INDIA have been thrown a lifeline by the washout against Australia that meant that points were shared. A loss would have meant exit from the tournament but now there is an outside chance if Pakistan beat Australia by a big margin and India do the same to West Indies. The advantage with India is that they are playing the second game so will have some idea of the required margin of their win to qualify for the semis if Pakistan do indeed get one across Australia. Wasn't it Napoleon who said that he would rather have a lucky general than one astute only in warfare? Dhoni has had incredible luck as skipper of the Indian team and if India do qualify then that will be more evidence of it.
The luck factor was also seen in the loss of the toss against Australia for it meant that Ricky Ponting chose to bat first.
Ashish Nehra's first over saw the ball jump alarmingly from a good length hitting the splice of the bat and having Shane Watson in trouble.
Watson fell soon after as another delivery bounced more than he expected and his mistimed pull shot was taken by Harbhajan Singh at mid-wicket. The curator of the ground had probably watered the pitch after the game between South Africa and England and perhaps his tears at South Africa's ouster from the event also mingled with that. If the morning of the India — Australia game had seen bright sunshine then any moisture from the watering overnight would have gone by the time the game started in the afternoon but with the skies being overcast the mositure stayed and thus Nehra was able to get that extra bounce. Where the luck factor comes in is that if it had been Australia bowling first on that surface then Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle would have been a handful for the Indian batsmen and it would have been a real challenge to bat against them.
The Australians took their time to get on top of the bowling and by the time rains came in they had built a good platform to slog it out in the last few overs. In Tim Paine they have found a real quality player. If Brad Haddin had not broken his finger then Paine perhaps would have had to wait a longer time to make his debut but he has grabbed his chance with both hands and now Haddin may not be an automatic choice for the Australian one-day team.
Pakistan will also want to win against Australia for then they won't have to meet the in-form England team in the semis but either New Zealand or Sri Lanka and they would much rather play these two.
It is an interesting day ahead and hopefully the weather will stay good throughout and give India a chance, slim though it may be.
— Professional Management Group
