I spoke of how India should have played leg-spinner Piyush Chawla in that game, especially after the team had given him match practice and the opportunity to gain confidence by playing him in the earlier match against the Netherlands. I also spoke of how Yusuf Pathan should be held back for the conventional slog overs rather than be used in Batting Powerplay.

It was hard to ignore Sachin Tendulkar’s hundred but tougher to ignore Dale Steyn’s role in not just picking up five wickets but also in boosting the team’s confidence, going into the innings break and at the start of the chase. I also picked AB de Villiers’ half century as the most critical in terms of South Africa’s push for victory.

Former India wicket-keeper Surinder Khanna was the other guest on the show that was hosted by my colleague Tina Sharma Tiwari.

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The Indian Mahendra Singh Dhoni has baffled a few with his persistent backing of leg-spinner Piyush Chawla despite the young man leaking runs by the dozen in the games against England and Ireland and not being so economical either against the Netherlands. He has also stood up in defence of off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who has two wickets from four games.

Undoubtedly, he would endear himself to everyone if he offers such backing to each of his players. But as the leader of the group Dhoni may have chosen to use the stick with some like the two spinners who have got to bowl in the last three games and the carrot with others like S Sreesanth. And perhaps hunger as a bait for R Ashwin.

He says he is not bothered by the criticism but in the same breath reveals how criticism gets to him. “Frankly, I am not bothered by what others say. When I select a team, I try to look at it as how honest I am. Piyush needed a game more than Ashwin because of the kind of applause he has received from you people,” he told the media on the eve of the game against South Africa.

At the end of the match against Netherlands, I waited to see if any of my colleagues would ask a direct question about Harbhajan Singh’s inability to breach the defences of batsmen from Ireland and the Netherlands. Truth to tell, there was one question about Yuvraj Singh doing a better job than the spinners and Dhoni’s response was fascinating.

“Whatever happens, you cannot drop the spinners and say we will play extra batsmen. I thought over a period of time, our spinners have bowled well,” he said. Interestingly, he did not stop there but went on to talk about how it was important for the bowling unit to hunt in packs rather than put the onus on one bowler.

“The opposition is happy to just block Harbhajan Singh out and make it tough for him to get wickets. We cannot have silly point and short leg that are needed for him. I don’t want to have a forward short-leg in the group stage because I don’t want a player to get injured,” he said. “If the batsmen have a go at him, he can get wickets. If he is bowling well, they are going after Yuvraj and that is probably why he is getting wickets. You have hunt in packs and that is what is important.”

I wanted to ask a more direct question on Harbhajan Singh and when my turn came, I asked Dhoni if he was happy with the intensity and aggression that the off-spinner showed on the field in the World Cup. The captain preferred to ignore the bit about intensity and chose to speak about Harbhajan Singh’s aggression – or the lack of it.

“I think he reacts to aggressive cricket in a different way. If the opposition is not playing aggressive cricket, maybe he also lays down and doesn’t play that type of aggressive cricket (expected of him,” Dhoni said. “It won’t be the case as soon as you are playing some of the bigger sides who will look to go after him. I think as the tournament heats up, you will see a different Harbhajan Singh. May be a strong side or better opposition, you will see the best of Harbhajan Singh coming up.”

Whether we agree with his argument or not, we must grant it to the Indian captain that he has backed the two spinners so well. It is now up to them – for their own sake, and for the sake of their skipper and the Indian team itself – to deliver the goods rather than be seen to be using World Cup matches to fine-tune their skills.

As it heads into its contest with a familiar opposition, South Africa, we must also hope that the Indian batting unit will be able to give more authentic performances. The West Indies in the last league game and then the knockout await the team in the business end of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. It is time to show what we believe are the team’s true colours.

South Africa picked three spinners for its opening game against the West Indies at the Ferozshah Kotla ground and picked up rewards for its interesting tactics – six wickets to spinners, and a comfortable seven-wicket victory powered by AB de Villiers’ unbeaten century.

The Lahore-born leg-spinner Imran Tahir, who has played for a number of squads before in Pakistan, England and South Africa, claimed four wickets on his ODI debut to add to off-spinner Johan Botha’s efforts of picking up the first two wickets on either side of 111-run stand between Devon Smith and Darren Bravo.

South African skipper Graeme Smith, who admitted he would rather have not won the toss, was left pleased with each of his decisions in the first half of the game. Yet, chasing a modest target of 223, South Africa was off a stuttering start.

Hashim Amla fell to a stupendous leg-side catch by wicket-keeper Devon Thomas off Kemar Roach and Jacques Kallis edged left-arm spinner Suleiman Benn to slip while Smith himselfanlooked uncomfortable against the spin-pace combination. However, de Villiers (107, 105 balls, eight fours, two sixes) assumed control and shepherded South Africa’s chase.

De Villiers, who has played a number of IPL games on slow tracks at the Kotla, enjoyed the chance to make his 10th ODI hundred and steal the thunder from his team’s spin bowlers. More importantly, he also helped his captain spend enough time in the middle to be able to share a 119-run stand for the third wicket. Smith was workmanlike in making 45 (78 balls, two fours).

Earlier, Botha responded to the challenge of bowling with the new ball by luring Chris Gayle to edge a simple catch to slip with his third delivery. And, when the West Indies looked on course to a competitive score, he earned a leg before verdict with a delivery that held it line, beat Darren Bravo’s defensive push – and even the UDRS appeal.

The left-handed Darren Bravo’s enterprise was easily the brightest spot in the West Indies innings, his knock of 73 (84 balls, eight fours, one six) and his partnership of 111 runs for the second wicket with Devon Smith (36, 57 balls, three fours) being the fulcrum on which the West Indies raised its fans hopes of posting a challenging score.

However, the West Indies innings went on a terminal decline from 113 for one, even if Dwayne Bravo (40, 37 balls, one four, three sixes) brightened up proceedings before being run out in a mix-up with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, his partner in the 58-run fifth wicket stand. And Tahir could claim a big hand in engineering that slide.

Tahir had been wisely taken off the firing line after he was hit for a massive six over long-on by Dwayne Bravo but brought back after his fall. He foxed Devon Smith into hitting a return catch and trapped Ramnaresh Sarwan in front in successive overs. Devon Thomas and Chanderpaul’s scalps made him the toast of the side as he showcased a good repertoire.

Before the game, it would have been quite unthinkable that South Africa’s Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, recognised as being among the world’s best new-ball bowling partnerships, would not have got to complete their quota of 10 overs each.

Fans of West Indies cricket were left with glimpses of what could have been as they immersed themselves in nostalgia. On the contrary, South African fans were delighted that the team’s readiness to embrace horses-for-courses policy had borne fruit – and with the message that emanated from its victory.

This report was written for The Telegraph, Kolkata

It is an enormous burden to carry, given that the opening round of games have either featured minnows or turned out to be lacklustre contests, Thursday’s game at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground will be the first to feature big boys on both sides, even if the West Indies’ critics will point out to its dismal record in the recent past when it has won but six of its last 20 games.

South African skipper Graeme Smith indicated on Wednesday that his team needed no reminding that despite such a record, the West Indies has some fine game changers. For a bunch that is quite delighted it does not have to face the pressure that comes with being favourite this time around, they have their task cut out in shedding the ‘choker’ tag.

After being edged out of the race for a berth in the 1999 World Cup final, South African teams have found it hard to justify the favouritsm they enjoyed at home in 2003 and in the West Indies four years later, leading to questions being asked about their ability to do well on the big stage. But make no mistake Smith leads a very competent and dangerous team that is out to enjoy itself.

The team has roped in the services of sports psychologist Henning Gericke. Obviously, he will be key to the team to being relaxed.”He’s added value but we have got to go out and play and enjoy ourselves. We are just excited to get started,” Smith said, pointing out that at the end of the day, the players had to perform consistently.

One of the important decisions that will contribute to this will revolve around the spin component of the South African team. Instead of having a sameness to its bowling attack with its thrust on pace, South Africa is now in a position to add either leg-spinner Imran Tahir or Robin Peterson to Johan Botha’s skills as an off-spinner.

As coincidence would have it, consistency was a buzzword in the West Indies camp as well. Under a fairly new captain – Darren Sammy – the team will face the challenge of bringing West Indies cricket back on track. It sure has a huge legacy to live up to but making it a priority can only be counter-productive to its focus.

On Wednesday, Sammy spoke of how the team needs to play as passionately as the teams that won the first two World Cup tournaments in the 70s and lost the 1983 final to India. As cricket romantics, we are unsure yet if we will see the West Indies play in that cavalier, style we associate its predecessors with but the promise of being passionate sounds exciting in itself.

Curiously, the pitch at the Ferozshah Kotla ground will hold as much interest as the two sides. For it will be the first one-day international at the venue after it face a ban for laying out a dangerous strip when India and Sri Lanka played here on December 27, 2009. There have not been many first class games since and the fact that some Ranji Trophy games this season were moved to the Roshanara Club ground on ICC’s specific instructions only adds to the interest.

For all that, it is important from the tournament’s perspective that South Africa and the West Indies dish out a competitive game so that the interest levels go up significantly well before the quarterfinals are due to start a month later. Viewed from that perspective, the responsibility on the teams led by Smith and Sammy is enormous.

Note: This piece was my first Cricket World Cup report for a newspaper (The Telegraph, Kolkata) in 12 years since the 1999 final at Lord’s.

It would be an understatement to say that India dominated much of the match – throwing in a number of attackers to raid the South African circle, playing a bit more aggressively than it did in the past few games. And yet, for a large part of the second half, it did not seem to find that one nudge that would slot the ball home – until just five minutes were left for the final whistle.

The irony was showcased tellingly when India earned its second penalty corner in the first half. For the second time running, Arjun Halappa was unable to stop the ball for Sandeep Singh to try and drag-flick it. But, he recovered to be able to pass the ball to an unmarked Diwakar Ram whose powerful drive went in off goalkeeper Erasmus Pieterse’s pads to earn India a 2-1 lead.

We had a greater dose of such a paradox when India scored a fabulous goal when Sarvanjit Singh capped a delightful bout of passing but that had to be disallowed since South Africa had asked for a video referral and secured a penalty corner. The irony was greater because India’s coach Jose Brasa had said a couple of days ago that umpires must not stop play for referrals.

And it became more stark when the video referral paid dividends for South Africa and it was awarded a penalty corner. Lloyd Madsen made no mistake with converting that and pushing his team 3-2 ahead 13 minutes into the second half. The crowd could not believe that India’s goal had been reversed and South Africa given the chance to take the lead.

It was the quarter-hour spell after that which reinforced the cruel irony. India virtually pitched camp in the South African half and did everything but score. The ball was deflected in to the goal twice but on both occasions, the only sticks it connected in the scoring circle were South African and the wild cheer from the home fans were only false alarms.

I was a bit surprised that with the forwards not finding the scoring touch, Brasa did not try the unusual but not unique tactic of making a defender play inside the rival circle to try and deflect the ball in to the goal. Time after time, Rajpal Singh, Prabhjot Singh and Gurwinder Singh Chandi did not make contact with the crosses and yet no innovation was tried.

For quite some time, the threat of having to finish fifth in the group behind South Africa and play-off for the ninth place were looming large. And then, the stadium heaved a collective sigh of relief before bursting out in applause when Shivendra Singh pounced on a rebound off Pieterse’s pads and reverse flicked it in to salvage a draw.

Indeed, the irony was never more apparent.

This piece was written for www.stick2hockey.com

A journalist friend of mine from Bangladesh, asked me what I would do at T20. It is for P3 reporters, he taunted. But I had made my commitment to watch the cricket for whatever it was worth and enjoy the opportunity of watching the game. Perhaps, pegging expectations low helped and I have a feast that I am unlikely to forget in a hurry.

Two weeks after the first ball was bowled, I am now in the Press Box at the Wanderers, awaiting the excitement of covering the final between India and Pakistan. Had you told me a fortnight ago that the sub-contintental neigbours would be playing for the $490,000 top prize, I may have laughed it off as wishful thinking. But two amazing weeks have changed all that.

With only the final left to be played, I look back at my experience over the past fortnight and believe that game is for the smart cricketer, the fan in a hurry and the young journalist who can find news ways to describe the whole range of emotions that players and fans alike go through in the span of three hours at each match.

I had not even settled down in the press box at the Kingsmead Cricket Ground in Durban when New Zealand pace bowlers Shane Bond and Mark Gillespie claimed four Kenya wickets for one run in the first two overs. The excitement hasn’t stopped flowing since and we have been lucky that we have got a day’s break between matches.

There are so many wonderful memories already. A tie in the India-Pakistan league game and then the bowl out that saw India win 3-0. Indian left-hander Yuvraj Singh’s six sixes off England pace bowler Stuart Broad, Australian paceman Brett Lee’s hat-trick, Pakistan leg-spinner Shahid Afridi’s nagging accuracy. Some stunning games tested my nerve, too.

And now, just 40 overs remain to be bowled for the winner and loser to be separated. I had never imagined that I would be at a T20 final and one featuring India and Pakistan at that! The Wanderers has provided a great atmosphere, thousands of Asians filling in what they call the Bull Ring, waving flags of the two nations and inspiring the DJ on location to play music from the sub-continent.

I have been to Test matches and one-day internationals featuring the two teams in India and Pakistan and in one-day games in places like Sharjah, Colombo and Old Trafford and Southampton in England. And have felt the needle, becoming an unwilling party of the hype that surrounds such matches. Happily, that needle has been absent – or so I would like to believe.

I have had goose pimples at cricket grounds many times but never like I did when the teams had lined up for the national anthems of the two countries at the Wanderers on Monday. India’s Jana Gana Mana and then Pakistan’s Pak Sarzamin resounded at the stadium.