India lads high on confidence

The unbeaten Indians are high on confidence as both their top batsmen and bowlers are in good form, especially in their thumping nine-wicket win against holders England that sent the latter out of reckoning.

Openers Ravneet Ricky and Munish Sharma have done well consistently and their solid start in a 134-run opening wicket stand against an aggressive England attack played a major role in India’s convincing victory. Ricky made 68 and Munish Sharma remained unbeaten on 86. Skiper Mohammed Kaif has shown glimpses of good form and followed up his 57 in the eight-wicket win over Nepal with a fluent 24 not out on Thursday.

But their bowlers’ consistency, on slow pitches aided by overcast conditions, has been the most heartening thing for India. All-rounder Yuvraj Singh has excelled with hauls of 4-15 against Nepal and 4-36 against New Zealand, which came after he struck 68 off 62 balls, while medium-pacer Salabh Srivastava and Anup Dave have bowled a tight line and length throughout.

The Sri Lankan colts too have shown a lot of talent andaiming to emulate their seniors, who pulled off the surprise title victory in 1996, have excelled with aggressive batting and sharp fielding on their home turf.

In Group I, the picture is still unclear with three teams in with a chance to make it to the last four.

In the final Super League matches, Pakistan meet the West Indies and Australia take on winless New Zealand to decide the semifinalists.

Strong favourites Pakistan boosted their chances of alast four berth with their surprise four-wicket win against Australia which took them to the top of the group with four points.

The West Indies are tied with Australia on two points after beating the Kiwis by 57 runs, but have the tough task of beating Pakistan.

If Australia and West Indies win on Saturday, there will be a three-way tie on four points each and the net run rate will decide the qualifiers.

Pakistan (0.902) and the West Indies (0.497) are ahead on that count, with Australia (-0.322) way behind.