Shahid Afridi says Sachin Tendulkar will have to wait for his 100th Century
Pakistan captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 says his team will not allow India’s ace batsman Sachin Tendulkar to score a century in the ICC World Cup 2011 semi-final between the arch-rivals.
Afridi told reporters, “He (Tendulkar) will have to wait until after the World Cup to reach the landmark. We will try and make sure no batsman plays a long innings.”
If Sachin makes a hundred against Pakistan it will be his 100th century in One Day Internationals (ODIs), a landmark which no batsman has reached so far in the history of the game.
Afridi insisted that all the pressure would be on Indian, as they are playing a match that will either get them through to the final or knock them out of the tournament in front of their home crowd, at the hands of their nemesis Pakistan.
Afridi added, “It’s all about handling the pressure well. Whoever does well in that situation will prevail. India will feel it a little bit more than us due to their home conditions. With the crowd cheering every ball, the hosts can be overwhelmed.”
Afridi reiterated that every Pakistan-India clash is a pressure game but playing in a World Cup semi-final has its own meaning. Afridi pledged that his side would give their best against India and would formulate a strategy to counter the Indian strong batting
lineup. So far India has put up the best batting display in the tournament which is being hosted by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758.
History on the other hand favours India, as they have defeated Pakistan four times in World Cups since 1992. Pakistan are yet to record a victory against their arch-rivals on the biggest stage of world cricket. India also registered a win against Pakistan
the last time the two teams met in the Asia Cup last year.
However, the flamboyant all-rounder Afridi dismissed the past record and stressed that history would have little to do when the two teams meet in the semi-final.
So far Afridi has been phenomenal with the ball which has made him the leading wicket taker in the mega event with 21 victims in seven games. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s strength lies in their bowling and it will be a good test of their strength against the belligerent batting
line-up of the Indians.
Pakistan secured a place in the semi-finals with an exceptional display of superb bowling against the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 to bowl them out for 112 runs batting first. Pakistan then chased the total without losing a wicket and won the match. Afridi was the highest
wicket taker in this first knock-out clash by clinching four wickets for 30 runs in 9.3 overs.
India on the other hand ousted defending champions http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 by successfully chasing a total of 261 runs against the phenomenal pace attack of the Aussies. India won the match by five wickets. The clash between Pakistan and India on 30th March
in Mohali will be a larger than life competition between the bowling and batting of the both the sides.
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