World cup mission

Though we had expected a tough semi-final clash between defending champion England team and our Men in Blue, it proved to be a damp affair. Thanks to the Hitman’s half century and Surya- kumar’s 47 which steadied our ship and enabled our team to post a healthy target of 172 for England to chase. However, this match too turned out to be a one-sided one, like the other Semi-final clash. Our bowlers, as usual came to the party, but this time spearheaded by Axer Patel, by dumping the Champion team to just 35 for 3 in within the first power play.

Thanks to our excellent bowling unit, headed by Jasprit Bumrah, who bundled them out for just 103 runs to win big.

Incidentally, Axer Patel is proving to be a better bet than Ravindra Jadeja, who has failed in all departments of the game. Well, now that our Captain has led from the front, to take our team to successive ICC World Cup Tournaments — ODI in 2023 and now the T-20 this year, we sincerely hope they would continue to be aggressive and try to win their second T-20 World Cup title, which has been eluding us since the inaugural victory in 2007.

We also hope that Virat Kohli would join the party and make his presence felt during the finals. We wish our Men in Blue the best during the Finals against South AFrica, who too seems to be on a mission.

Vinay Mahadevan,

Dubai