India@WC - India vs Pak - The Battle of the Battles or was it 10 years ago

When he could not walk with the gods, he was humble to be mortal

February 15, 2015 18:00 IST

'It was a good performance,' M S Dhoni said after the match. It was a little bit more than that, in that it came just when the team needed to reverse trends, to find self-belief, to be able to look ahead rather than behind.'

Prem Panicker's match report card, for Rediff.com

Virat Kohli averages 50-plus in one-day internationals over the past 12 months with three centuries and three other scores of over 50 (plus a 48 and a 49).

Yet, the talk leading into India's opening match of World Cup 2015 has been around his 'loss of form' -- a debate that is a little less about performance and a little more about the stature he has attained in a universe shorn of Tendulkar, Dravid and Sehwag.

Kohli's fan base expects him to perform prodigies each time he walks out, and his demeanour suggest that he shares that expectation. His run of 9, 4, 2 not out and 8 in the recent triangular series is thus a personal let-down.

Today, when he walked in at number three after the early loss of Rohit Sharma, he resembled nothing as much as Hamlet in a helmet.

For the major part of his innings he prowled the battlements around his wicket, face taut with tension, eyes narrowed in absolute concentration, occasionally indulging in soliloquies that may have had Oedipal subtexts.

When he is in rude batting health, he signals it early with his signature cover drives and pulls. Today saw a different Kohli -- one prepared to concede the need to grind his way back to his peak. He ostensibly avoided the cover drive for much of his innings; he shocked himself by mishitting a pull off Afridi that almost got to a running, diving Yasir Shah at wide midwicket.

He settled down to work. He hit into the ground almost as often as along it; he found fielders as many times as he found gaps. He absorbed the pressure of 53 runless balls out of 126 faced; shrugged off two chances (the other a simple one to stand-in wicket-keeper Umar Akmal); he ran brilliantly to accumulate through 56 singles and eight twos; he ran as selflessly for his partners Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina, and he proved -- to his own evident satisfaction as manifest by his sober celebration of a 22nd ODI century (107 off 126) -- that when he could not walk with the gods, he was humble enough to be mortal.

Confronting his own inadequacies was equally the subtext of Shikhar Dhawan's innings. Having come to grief too often square of the wicket and behind, he curbed his propensity to slash hard; he took fresh mental guard when, in the 3rd over of the innings, a lifter from Irfan had him fending a thick edge just wide of second slip; he played with an almost pedantic focus on meeting the ball under his eye with the middle of his bat; he ran hard in Kohli's slipstream and he only flexed his heavily tattooed muscles only when the delivery merited it.

Given recent form, it was a surprise that he was still there after the first sharp opening spell from Mohammed Irfan and Sohail Khan; given the way he batted on the day, it was a bigger surprise when he got out for 73 (76 balls), just when a century seemed his for the scoring.

Even here, the fault was not his so much as that of Kohli, who called him for one and sold him a dummy for Shehzad, a noticeable stand-out in an ordinary Pakistan fielding side, to hit the stumps with the nerveless precision of a sniper.

Suresh Raina (74 off 56) was a beneficiary of early largesse from Pakistan skipper Misbah ul-Haq, who allowed the left-hander just enough breathing space to settle in against spin before testing his nerve against pace and bounce.

Promoted to number four to replace the left-handed Dhawan, Raina quickly settled in against spin and by the time the quicks came back on, had found the range and timing of his muscular hitting, particular to leg -- an area he pounded with four of his five fours and all three of his sixes).

At the top end of the innings, Rohit Sharma was the antithesis to Dhawan and Kohli -- a player so sold on his own 'talent' that he seemed unwilling to accept that scoring sometimes entails a grind.

Tied down by sharp pace and good lines and lengths from Irfan and Sohail Khan, he launched into a predetermined pull at a Sohail delivery not short enough for the shot; the ball got big on him off length and the top edge lobbed for a simple catch to mid-off.

India's strategy of batting within themselves in the mid overs and keeping wickets for the final dash almost paid off, when they batted themselves to a comfortable 165/2 at the end of 30 and a threatening 217/2 after 40 overs. 56 runs in the overs 41-45 set up the climactic assault, but Misbah got his two best bowlers Sohail Khan and Wahab Riaz together for the last five.

Both were, if anything, quicker than at the start of the innings; their lines and lengths were tight and India, looking to hit out, lost 5 for 27 to a combination of skilled death bowling and the batsmen's own imperative to pummel or perish.

Misbah continues to grow as a captain; barring his choice of bowlers against Raina initially, he hardly put a foot wrong -- if anything, he has reason to feel aggrieved that the two bowlers he would have looked to as his spearheads -- Mohammed Irfan and Yasir Shah -- proved to be the weakest links.

The three hundred India finished up with in its first innings would have been the end of the argument even in the previous edition of the tournament.

In 2011, there were 17 scores of over 300 in 49 games -- of which 11 were against the lowly ranked teams. This time around, the first four games of the Cup have produced four 300-or-over first innings scores -- three against the more than decent bowling attacks of England, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.

It is indicative of the changing ODI mindset that 300 no longer seems a winning total. It is, after all, a six runs per over ask; the restriction that you can have only four fielders outside the circle (only three during the 15 power play overs) added to the use of a different ball at either end mean that batsmen are not confronted with an old, soft ball at the business end of the chase.

The question therefore always was whether India's bowlers could come to the party as a unit, contrary to their recent practice of bowling dross at one end to let off any pressure built at the other. They did.

Equally, the question was whether Pakistan's batsmen had the nous to resist the pressure of history -- five defeats in five World Cup meetings is a weight on the collective soul, no matter how much a team talks of putting the past behind them and concentrating on the present. As it turned out, they didn't.

To Mohammed Shami goes the credit for setting India up for the win. With the second ball of his second over, he produced a razor-sharp bouncer that steepled off length at sharp pace, catching the experienced Younis Khan by surprise.

The batsman aimed to duck, but the ball followed him, tried to pull but was cramped, and ended up gloving to M S Dhoni behind the wicket.

It was a crucial early wicket, because the Pakistan batting is set up for its young stars to revolve around the experience of Younis and Misbah.

The Indian opening bowlers were sharp and, most of the time, on target -- but their effort received real teeth thanks to the fielding. Haris Sohail, promoted to number three, played with great skill. His driving was fluid, the ball resounded off the middle of the bat, his feet moved with precision.

Shot after shot looked set to end up at the fence; time after time Sohail got nothing for his effort thanks to bowlers who adhered to the prescribed off and outside line, and a four-man off-side inner cordon in which Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli variously combined to superb effect. Sohail managed a mere 36 off 48 -- if each shot had earned what it merited, he would have doubled that.

Though Pakistan was ahead of India at the end of the first ten over tranche, the seeming impossibility of finding gaps on the off began to tell; Ravichandran Ashwin then added to the pressure with an opening spell where he finally looked the off spinner he is.

He slowed down his deliveries; he used his height to loop the ball over the batsman's eyeline and his long fingers to impregnate the ball with real spin, and suddenly looked a far different, more dangerous bowler.

Two of his first three overs were maidens; the fielders were buzzing around the batsmen -- even filtered through a TV screen, you could feel the pressure ratchet up. And it told -- the left handed Sohail fell as you expect left handers to fall to off spinners: Ball on length just outside off drawing the batsman forward, turning on hitting the deck and getting sufficient bounce to hit the edge high. Rohit Sharma completed the dismissal with a sharp catch to his right at slip, and from that point on, it never looked like Pakistan was in the game.

The fielding only got better and India's bowlers for once never slackened or lost focus. The most expensive was Raina, who bowled just one over for six runs; the second most expensive was the all-rounder Jadeja, whose ten went for 56, against which he found the outside edge of Umar Akmal before that accomplished batsman had scored.

Umesh Yadav had a 5.0 economy rate for his two wickets; Shami bought his four wickets for 35 at 3.8; Mohit Sharma went at 3.9 and got two wickets; and Ashwin had an outstanding day, his spell of 8-3-41-1 and relatively expensive 5.12 economy rate belying the pressure he exerted in each of his spells.

India went in with two spinners and three pace bowlers -- all five got wickets, and that perhaps is the most noticeable fact behind its first win in the three months it has spent in Australia.

Misbah alone played as you expect a batsman to play at cricket's marquee tournament, easy and in control against pace and spin alike in an innings of 76 off 84 -- but no one batsman can do much against a target of 300 backed by committed bowling and razor-sharp fielding.

The 76 run margin of victory reflected the all-round difference between the two sides; that Pakistan for the sixth time in as many World Cup outings finds itself on the losing side against India owes to their inability to absorb the palpable pressures attendant on such contests.

You hear the word 'momentum' used more often in the commentary box than in a convention of physicists, these days. And that word is due for some over-use in the interregnum between this win, and India's next outing, February 22 against South Africa.

For me, it is about opportunity for planning, working towards an ideal. Having field-tested a combination against decent opposition today, India have the time to work its perceived weaknesses and subject itself to an intense examination against the pre-tournament favorites next weekend.

'It was a good performance,' M S Dhoni said after the match. It was a little bit more than that, in that it came just when the team needed to reverse trends, to find self-belief, to be able to look ahead rather than behind.

Prem Panicker, for Rediff.com

#We Would'nt Give it Back - Will the dream get realized

It is March 26th, Thrusday. Tommorow India will be two step away from the illusive dream of  retaining the World Cup.
India vs Australia - Semi-Finals, and all over is the energry of Finals. Including this google India.

But as it has happened with this WC. I have been surprised caught up in this fun. And the biggest fun will happen tomorrow. This game including the last semi-finals I should have not seen it, ie.e not seen in India But luckily 

India@WC - When we were pushed really Close

The most searching examination of India's resilience with bat and ball yet

March 14, 2015 14:53 IST

'The two batted as if "pressure" was a concept unknown to them. Raina was the muscular enforcer, Dhoni the consigliere planning and controlling the momentum of the assault.'

Prem Panicker, in splendid form, on India's toughest game yet.

Image: Suresh Raina during India's game against Zimbabwe at Eden Park in Auckland, on March 14, 2015 . Photograph Phil Walter/Getty Images

Brendan Taylor came half-forward to the third ball of the 39th over, realised that Mohammed Shami had banged it in short, provised brilliantly and ramped it over the keeper with the casual panache of a masterchef flipping an omelette.

The stroke, which ended up in the stands behind M S Dhoni's back, brought up Taylor's second century (99 balls) on the trot to go with his 121 against Ireland at Hobart on March 7.

At that point, his wagonwheel looked like a burst bag of vermicelli -- sticks long and short pointing to every corner of the compass, testament to a stylist who seemed to have at least two answers to every question a bowler posed.

The Zimbabwe captain celebrated with the emotional fervour of a player who knows he will never hold center-stage again. As the World Cup heads into the business end Taylor -- who with 433 is the second highest run-getter at this point of the World Cup behind that other retiree, Kumar Sangakkara -- will head off to do mercenary duty for Nottinghamshire as a Kolpak signee.

'Please,' Zimbabwe's coach pro tempore Dav Whatmore pleaded on the eve of this game, 'we would like to play more cricket.' Taylor's abdication underscores that cri de coeur -- talent decays with disuse, it demands a stage, a spotlight for its deeds; it is a failure of the international establishment that such as him are forced to turn journeymen.

Image: Brendan Taylor salutes the crowd as he leaves the field after scoring 138 runs. Photograph: Phil Walter/Getty Images

If the denouement of Taylor's innings was electric, its beginning was slow. India's opening bowlers Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami had taken out the openers and reduced Zimbabwe to 13/2 at the end of five overs and were threatening a rout.

The Zimbabwean captain gave himself a nine-ball sighter, eased a single to get off the mark, and absorbed the loss of Solomon Mire in the 11th over 33 for 3).

Joined in the middle by Sean Williams, the inheritor of his mantle, Taylor settled into an association that first rescued, then revived and finally, demolished.

For all their relative inexperience on the international stage, the two showed remarkable maturity in the way they rebuilt the tattered innings. Playing spin with skill and pace with intent, scoring largely through intelligent placements and brisk running, flexing their hitting muscles only when presented with the occasional bad ball, the two eased the score to 100 (149 deliveries, 24.5 overs) at almost exactly the half-way point of the innings.

Almost as if he were waiting for that first sighting of a safe harbor, Williams promptly shifted gears. He greeted Ashwin, going around the wicket, with a shimmy down the pitch off the first ball of the 26th over and smashed one over midwicket; one ball later he was down the wicket again, reading Ashwin's alteration of line to middle and leg and lofting over backward square leg; again he let a ball go and then came skipping down to convert a length ball into a full toss and smash through extra-cover to rattle up 16 in the over.

First Taylor, then Williams, brought up their fifties in the 28th over; Ashwin switched ends for the 29th and, with commendable flexibility, got down low to take a return chance off Williams (50 off 57, 3 fours and 3 sixes) as the batsman attempted to smash him straight (126/4).

Image: Mohammed Shami celebrates after dismissing Chamu Chibhabha. Photograph: Nigel Marple/Reuters

Taylor, now joined by Craig Ervine, eased through a few overs to absorb the loss of his accomplice and then eased through the gears. He swept Ashwin to the square leg fence and when the under-pressure bowler altered his length, went low to power him high over the backward square leg fence.

Dhoni gave his off-spinner a one-over break to recover his composure and brought him back in the 38th; Taylor took to him again, first sweeping a brace, then lofting him back over his head to the straight boundary and ending the over with a controlled clip off his pads through backward square leg.

In the next over the Zimbabwean captain ramped Shami for the six that got him to his century, and celebrated by lofting the last ball of the same over high over the mid-off fence.

Throughout his knock, Taylor had been perfecting the timing on his wide repertoire of stroke in which the sweep stood out. He played the conventional variety, the slog-sweep and the reverse with assured vehemence, and a frequency that made him the perfect candidate for a Swach Bharat campaign.

Having made sure that his arsenal was in working order, Taylor unleashed hell -- and Ravi Jadeja, in the 41st over, was the one who found himself under the bludgeon. The second hall, tossed outside off, was slog-swept with a feral ferocity through suare leg. Taylor waltzed down to the next ball and when Jadeja angled it into the pads, smashed that behind square.

Jadeja responded with a quicker delivery; Taylor responded with a stunning drive deep into the stands at long on. Jadeja shortened the length on the next ball, Taylor paddled to fine leg for another four.

And when the hapless bowler went back to the full length, the response was another stunning drive, again deep into the long on stands to tally 25 in the over.

It was almost antithetical to the run of play when Taylor, in the next over, tried to force Mohit Sharma's short of length delivery over mid on, but lost his grip on the bat and popped it up for the fielder there to hold with ease (138 off 110, 15 fours, four sixes; 235 for 5).

The measure of Taylor's finely calibrated influence on the innings can be seen in this: If the first 100 took 149 deliveries, during the reconstruction phase, the second was off just 65 deliveries. And thanks largely to his blitz off Jadeja, Zimbabwe's progress from 200 to 250 needed just 28 deliveries.

From that point on, wickets fell helter skelter as the Zimbabwean lower order lashed out in a search for runs -- six wickets including Taylor's fell for 55 runs between the 41st over and the 49th, when Umesh Yadav cleaned up the last two tail-end wickets to maintain India's record of bowling out the opposition in all six games of the Cup, thus far.

At the end of the first half, the puzzling question was why M S Dhoni chose to insert after winning the toss. True, insertion has almost been the default option in Auckland, but the drop-in pitch in use for the day was flat, hard and true and there was no suggestion that either the wicket, or the atmospherics, would aid bowlers.

At the toss, the Indian captain had said he thought there was room for considerable improvement, without specifying the areas he was looking at. The insertion made you wonder if he wanted to put his bowlers under pressure and see if they could hold their lines.

Underlining that impression is the fact that Dhoni used only his five front-line bowlers, without once giving them the sort of cover he had provided in the previous game, against Ireland at Hamilton, when he used Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma to ease the strain.

The three Indian seamers held their nerve, and their line, in the face of assault and shared nine wickets while maintaining impressive economy rates (Shami 5.3, Yadav 4.3 and Mohit Sharma 4.8). The spinners, however, came in for severe tap (Ashwin 1/75 in 10, Jadeja 0/70 in ten).

Between them, Taylor and Williams took 68 runs off 43 deliveries off Ashwin and proved that the off-spinner, thus far the most influential of India's bowlers, could be pressurised into losing control of his flight and loop.

Zimbabwe's bowling attack is statistically the worst of any side in this World Cup; it has spent 57 runs to buy each of its wickets. On paper, and even given the toughest target India has confronted thus far in the Cup, the chase should have been easy for a star-studded, in-form batting line-up.

But success, sometimes, breeds a sense of entitlement, a refusal to accept that you have sometimes to work for results. And not for the first time in this tournament, that sense of entitlement was evident in Rohit Sharma's play.

He began by edging an away-swinger from Tinashe Panyangara dangerously close to the slip cordon off just the third ball of the first over, and followed up that fortuitous four with a back foot caress through point later in the same over.

But as the opening bowlers stayed sharp and provided little for free-flowing strokeplay, the right-hander's impatience was manifest, and it all came to a head in the 7th over when Rohit looked to heave a good length delivery on off to leg. All he managed with that manufactured shot was a leading edge that Sikander Raza, backing away at cover, took with some discomfort (Rohit 16/22, two fours).

Shikhar Dhawan looked, if anything, more fidgety than his opening partner. Tied down by deliveries just back of a length and angling across him to off, the left-hander managed just one scoring shot in a 20-ball occupation of the middle -- a flick off his pads at Tendai Chatara when the bowler for once lapsed in line.

He finally succumbed to the impatience that had consumed his partner earlier in the 7th over, when he tried to manufacture a slashing cut off a Panyangara delivery that was too close to the cut, and not sufficiently short in length, for the shot and managed only to drag it on.

With both openers gone for 21 in just 6.5 overs, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane had a real fight on their hands -- and they looked up for it during a 58-ball partnership that produced a level 50.

Rahane's wicket, in the 17th over, came against the run of play. He shares a good understanding with Kohli; rapid turnover of the strike with perfectly judged singles is a feature of their various associations.

Here, however, Rahane (19 off 24) misjudged badly -- Kohli's drive was straight, and quick, to cover, the return was good enough to give Taylor sufficient room to gather and whip the bails off. Rahane's desperate dive was not good enough to beat the throw with the edge of the bat over, but not on, the ground.

Virat Kohli (38 off 48, three fours), yet again, stroked the ball around with ease and, yet again, fell when he seemed capable of extending his occupancy indefinitely. In the 23rd over, he went across his stumps and down on his knees to take advantage of the vast amoung of real estate on the leg side. Off-spinner Sikander Raza's delivery was too full for the forced sweep; the ball snuck behind the flailing bat and pickpocketed the stumps.

M S Dhoni, bare-headed and with his trademark monkish calm, then got together with Suresh Raina who, for once, had an extended role to play in the middle. When the two joined forces, India needed 196 more to win with 37.2 overs in hand.

The two batted as if 'pressure' was a concept unknown to them. Raina was the muscular enforcer, Dhoni the consigliere planning and controlling the momentum of the assault.

Image: M S Dhoni in action. Photograph: Phil Waters/Getty Images

Raina settled into the chase with an assault on Sean Williams in the 30th over, first dancing down to thump him over midwicket and when the bowler tried the flatter trajectory, lifting with effortless power over the long on boundary.

At the other end, Dhoni bided his time, worked the ball around into vacant spaces with shots all his own -- the kind of strokeplay that drives up the blood pressure of fans and purists alike.

There was an inevitability about their chase. At the 25 over mark, India were behind the pace, having managed 98/4 to Zimbabwe's 101/3. By the 30th over, the chase was on level terms (India 127/4 to the opposition's 128/4). The Zimbabwean innings had imploded after the 41-over mark -- the key to this chase was all about whether the captain and his accomplice could bat the game out.

They did, with a composure that nothing seemed to shake. The power play was taken in the 36th over (at which point India was 158/4, as was Zimbabwe). Disciplined bowling kept the Indians down to just 39 runs but at no time did either seem to fret at the relative lack of opportunities to blast their way to freedom.

When they could, they hit with venomous power; when such freedom was denied, they pushed and nudged and nurdled and hared between wickets, content to keep ticking them over.

At 197/4 after 40, the game had turned totally around -- 91 off the last 60 is commonplace these days for set batsmen with the luxury of wickets in hand. Raina took on the onus of ensuring that the chase never got out of hand, first turning the screws on Hamilton Masakadza in the 42nd over with a powerful drive through covers followed by a mow into the stands over cow corner; Chatara was glided, Mupariwa nudged, the boundaries kept coming and in the 45th, so did the century -- Raina's first in World Cups, 94 balls, 8 fours, four sixes) -- that had seemed inevitable once the left-hander had settled down under the steadying influence of his captain.

Given the velocity of Raina's scoring, Dhoni -- who reads a chase better than most -- settled very early into a supporting role, opening out just often enough to ensure that his partner never felt the pressure.

Both batsmen had their share of luck, Raina being dropped by Hamilton off an attempted sweep that the fielder made a total meal of in the 35th over, with the batsman on 48 at the time, while several of Dhoni's bottom-handed heaves fell desperately short of diving fielders.

But those alarums apart, the result seemed inevitable almost throughout their unbeaten 196-run partnership; almost as if to rub it in, Dhoni (85 not out off 76 with eight fours and two sixes) finished the game off with a thumping heave over backward square leg in the 49th over to seal the win with six wickets, and eight deliveries, in hand.

Raina (110 off 104 with nine fours and four towering sixes) met his captain mid-pitch for a matter of fact hug; the two walked off as casually as if they'd just had a little hit-about.

It was the highest successful chase by India in a World Cup; it was M S Dhoni's 10th successive win at this level shading the 9-win sequence recorded by West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd.

But more to the point, it was the most searching examination of the team's resilience with bat and ball that India had yet faced in his tournament. They felt the pressure in both departments, but each time the pressure intensified, India found -- as teams will when they are on a collective roll -- someone to put his hand up and reel the game back within reach.

India@WC - India out of WC - Valiant Effort But Still Short - Maybe Toss Made all the Difference

Prem Panicker: At the end, you felt for Dhoni

Last updated on: March 26, 2015 18:06 IST

'The man who never knows when he is beaten deserved, on the day he played what will be his last World Cup game, mates who were not beaten in the mind before they were beaten on the field.'

Prem Panicker salutes 'India's best one day captain by a long margin who led superbly throughout the tournament.'

Image: Glenn Maxwell celebrates after Mitchell Starc took Ajinkya Rahane's wicket. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

At the halfway mark of an ODI on March 12, 2006, the shell-shocked Proteas huddled in their dressing room at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

Then coach Mickey Arthur tried to discuss 'plans' to calculate what his team needed to make in 20 overs, and 30, to make a go of it. But when you have been subjected to a Ricky Ponting-led assault of sustained ferocity and are chasing an unprecedented 434, what cohesive 'plan' could you possibly make?

Arthur in his autobiography recalls how, with one comment, Jacques Kallis relieved the tension and put the smiles back on South African faces and the wind back in their sails. 'Coach, I think the bowlers have done their job,' Kallis dead-panned, 'I reckon it's a 450 wicket, so they are 16 short of par.'

It is all about perception. Australia's 328/7 in the first innings today at the Sydney Cricket Ground is the highest target ever in a World Cup semifinal. Or, looked at differently, it was at least 22 runs under the 350-plus the Aussies seemed set for, when they completed the batting power play at 206/2 at the end of 35 overs, going at 12.8 during those five overs?

Perception led former England captain Nasser Hussain to suggest that India, with the 'weakest bowling' at the death of all international teams, was under the pump as the Australians approached the back end of their innings. You can see why -- the Indian line-up doesn't have the glamour boys of the fast bowling world -- the Wahab Riazs and Mitchell Starcs and Tim Southees and Trent Boults.

Hussain had to do a mea culpa -- once, when statistics for all ODI games since 2012 showed that India, with 7.6 runs conceded in the last ten overs on average, was the best of all teams; again, when the un-starry Indian attack kept the power-packed Australian batting to just 126 runs for the loss of five wickets in the final 15 overs (89 in the last ten) -- that phase when, during the entirety of this tournament, teams with wickets in hand have doubled the score or more.

Image: Steve Smith celebrates his century. Photograph: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Perception, again, led former Australian captain Mark Taylor to remark, as Aaron Finch walked in the 39th over after mishooking an Umesh Yadav bouncer that got big on him, that the Aussie opener had 'done his job very well' -- the culmination of a cascade of admiring adjectives from various commentators in which the words 'grit' and 'determination' made frequent appearances.

What 'job' was that?

From the outset Finch hit the fielders, not the gaps, as he struggled with the fuller lines Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami bowled at the start with the short ball as surprise, not stock. Shami (5-0-16-0 in his first five overs) bowled 20 deliveries to him and 16 of them were not scored off -- an indication that not only were the boundaries not coming in the mandatory powerplay (56/1 at the end of 10), but the strike wasn't being turned over either.

At the end of 20 overs (Australia 105/1), Finch had managed 34 off 58 deliveries, with four fours -- that is, 16 with four strokes, 18 runs off the other 54. After 30, Finch was 59 off 94 with five fours -- that is, 20 off five, and 39 off the other 89.

Finch was fourth out, his time in the middle not helping him find the timing he was struggling for. With dot balls mounting, with his shots regularly finding the fielders in the ring, Finch (81 off 116 with 7 fours and one six, you do the math) tried to pull an Umesh Yadav short delivery that got big on him outside off, and picked out Shikhar Dhawan at midwicket.

In the middle overs, despite the efforts of Steve Smith batting in the form of his life, Australia went along at an average of 4.3 runs per over.

If you ignore the slow start as indicative of an opener playing himself in, then at what point does 'courage' and 'grit' and 'determination' begin to suck the oxygen out of the lungs of the innings?

Or looked at another way, is an innings valued for its own merits, or does the outcome -- an Australian win, in this instance, by the convincing margin of 96 runs to make Sunday's final against fellow hosts New Zealand -- change that valuation, inflate its worth?

Smith was both anchor and engine-room for the Australian innings, starting out with the straight-bat strokes through the V that are his trademark indices of form. At the end of 10, he had scored 30 off 26 balls faced with five fluid fours, all of them off Yadav.

Four of them came off Yadav's 5th over after the Indian quick, who on the day ramped his pace up to 150 kmph and bowled full lengths in his first four overs, tried out a profusion of short balls.

Smith crashed him between point and cover-point, dragged the next ball from outside off to midwicket, went across his stumps to pull another short one through square leg, and then did it again off the next ball. At this level of the game, any lapse from discipline comes at inordinate cost.

Smith continued to stroke the ball around the park with the effortless ease of a man totally at home in the pivotal number three position -- his elevation to that spot, at the expense of Shane Watson, being easily the one tweak that finally solved Australia's one-day puzzle.

Watching him bat, you would never think that his partner was dragging him back with his inability to up the scoring or even roll the strike over regularly; at the 30 over mark he had coasted to 80 off 79 while Finch was struggling at 59 off 94.

A century always seemed inevitable and it registered without fuss; with 15 overs to go even a double seemed probable. But with the innings well into its second half, Smith (105 off 93, 11 fours and two sixes) had to accelerate even further and for once, as Yadav put real effort into a short ball that grew big on the batsman, his hitherto assured hooking let him down, the ball hurrying him into a top edge to Rohit Sharma at deep square leg.

 

Image: Team-mates congratulate Umesh Yadav after the Vidarbha lad dismissed Aaron Finch. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

The Smith-Finch association yielded 182 runs off 186 balls, with Smith contributing 105 to Finch's 72, and provided backbone to the Australian innings. Glenn Maxwell walked in ahead of Michael Clarke to gain momentum, but after a brief flurry of controlled hits and top edges flying everywhere, M S Dhoni challenged him with Ravichandran Ashwin's off-spin.

The first ball was looped up above the eyeline and turned sharply in off an off-stump line forcing the defence; the next was bowled flatter on middle turning to leg, Maxwell (23 off 13 with three fours and a six) was drawn into his pet sweep, the pace on the ball forced the mishit and Ajinkya Rahane at deep backward square didn't need to move to take that.

Finch had to change gears and couldn't, failing to control a pull off Yadav and holing out to midwicket; Clarke had to explode from the start but couldn't, Mohit Sharma's nothing ball, short and bouncing waist high drawing the pull, the eagerness to put it away forcing the batsman to overhit to Rohit Sharma at midwicket.

James Faulkner (21 off 12) and Shane Watson (28 off 30) managed a measure of acceleration without ever landing the knock-out punch, and only a fierce Mitchell Johnson assault that peppered the long off and midwicket region with 27 off 9 (four fours, one six) pulled Australia to a challenging 328, 29 runs coming in the last two overs.

Perception, again, suggests that the Indian bowling, which has taken 70 wickets out of 70 leading into the semifinal, was not on par on the day. But consider the flatness of the track, the power-packed batting lineup of the hosts, and that impression could be altered somewhat.

The Indian bowlers were sharp at the start, went off the boil a bit as the innings headed towards the 30 over mark and blemished their hitherto spotless record, but came back well after the power-plays.

 

Image: Shikhar Dhawan makes his way to the hut as Josh Hazlewood celebrates the first Indian wicket. Photograph: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Ashwin, held back till the 18th over with Dhoni clearly waiting for the ball to soften to the extent possible, led the attack with sharp, attacking off spin bowling.

Teaming up with Jadeja in the middle overs, Ashwin kept Australia from breaking free, but perhaps the best bowling period was between the overs 38 and 42, shared between Ashwin, Yadav, Jadeja, Shami and Mohit Sharma -- 36 deliveries at the business end of the innings that cost 19 runs and the wickets of Maxwell, Finch and Clarke.

The bowlers were backed by extremely intelligent captaincy, Dhoni rotating his bowlers and manipulating his field placings to create fresh puzzles for the batsmen, and razor-sharp fielding particularly within the ring, where Jadeja yet again was the stand-out in a high class group.

In the Mickey Arthur autobiography referred to earlier, the then Proteas coach talks of how he tried to create a tactical plan to chase 434.

'Guys,' Arthur said, 'we need to be about 160 after 20 overs -- but we cannot afford to lose more than two wickets.'

At that point, says Arthur, 'I looked at Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs, and try as they might, neither could restrain their laughter.' The other Proteas followed suit, the room reverberated with laughter.

So, Arthur recalls, he screwed up the paper with his calculations into a ball and flung it away. 'Ok, f**k it then,' he said, 'Just go and play, play your game, who the hell knows what might happen?'

329 is not 435 -- but it is a World Cup semifinal, and the weight of a game like that is worth runs in the bank. India's best hope was to play the ball, not the situation.

Australia had two proven bowlers in Josh Hazelwood and Mitchell Starc; in Mitchell Johnson they had a bowler who could turn up and be lethal, or not; and in Watson a slippy, muscular back up. The weak-points are Maxwell and Faulkner -- and in their spells would lie India's opportunity.

The opening overs of the Indian chase had everything. High drama, as Starc drew Rohit Sharma's edge with just the fourth ball of the over, Watson held at first slip but wasn't sure if it was clean, and the third umpire, Marais Erasmus, 'rocked and rolled' his way through replays and figured that the ball had been taken on the bounce. Rohit celebrated by threading the next ball through point with ridiculous ease.

The fourth over produced more drama. This time, Hazelwood banged one in and Dhawan pulled easily through midwicket off the front foot. The southpaw then skipped down the track to the next ball, drove on the up, got the edge and Brad Haddin dived to get both hands to it, but couldn't hang on.

Sharma looked tentative, Dhawan very sure of himself. When Johnson went around the wicket, the southpaw played a silken drive through the point region and in the next over, the 10th, he targeted the first of Australia's perceived weaknesses.

Faulkner was brought on; Dhawan picked the length outside off and banged a cover drive; extended his front foot to convert length into a half-volley off the next ball and drove through mid off; the ball after that was flat and full without any great pace and Dhawan played a pick up flick that eased the ball, with no apparent effort, deep into the stands behind midwicket.

That the assault on the relatively weak Faulkner had some planning behind it was apparent when, in the bowler's next over, Dhawan banged the first ball back down the track to the straight fence and, one ball later, skipped out of his crease, adjusted for length, and smashed a short-arm jab to the long on boundary.

Faulkner was to remedy his sullied reputation later, when he took out Ashwin and Sharma in successive deliveries of the 46th over to hammer superfluous nails into the Indian coffin.

Dhawan's wicket, in the 13th over, seemed against the run of both form and play. Josh Hazelwood pitched one up outside the left-hander's off stump, Dhawan blasted a lofted drive onto an off-side with just one fielder outside the ring -- Maxwell, sweeping behind the ring -- and picked him out to abruptly end a knock (45 off 41, six fours, one six) that had gotten the crowd right behind him, and raised visions of a real contest.

Image: Mitchell Johnson celebrates in typical style after taking Rohit Sharma's wicket. Photograph: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Against that, the wicket of Virat Kohli seemed inevitable from the moment he walked out and started searching outside his off-stump. That the Indian number three has a glaring weakness wide of off, around the sixth stump and beyond range, has become too apparent to too many bowlers around the world since his travails in England.

Clarke brought Johnson in to exploit the angle, and it took the left arm quick just seven deliveries to nail it.

Having tested Kohli outside off Johnson -- who always seems to bowl well if he's had a good time with the bat -- bounced one; Kohli (one run off 13 balls) tried a desperate pull and managed only to hit it straight up in the air for Haddin to amble over and hold where a short square leg would have been.

His innings at number three contrasted with that of his opposite number, Steve Smith; the knock lasted 13 minutes and failed to meet Kavya Trehan's MRF-sponsored requirement that he get to wherever she was in five minutes flat either.

Rohit Sharma's innings (34 off 48, one four, two sixes) oscillated between the bellicose and the becalmed; the opener's natural belligerence was on show when a pumped up Johnson bounced him and Rohit responded with a flat pull that powered the ball into the lap of a cheering group of Indian spectators in front of square leg.

Johnson responded with a dramatically altered length – a cross seam delivery at top speed and full length that nipped back to take the inner edge of Sharma's closed bat face and rattle the stumps.

Suresh Raina has many strengths, but resisting a bunch of amped up fast bowlers is not one of them. His tenure was remarkable only for a bizarre episode involving Starc in the 21st over. The fifth ball was full; Raina straight-batted it back down the wicket and stumbled out of his crease. Starc picked up on the follow through and flung at the stumps -- nothing wrong thus far.

The throw hit the batsman on the pad, though -- and Starc cut loose with an impassioned appeal, no one knows why. Raina's pad was definitely in front of the wicket, but you don't throw people out LBW.

Starc then added to the drama by going all 'Friends Romans and Countrymen' on Raina, treating the southpaw to an extended soliloquy and then an encore a ball later. All it earned Starc was a prolonged spell of booing from a crowd drenched in blue and a talking-to from umpire Kumar Dharmasena.

Faulkner replaced Starc for the next over, and Raina (7 off 11) whipped one off the stumps through midwicket to briefly resurrect memories of Dhawan. But to the very next ball, he hung his bat out outside off at a short ball and found the inevitable edge to Haddin behind the stumps. At 108/4 after 23 overs, the chase was effectively over.

Dhoni and Rahane settled down to rebuild, clearly not ready to believe the fat lady would sing just yet. The two, picking off singles and only occasionally bringing out the big hits, took India to 170/4 at the end of 35 -- a position that required them to score 159 in the remaining 15 overs.

The batting power play was taken, Dhoni took Faulkner (51 off 6 at the end of that over) for a four, but any illusion that the back end of the chase would amount to something ended when Starc came back in the 37th and produced a length ball at pace, and on the angle across the right hander.

Rahane hung his bat out, Haddin held, the Aussies reviewed the not-out decision and Erasmus saw the tiny spike on the snickometer that was enough for Dharmasena to overturn his initial verdict and send Rahane (44 off 68) on his way.

Dhoni was characteristically serene -- during his association with Rahane, the serenity of a man who knows he can perform miracles if he has an ally to stand with him; after Rahane's exit, the serenity of a man who knew it was all over but didn't want to throw it away anyway.

Or maybe he still believed. The television broadcasters drew attention to the startling statistic that before this innings Dhoni has been unbeaten 40 times when chasing and India had won 38 of those games, with just one defeat (the other was tied) as his sole failure.

196/5 after 40 (Australia 239/4 at that point), with 133 to get at 13.3 an over at the death, was an ask beyond the miraculous, though -- more so with five of those overs coming from Johnson and Starc.

Gratuitously, Steve Smith reminded everyone of his presence, getting into the game with a superb pick up and throw from backward point that found Jadeja way short of his ground on an attempted quick single.

India's run of seven wins on the bounce to get to the semis had several distinguishing factors. Two of those were that the bowlers never relieved pressure with gimme balls to spoil good overs, and the batting never failed as a unit, with one or the other of the top five putting up his hand to boss an innings.

In this game, both strengths broke down -- for all their penetration, the seamers in particular gave away a few too many gifts and in the chase, no batsman barring, briefly, Dhawan, showed either the nerve or the nous to bat long, and big.

The Aussie bowlers in contrast never gave anything away; the Dhawan blitz was more the result of a batsman in good touch. And Clarke's captaincy was admirable, noticeable chiefly in the fields he set for each individual batsman, and in how he gave his lesser bowlers the cover of one of the better ones at the other end, at all times.

Image: Michael Clarke and M S Dhoni, the Australian and Indian captains, after the game. Photograph: Vipin Pawar/Solaris Images

It was a big defeat that stopped short of being a disgrace because of some stellar passages with the ball in this game, and the accumulated memory of all that the team had achieved to get to this level.

At the end, you felt for Dhoni. India's best one day captain by a long margin led superbly throughout the tournament.

At the very end, he showcased his ice-cold nerve and impossible-to-describe batsmanship when, immediately after the Jadeja run out, he smacked Watson first into the stands deep behind cover and then straighter, over long off -- shots that, even with the cover of 109 off 46 balls behind them, produced some worried arm wavings and field adjustments from the Aussies before, some 14 balls later, a laser-guided throw from Maxwell at midwicket was too good for one of the best runners in the modern game.

The man who never knows when he is beaten deserved, on the day he played what will be his last World Cup game, mates who were not beaten in the mind before they were beaten on the field.