The India-Pakistan semi-final match may be almost five days away but it is only fair to say that the excitement has already begun to build. Already, the tickets are being sold for many times over the actual rate of the ticket and those who already have the tickets are being touted as the lucky few.
Here are a few thoughts for the game:
The P word:
If you want to understand the meaning of pressure, then this is the game that you need to be watching. The two teams will be immensely under pressure and one can only feel for them. Both the countries will be expecting a lot from them and the side which ends up losing will have many questions being asked out of them. The problem is that whether it is the semi-final or any other game, an India-Pakistan game always brings out the best (worst) amongst the fans and how the side handles pressure will be a big factor.
Toss:
This is probably a continuation of the first point, but the toss will be much more important than the ones before. The reason for this is that the side winning the toss will be looking to bat first and once they do that can get to even a 250 in their 50 overs, the side will be able to add on to the pressure having the runs on the board. Here, the Indians may have an advantage given that they have already chased down 261 for a win while Pakistan needed to only get to 112 in their game. Fortunately, one can expect Mohali to be a true pitch which advantages both the teams.
India’s batting:
India’s batting is easily the best in the tournament, even considering that they have collapsed on so many occasions. One almost gets the sense that the batting has not felt challenged enough and that has meant that they have been lethargic. It was only in the quarter-final of the tournament that the batting was challenged and came to the fore against the raging bowling attack of the Aussies.
Pakistan’s bowling:
If India’s batting is the strongest in the tournament, then it is the bowling of Pakistan which can be counted as the second best behind South Africa. With South Africa out of the tournament, it will be the best in the World Cup and that will mean that it is a battle between India’s batting versus the Pakistani bowling.
