Kiwis?

Who would have expected in their wildest imagination that New Zealand would be playing the Semi Finals of the World Cup 2011? Not even their countrymen would have counted.

Few months back, this Kiwi side was trashed by a Bangladeshi Team 4-0. Then a second string Indian team beat them 5-0. Last but not the least, a controversy wrecked Pakistani Team beat them at their backyard 3-2.

All in all, Black Caps came into the World Cup as the Undermost Dogs. I’m really running out of words to say how bad this team entered campaign. 

They played their first match against Kenya. Even the skipper was sweetly surprised when his team trashed a hapless Kenyan team.

But that joy was short lived when Australia brought them to earth beating the comprehensively by 7 wickets and 96 balls to spare.

However Kiwis went on to crucify Zimbabwe in the league game. Again, Zimbabwe is hardly a team.

They went to play their third game against Pakistan. On paper Kiwis were expected to lose considering Pakistan bowling attack is one of the strongest in the World cup. To top it all Pakistan came into the game after beating Sri Lanka and Canada.  When a mismatch was on prospect, Kiwis surprised Pakistan and the world by taking the Pakistan bowlers for cleaners. The last 6 overs of Pakistan bowling produced almost 110 runs. Birthday Boy Rossy had a field day. That was the first time Kiwis raised the eye balls crushing Pakistan by 110 runs.

With the same momentum they went on to win their next game against Canada.

Some section of followers believed that Kiwis might challenge Sri Lanka in their final league game. Sadly their batting performance gave the impression that it was only a one match wonder against Pakistan.

All in all, NZ performed the league stage much to the expectation. Crucified minnows, won the odd game against Pakistan, lost the other two marquee games to finish last in the group.

A picture perfect script for the Group B topper to crucify Kiwis and storm into Semis. However NZ stunned the world by beating South Africa to enter Semi Finals of the grand event. The scorecard give the picture that NZ won the game convincingly. In reality it was a scratchy performance from their batsman that resulted in a moderate total on the board. The choking policy of South Africa made Kiwis the winner.

Despite making to the Semi Finals, their performance is still wanting at the big stage. By any stroke of luck (mind you, I used the word LUCK), if Kiwis go onto beat Sri Lanka in the Semi Finals, I’m sure ICC, the cricket gods and followers will start dissecting the format, more than appreciating NZ cricket.

Finally, I still don’t know how they made it to the Semi Finals. I wish they only get inspired from themselves and pick the bat to whack the opponents out of the world cup.

Dinesh

Cricket Lover