Australia Are Knocked out

Yuvraj continued his six-hitting with some huge shots. Robin Uthappa supported him with great efficiency and Dhoni went slam-bang-wallop. That was India against Australia.

Yesterday’s result in the second semi final of the T20 World Championship 2007 at Kingsmead in Durban was one which was good for the tournament. Australia were nowhere near their best in this tournament and seem to finding the new format of cricket a little too hot to handle. The result was good for the tournament and the game in general as Australia were knocked out.

This is good for the game as it proved that cricket is not a as one sided an affair as previously perceived. It was good for the marketing of the tournament as well. It resulted in an India Pakistan final. Not only is it the final of the world T20, but the two teams battling it out are India and Pakistan!

Over the period of the tournament, whenever India batted first, the match has gone on well from India’s point of view. It did so yesterday as well. It was nice to see Gambhir and Sehwag ensure that there was no loss of wickets early in the innings.

This provided the ideal foundation for guys like Yuvraj and Uthappa to go out and execute some ‘hell for leather batting.’

Everything went right for India yesterday, and a lot many things went right for Australia as well. It was just unfortunate for Australia that more things went right for India than for them. Australia did concede about 10-15 runs more than they should have and the result shows that that would have counted. Australia batted very well and constructed their innings well, but Symonds’ dismissal proved to be the turning point in the game.

After Symonds’ departure, India had control over the game to a large extent and just had to ensure that they did not lose it.

For once, they did that and knocked Australia out. It has to be reiterated that throughout the tournament Australia looked in some discomfort owing to the format. That has resulted in their exit. Australia played much below the usual level and still got through to the semi finals. Other teams must appreciate this and look to catch up themselves in the interests of cricket.-BS