India vs Australia - Live from PCA

It was touted as the biggest match of the tournament - India v Australia and that was happening just 15 km away from my home.
Logic said that it shouldn't be missed but the tickets were sold out within hours of the counter being open. It was a lucky stroke of luck just half hour before the match when Parul informed that she had 4 VIP passes and that we could take them. It was a hectic one hour then - of trying to reach the heavily guarded stadium.
One of my dreams is to watch(Live in a stadium) Sachin make a century. Today was the day when he could thrash Mcgrath on the way to his 100. It was a comfort to see Sachin and Sehwag batting in the stunningly beautiful greens as we found seats and made ourselves more comfortable.
The match - as I saw from there on:

• Sachin got out - to mcgrath. Some signs of what was to come.



• There seemed to be no gaps in the field while Australians were bowling.
  Fielders amazingly came running from third man to covers to stop well hit shots. These things are not very evident on TV where the camera generally follows the ball. But seeing Australia Live on the field, I realized why they are such a great side.
  Compared to that, Indians were Pathetic - to say the least



• When the Aussies ran - it was in a perfect rythym. Their running was something machine like - similar for almost everyone in a certain kind of rhythmic pattern - even the 12th, 13th man - who came in drinks break.
  I cried watching Powar (not in playing 11), Munaf Patel, Sehwag etc run. On TV they look fine but in real, I honestly felt there was a lot lot lot left to be done.



• Commitment was a big Zero on the part of Indians except for some one like Raina and kaif. 2 incidents I distinctly remember:
  
  a) Harbhajan Singh on widish long off. Ball hit to covers. Ball rolling away (at not a very fast pace) to the fence. And bhajji strolling away like in a park - no serious attempt to save the boundary. And had he been in the crowd at that point, he would have been killed. Because everyone knew in our stand (towards which the ball came)- that it was very much possible to save that four.
  
  b) Ball goes between midwicket and mid on. Sehwag chases it from mid on.
  Dinesh Mongia standing on deep mid wicket doesn't move an inch.
  The concept of relay throw was omnipresent while Aussies were fielding.




• Finally saw it in the real that how woefully pathan is out of form. He was a picture of a misery. Getting carted all around with disdain. No real zeal or enthusiasm or grit visible from his body language.
  Add to it the poor fielding of Munaf Patel. He can be arguably called the poorest fielder around these days. And you don’t bring in Anil Kumble citing poor fielding and old blood. Whereas your new blood can neither run to chase balls, throws under arm from the boundary and can't hold the bat.




• Finally, I felt ashamed to see the Indians so out of shape when compared to the Aussies. Each one of them was perfect - not an inch of flab seemed to be hanging from their bodies. Then you looked at Sehwags and Powars and you could see why India can't win. Others like dinesh mongia, sreesanth etc seem fit but each and every Aussie looked a class apart.

Based on what I saw yesterday, I am in no doubt that India will NOT win the World Cup. It simply CAN NOT.