Seam bowling holds the key - once again

Consistency of the Indian bowlers at the pressure moments was the common feature of two hugely different Indian teams doing well in the test series in England as well as in Twenty20 World Championship. [The uncommon feature was, of course, the fielding.] It is not a coincidence that these two countries are easily the happiest hunting grounds for bowlers principally relying on swing for their scalps. In about 24 hours the quartet of Sreesanth, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan and (possibly) Joginder Sharma will face the Australians in hugely different conditions. Yes, the same yellow clad guys that the Indians beat in the semi finals of the T20 tourney, a side apparently having members raring to teach the Indian boys a lesson for getting 'too carried away' with the celebrations!!

We may just witness Dhoni & co administer a lesson on getting carried away in their comments to the Aussies. Or maybe the Indian quickies will discover to their dismay that India is no England (or South africa), that Australians are no Englishmen to allow them counter-reprieves for daily misses and that Fifty50 is no Twenty20 or Tests. The first 3 matches should be great fun - which is a rare thing to expect from the format that is one day cricket.

P.S.: In case you are not aware, I have been so taken in by the possibilities of the T20 format over a bare 10 days that I would rather have it replacing the one day version. Tests and Twenty20 are the logical way to go for the cricket world. However, small mercies in the form of rule changes in ODI's - like allowing a third fielder in the Powerplay overs - may just inject a fresh spark in this format and induce teams to play it more aggressively rather than go through motions for the middle thirty overs of the innings (Now you may be getting the reason behind my belief that T20 is all we need).

Wait and watch we will.