This is a must-win game for India. Quite frankly, I do not see this team being able to bounce back from a 0-2 deficit. It has been done by Pak as late as last year but even then it was a 6 match series. In a 5 match series I believe it has been done only once before although coincidentally against Pakistan in Pakistan by South Africa a couple of seasons ago.
Anyway, I do think India, if given the option would prefer to bowl first. This I say without even knowing too much of the wicket simply because that has been the favored way for India this season. Ever since Rahul Dravid took over, India have never lost a game chasing and have hardly won a game defending - a record very similar to Michael Vaughan at the start of his career as captain.
Coincidence or not Irfan Pathan has always bowled MUCH better when India has been fielding first than when defending a target. And that has often paved the way for India to set up a victory. Also I have this feeling that Rawalpindi will likely not be a 325 pitch like Peshawar. That would play to India's advantage especially if they field first.
I predict that Tendulkar will fail in at least 2 of the next 3 games and this will very likely be one of them. In fact it is highly probable that he will get a single digit score here. If not here then one of the next 2 games. Nothing against him, this is just a prediction based on close observation of his career.
Finally, I think India will manage to pull off this game. It is likely to be a reasonably modest scoring game.
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2 comments:
about your opinion of tendulkar:
"a good thing about being pessimist is that you are constantly proven right or pleasantly surprised" :-p
Touche'.
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