[antz.bin]

England doing their best to help SA qualify. Went from 42/1 to 57/6 vs Afghanistan today. They lose their 7th for 85 off 14.3 overs as I was typing this.

Nobody can predict anything in this tournament. Looking forward to how India fares against the depleted Bangladeshis.

[vinit.merchant]

Anyone tracking Eng-Afg? England is batting first and looks completely lost.
Full marks to Afg for their bowling, though they still look quite rusty with the fielding.

[Eddy]

I suspect 140 is enough, provided the Afghani Sehwag doesn't fire :x

[Chetan_Rao]

AFG look a decent T-20 side, definitely not one for making up the numbers.

India are having another mini-collapse as I type!

[AltoLXI]

They deserved it. Stupid and very immature show by BD batsmen.

[Chetan_Rao]

That finish was a perfect example of everything that's right and wrong with T-20 simultaneously.

Right: Can't beat that for excitement!
Wrong: Absolute lack of cricketing sense by Bangladesh. Wanting to be a hero instead of winning the game for their team. Reminded me of a boxing cartoon where the character swings a round-house punch at a staggering opponent, misses and knocks himself out.

[Engine_Roars]

This match showed what does it takes to be a match finisher like Dhoni or Kohli. Bangladesh Batsmen were too immature. Bangladesh played well through out the match but they lost because they could not handle the excitement of defeating Team India.

The last wicket was a gem from Dhoni. He did not throw the ball, instead he made sure that he personally delivered the ball. This man has something about him.

[nowwhat?]

I was estranged, but now I again believe... ...in Dhoni.

O ye of little faith
Why are ye fearful?

[amit_snk]

With pitch playing true through out the match, there was remarkable difference between batting of both teams, uptill 19.3 overs bangla played like tigers and then last three balls showed us what panic can do to our brains.

India on the other hand we're panicky from the start, Rohit, Shikhar, Raina and for a change even Kohli were finding it difficult to middle the ball, and it showed because bangla batsman scored more boundaries then Indians, if India has to win this tournament it's batsman need to get their act together quickly otherwise forget it.

[hemanth.anand]

What entertainment! Was worth every paise that I paid for the ticket.
And it was worth going 2 hours before the start of the match to find a perfect seat.
Full HD, Quad HD, 4K wahtever resilution your TV might be or how much ever big it might be, nothing can beat the stadium experience.


Perfect seat perfect match.

But other than that, Indian team has to improve a lot before the Semis and the virtual Quarter-final on Sunday

[NPV]

After watching India lose many times in these kind of crunch situations it is good to see a win.

What a match, a 1 run victory in the end...yes against Bangladesh

I just hope India's chances will not have to be decided on net run rate, rather a win against Australia should take us through.

[praveen_v]

From looking to up the Net Run Rate by blasting the opposition to somehow managing a victory by the narrowest margin, avoiding a knock-out. What I cant understand is everyone being so happy about the win as if we made it to the finals beating a top team (Some say India is the top team in T20)!! It was a very close shave against a not so top team. Agreed that in T20 anything can happen but still this is too close for comfort if we are looking to take the title. I think Bangladesh played better yesterday and lost only because they did not have enough experience in situations like these and got carried away a bit.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by praveen_v

What I cant understand is everyone being so happy about the win as if we made it to the finals beating a top team (Some say India is the top team in T20)!! It was a very close shave against a not so top team.

True, not sure if you missed the sarcasm in my post

Agreed that in T20 anything can happen but still this is too close for comfort if we are looking to take the title. I think Bangladesh played better yesterday and lost only because they did not have enough experience in situations like these and got carried away a bit.

In big tournaments, many a times the winner is usually not the team that won all their league games. Take for example India's march to the semi-finals of the 2015 ODI WC, all wins up to the Semi-final and boom, gone! New Zealand also seemed like a better team to win the cup but it was not to be.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by Engine_Roars

The last wicket was a gem from Dhoni. He did not throw the ball, instead he made sure that he personally delivered the ball. This man has something about him.

Dhoni with the ball, is faster than the striker with a bat, even if the striker started way down the pitch

Originally Posted by NPV

What a match, a 1 run victory in the end...

1 run, last ball & 3rd umpire involved in that last ball. Had all elements of a thriller

Banga bowlers bowled well. Indians batsmen struggled with their timing, placement. Failure of top batsmen is hurting India's chances of posting big totals. 140s, 150s won't help against Australia and in semis or finals. If India has to get past 180, the openers have to get at least 50 in 5 or 6 overs. Raina doesn't look he is No 4 batsman. He is ideal at No 5. In current team, Rahane can come in at No 4 (at the expense of Yuvraj, who is not batting well and his bowling is not utilized.)

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Raina doesn't look he is No 4 batsman. He is ideal at No 5. In current team, Rahane can come in at No 4 (at the expense of Yuvraj, who is not batting well and his bowling is not utilized.)

Not quite agree to your point at replacing Yuvraj. Yes he is not middling as well but he is playing better than Raina (who is there only for fielding in the team for now) and definitely better than Dhawan. I think the person to move out is Dhawan/Raina and Rahane is better bet. It also should be based on the kind of track. Rahane is slightly better in bowler friendly tracker where Raina is a sitting duck. Dhoni is slightly rigid in his team selection though and does not tinker much unless forced to.