The Semifinals of the ICC Champions trophy begin today. India will take on South Africa while Sri Lanka will play against Australia tomorrow. Recent World Cup champions Sri Lanka will have its hands full with Australia, currently regarded by many as the top team in the world right now. However, the home field advantage may give a strong Sri Lankan side the edge it needs to pull off a mild upset. South Africa will have to temper India's strong batting line up during their 50 wickets at bat if they will have a chance to get the needed runs against India. South Africa's bowlers will need to be up to the task. Prediction: India v. Sri Lanka in the finals.
India through to the final India defeated South Africa by 10 runs to win the first semifinal of the Champions Trophy, India won the toss and elected to bat first. India had a solid, though not spectacular start with Sehwag getting 59 runs on 58 balls with 10 4's. Yuvraj Singh also picked up a half century, getting 62 runs on 72 balls. However, Harbhajan Singh only scored 4 before being bowled out and Khan was caught out for 0. India set a target of 261 on 9 wickets. Not the most spectacular batting ever by an Indian side to be sure. In the early overs, it looked like South Africa might make the target starting out 192 for 2. Unfortunately, Gibbs retired hurt after scoring 116 runs. Kallis nearly got a century, scoring 97 (though it took 133 balls to do it). However, the wickets began falling like flies for the South Africans, without another batter scoring more than 14 runs. Even though South Africa used only six wickets, tbey could only score 251 runs in their 50 overs. India will take on the winner of the other semifinal between Sri Lanka and Australia.
All Subcontinent final Sri Lanka pulled off a mild upset of Australia in the second semi-final when they crushed the Aussies by SEVEN wickets!!! Australia won the toss and chose to bat first. They got off to a good start by scoring 48 runs without losing a wicket in the first six overs. However, the tide turned when Australia scored only 8 runs while losing four wickets. The Aussies couldn't get back on track. The Aussies finished at 162 runs all out in 48.4 overs. Sri Lanka would have a relatively low target to reach. While they weren't losing wickets, they were not terribly efficient in run scoring, a testimony to the tough bowling of the Aussies. However, Jayasuriya scored 42 runs on 51 balls, Atapattu got a half-century with 51 on a very inefficient 113 balls, and Sangakarra scored 48 on 63 balls to lead the Sri Lankans to reach their target with 10 overs remaining, losing only three wickets on the way. Sri Lanka will have to improve its run scoring effenciency if they are to beat the explosive Indians. They may have the bowlers to hold the Indians at bay. India may have too much for Sri Lanka in this one. Despite the home field advantage, I will go with India in this one.