The Most Important Group Match Of The 2007 WC
Minnow-bashing continued yesterday with Pakistan and Sri Lanka comfortably winning their matches. A sombre end to Inzy's ODI career and perhaps his cricketing career. For although he has officially retired only from ODIs, knowing the machinations of Pakistani Cricket, he might very well be out of the squad the next time Pakistan play a Test match.
In today's matches, the Netherlands scored a consolation victory over fellow-associate nation Scotland. The Dutch bowled well to restrict Scotland to 136, a target they reached with plenty to spare. In the group B fixture, New Zealand defeated Canada by 114 runs. The Black Caps, batting first, built up a mammoth total of 363 featuring some huge hitting toward the end overs. However, in the absence of Shane Bond, their bowling looked ordinary. This may hurt the Kiwis in the knockout stages of the tournament.
So, now we move onto the most crucial match of the group stages - India vs Sri Lanka which of course is a must-win game for us. The Lankans have been talking themselves up quite a bit, whereas our team has been described as appearing to be disjointed. Frankly, I still fancy our chances against Sri Lanka. Sure, the Lankans have had a good time lately, but the opposition that they've faced hasn't been the greatest. Of course, they did trash Bangladesh and no one needs reminding of what the Bongs did to us! But as I stated in an earlier post, on a pitch with bounce and/or movement, I back India to win. And unlike some writers, I still don't believe that all fans should pay the price for a few lunatics' actions!
