Friday, March 14, 2003
Doubts cleared - bring on the 'Roos
The trio of fast bowlers and a class spinner who concedes not an inch rip out the batting team well before regulation time. Then they methodically milk the bowling - running singles, 'punishing the bad ball' (to use a quaint commentator's term) - and demoralize their opponents, winning easily.
Sounds like Australia, but I'm actually referring to India's clinical win. The game is as good as over now - the Indians have won oh-so-easily. I think there are few doubts about the excellence of this team in the relatively easy conditions of this World Cup. I'd still rate Australia as the team with the better attitude in this World Cup.
Academic question: Are the West Indies or S. Africans any better?
The West Indies haven't been a top-notch side of late and there wasn't any sign of a massive revival (except that Lara was finally showing signs of actually sticking around to score some). The way the S. Africans played Sri Lanka does not inspire much confidence in their game either, considering how Sri Lanka has been thrashed by just about every team except for New Zealand.
Under these conditions, this does seem like the best Indian side ever. Kapil Dev's '83 outfit was pretty good, but my prediction is that this outfit will not fold up against oppositions like that one used to.
