and Virat Kohli (34 runs off 53 balls) put on a much needed 63 runs partnership for the 3rd wicket to bring India’s run-chase back on track,taking the score to 87.
But double blow in quick succession by Ireland bring them back right into the game, Tendulkar was trapped in front by left-arm spinner Dockrell and Kohli was run out with the score on 100 by Dockrell and Kevin O'Brien.
However Captain cool M.S.Dhoni (34 runs off 50 balls) and Yuvraj Singh (50 runs off 75 balls) steadied the Indian inning by putting 67 runs for the fifth wicket,before Dhoni was trapped in front by Dockrell for 34 and with India at 167 for five , the match was in the balance.
Dhoni dismissal in the 41st over did allowed some Ireland fans some hope of getting a surprise victory over Indians but brutal straight hitting from Yusuf Pathan, who blasted three sixes - two in one over from Dockrell - soon put Ireland on backfoot. Yuvraj reached his 47th ODI half-century and hit the winning runs with four overs to spare. Dockrell got two for 49, Johnston two for 16 from five overs.
Yuvraj Singh was declared Player of the Match for his all-round performance with both bat and ball.
Indian team would like do some changes in their final playing eleven. Ashish Nehra who missed the first two games is likely to back into the squad in place of Munaf Patel while R.Ashwin might get a game ahead of Piyush Chawla.
On the other hand Ireland have no reason to change the winning combination apart from Andre Botha who missed the last game because of injury.
India: Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, R.Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra.
Ireland: William Porterfield (Captain), Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce, Niall O'Brien (WK), Kevin O'Brien, Alex Cusack, Andre Botha, John Mooney, Trent Johnston, George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin
By looking at pitch and condition in Bangalore another high scoring game on the card, so team winning the toss would love to chase by knowing the facts that balls comes nicely on to the bat under lights.In the first game team able to almost chase down a mammoth target of 338 runs while in 2nd Ireland able to achieve the impossible target of 327 runs against England.
Ireland who is flying high on confidence after beating England while chasing a mammoth total would be looking for another upset when they take on the host India at same venue where they beat England.On the other hand India will look forward to register an easy win over Ireland. But the worrying factors for Dhoni are India’s fielding and there bowling, which have been below average so far.Zaheer Khan is the only bowler so far who has bowled well and took wickets consistantly.
India who batted first in both the games so far is likely to change the strategy this time around with the wickets at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore assisting good help to the batsmen batting under lights. So it will be no surprise if Dhoni opts to field first against Ireland.
