 Rejuvenated India take on Pakistan
1st Jul 2008 15:03 IST
Agencies
"It was tough out there for us. But I am happy we have kept going. Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag have batted really well in the tournament and I hope they keep on doing the same," Dhoni said.
Raina has hit a purple patch with two centuries against his name and his impressive strike rate suggests he is yet to get over the Twenty20 mode.
Sehwag has been among the runs too, as is Gautam Gambhir and the Delhi duo would walk out on Wednesday to once again lay the perfect foundation for a mammoth total so that they can bury the opponents under the run mountain.
In fact, the top order has made it look so easy that neither Yuvraj Singh nor Dhoni got much of a chance to strut their stuff.
The lone worry surrounds the form of Rohit Sharma, whose run drought is all the more baffling considering his sublime shot in the Indian Premier League. But even though Rohit continues to struggle to the ODI format, his batting colleagues are doing enough to ensure that the team does not suffer from his slump.
The lack of firepower and sting in the bowling attack, however, would remain a worry for Dhoni. In their previous meeting too, Pakistan managed to post 299/4 against a lacklustre Indian attack.
Ishant Sharma does not look like the bowler he was in Australia, while RP Singh and Praveen Kumar have not been much of a trouble for the rival batsmen. Piyush Chawla too was taken to the cleaners by Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan and Dhoni would be desperately banking on his batsmen on Wednesday to book a place in the final.
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