India once was believed to be very poor in chasing. But now the time has changed. The last ODI with Pakistan was India's 11th consecutive win while chasing a target. I think India's batting line up, whoch is getting better every day has made it possible. Mostly lower order batsmen play a major role in finishing a run chase successfully. The Indian lower order looks very strong with batsmen like Dhoni and Pathan. Even the tail is stronger than ever. Harbhajan Sing, Zaheer Khan, Agarkar- all are quite good with the bat and can contribute 20/30 runs, or hold wickets if necessary.

Read the story on rediff here:
http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2006/feb/14stats.htm

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My computer can beat me at chess.....but its no match for me at kick boxing.

Hopefully this keeps going on and on! Atleast till the end of the world cup!

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"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, prepare to die."
- Klingon Proverb, Star Trek

India seem to be turning themselves in to the professional chasers... much like NZ but India can win more matches when they bat first compared to NZ

In the 1980s, Indians were considered to be better at chasing than defending. Then came a period during which India could win most matches if they batted first. Now again we seem to going back to the good old days.

In the 1983 world cup India used their medium pacers excellently, by bowling very accuratly and keeping a tight line which was backed up by very good fielding which won them their first world cup against the best side in the whole world at the time - West Indies.

The same can be said about the Indian ODI side at the moment which consists of very good fielding most notably from Kaif, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina.

We also have very good medium pacers which can win us matches which we havn't seen since the world cup in 2003 where Zaheer-Srinath-Nehra bowled so well that we went to the finals. At the moment we have Pathan, RP Singh, Sreesanath, Zaheer Khan and Agit Agakar who are very effective in the shorter format. One improvment would be to bring back Balaji who I think is one of India's best bowlers.

India also have more depth in batting now. Pathan and Dhoni have made our batting line up even more stronger. Dhoni has become a revelation, his keeping is good and his batting is excellent, he is playing the role Kpail Dev played in the world cup of 1983.

I think next year we have a big chance of winning the world cup, the biggest chance we have ever had for more than 20 years!

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