Ind vs Pak: Sachin Tendulkar, India squad practice at semifinal venue

MOHALI: India's World Cup squad was greeted by a crowd of about 150 fans as they arrived Sunday for their first training session at the PCA Stadium ahead of Wednesday's much-hyped semifinal against Pakistan.

The team was led off the bus by star batsman Sachin Tendulkar. Local hero Yuvraj Singh was the last to head into the stadium, but was the only player to stop to sign autographs for a few lucky youngsters who had been allowed inside the gates.

While the rest of his teammates began a football kickabout at the PCA Stadium, Tendulkar typically opted to practice a few of his famous strokes with a new bat before eventually joining in.

Tendulkar, who has never won the World Cup, has scored two hundreds at the tournament, putting him one away from 100 international tons.

Harbhajan Singh, who used to play on the same local Punjab team as Yuvraj, was absent for the first part of Sunday's session, but arrived later after visiting his home in nearby Jalandhar.

Virender Sehwag, still recovering from a knee problem, missed the football but joined batting and fielding drills.

As the sun set behind the PCA Stadium, the players ended the session with a game of volleyball.

Sudhir Gautam, a fabled fan who is often seen around the India squad, was the only person apart from security officers, officials and media allowed in to watch the session. Wearing a Tendulkar shirt and a replica of the World Cup trophy on his head, he waved a giant India flag and occasionally blew into a conch shell.

India play Pakistan in Wednesday's second World Cup semifinal, the first time the two teams have met in the knockout stage since 1996.

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/cricket-world-cup-2011/news/Ind-vs-Pak-Tendulkar-India-squad-practice-at-semifinal-venue/articleshow/7799839.cms

World Cup India Pakistan match: Win is the only thing

Virender Sehwag had once come up with this highly entertaining tale about his sledging with Shoaib Akhtar during an India-Pakistan match: “Shoaib was repeatedly bowling bouncers and I kept ducking. He’d walk up to me and taunt `show me your hook shot’.

After a lot of this sort of talk, I told him pointing out at Sachin, `that’s your father at the non-striker’s end. Ask him to show you the shot.’ Next over Shoaib bounced at Sachin and he hooked him for a six. I walked by Shoaib and remarked, “Beta beta hota hai, baap baap hota hai”.

Sehwag’s inimitable wry humour is legendary in cricket circles. He has his own way of seeing the funny side even during tense moments and it is this extraordinary gift which helps him make light of any pressure. Pakistanis, in fact, bring out the best in him as he can banter with them in Hindi.

It is no wonder that while other players on either side of the border succumb to nerves in these needle matches, he has a triple ton and a double ton to show, among other sterling performances.
Pakistani all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, who grew up in a one room house in Lahore with eight others and learnt his initial cricket on the streets, hit the nail on the head when he explained pressure associated with India-Pakistan matches.

“All my countrymen want to see only a win against India. They do not care for anything else. They put tremendous pressure on us all the time to win against India. We don’t enjoy it at all. The tension is too much.”

He could well have been echoing the feelings of the Indian cricketers, except, in this case, these are a billion people who’d settle for nothing other than an Indian victory.

While the India-Pakistan rivalry has existed right from the time of partition, it was the series of matches in Sharjah that really gave a fillip to the needle. Sharjah, now denounced as the epicentre of betting and match-fixing, was supposedly a neutral venue and the television rights from these games were used by the organisers to keep both the Boards and others happy. It was at Sharjah that the pressure of India vs Pakistan matches took a new dimension.

The matches would be staged on Fridays, which was a holiday for the Indian subcontinent’s expatriates working in UAE. The cheap seats, which stretched through most of the stadium, were filled with noisy, abusive Pakistani spectators.

Indian film stars, board officials and VIPs were wooed by the organisers and seated in the exclusive VIP section (along with the likes of Dawood Ibrahim). Indian spectators were outnumbered in the stands (many Indians claimed they could not get their hands on these tickets, which were almost exclusively made available to Pakistanis). The Indian cricketers were booed, berated and maligned by the spectators till it unnerved them. The umpiring too sucked at times.

But what took the cake was in the shopping malls and other entertainment areas in Dubai and Sharjah. The Indian expats would harangue the players and demand they first defeat Pakistan before venturing out to relax or shop. “We will give away these items free to you,” they’d mock. “Go and win first.”

It was, without doubt, traumatic for the Indian cricketers. They were harassed and picked on, on the ground and off it too. And this was pressure — of the most intense kind that they had to endure it series after series in Sharjah. Those who could withstand it, like Sachin Tendulkar, for instance, became mega stars. But there were some who packed up while others were accused of colluding with fixers and other undesirable elements.
The dozen-odd years of Sharjah tournaments almost destroyed the credibility of Indian cricket till the ICC and BCCI were goaded into action by a series of media exposes. The venue was banned for international cricket. So too were a few players and officials. But the pressure and the hype that visited the two teams those days remained.

The wide reach of satellite television ensured that the rivalry grew more passionate and the pressure more extreme for the players of the two nations.

It is perhaps ironic that the eagerly awaited semifinal clash on Wednesday is to be staged at Mohali in Punjab rather than any other Indian venue. Mohali is not very far from the Wagah border and whichever team wins will encourage extra pep that evening to its soldiers and citizens during the ‘beating the retreat’ ceremony.

As it is, the lowering of the flag each evening is a jingoistic
exercise at the border. The result of the cricket match in the neighbourhood of this location would certainly send tempers and passions soaring at the ceremony next evening.

Certainly an India-Pakistan match is not just a game. And its result does not impact only the main protagonists. The match and its intensity would suck into its vortex so many others, in so many different walks of life throughout the world.

This is why so many Indians who interact with Pakistanis in the US, Middle East, Europe and elsewhere would want their team to emerge triumphant. Nothing else would matter. For them, and for the billion strong Indians, a win against Pakistan is not everything. It is the only thing!

Source - http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/comment_world-cup-india-pakistan-match-win-is-the-only-thing_1524471

World Cup: Team India enjoy light training session

With high-voltage semi-final clash between India and Pakistan scheduled on Wednesday, Indian team had a light training session playing football and volleyball while Pakistani players enjoyed an extensive net session at the PCA stadium, in Mohali today.

Indian team led by skipper MS Dhoni reached the stadium late in the afternoon as captain coach Gary Kirsten straightaway went to have a look at the pitch.

While the two were having a close look, pitch curator Daljit Singh was also around. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who was away to his hometown Jalandhar yesterday, about 150km from Mohali, joined his teammates in the evening when they were playing volleyball.

Thereafter, a friendly football match was played for nearly 90 minutes between Dhoni's camp that included Virat Kohli, S Sreesanth, Ashish Nehra and Virender Sehwag as goalkeeper on one side and opposite team that had Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan and Gautam Gambhir as goalkeeper.

Initially, Tendulkar kept knocking at one end while other teammates were playing football, but he joined his mates soon.

Virender Sehwag didn't take part in the football match as he didn't think it would be right to aggravate his knee injury before such a crucial encounter.

Later, the team did some fielding practice. After the session was over, Dhoni, Nehra, Munaf and few others including Harbhajan Singh played volleyball for a while before winding up.

Earlier today, Pakistani team led by Shahid Afridi played football, did some warm-up exercises while some teammates including Afridi and Misbah-ul-Haq could be seen wearing boxing gloves and exchanging punches.

Later on, they sweated it out in the nets, with the entire training session lasting more than three hours.

Pakistan coach Waqar Younis and manager Intikhab Alam were present and keeping a close watch during the practice session. Younis Khan, Afridi, Misbah, Mohammad Hafeez were among the batsmen who sweated it out while Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Afridi looked in good knick among the bowlers.

Speedster Shoaib Akhtar, who may or may not be included for the semi-final among the playing XI, seemed to have slight limp in left leg, though he sent down a few deliveries during the practice.

Pakistan bowlers have also been using a strip during training session, which Misbah during the course of his media interaction, said helps ball come on quickly to the bat, indicating that it would help them get used to the slightly bouncy conditions of the Mohali track.

Source - http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_world-cup-team-india-enjoy-light-training-session_1525194

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