Handling spinners is key to success in first semi

NEW ZEALAND have been the giant killers so far and take on the Sri Lankans in the first semi-final in Colombo. It was great to see John Wright after the game in Mirpur and he must be a happy man the way his team has played till now in the World Cup, especially after the way the Kiwis were hammered in the subcontinent by Bangladesh and India in the last eight-nine months. The Kiwis have reason to feel extra happy to be in this position, something which a lot of people in this World Cup never believed but then this is the beauty of the game. It's also a huge example in daily life that if you keep working hard and improving in every aspect of life you can only get better. John was so happy after the win against South Africa that he forgot his room number in the hotel and tried opening some other room. Hopefully he didn't get into any trouble. The Kiwis will have to improve their performance by one more step if they have to get past the in-form Lankans in their backyard. The Sri Lankans absolutely smashed England in the last quarter-final of this World Cup. Lot of people expected that England having won the toss will be at an advantage in the game but that was not to be. Getting two-hundred and twenty-nine was not a great total by any standards and England suffered what most teams from outside the subcontinent have suffered in this World Cup. The biggest difference with the subcontinent teams and the reason why three of them are in the last four stage is that they have dominated spin whereas the others from outside haven't. Australia, South Africa, England have just looked to rotate spinners and just the reason for the run-rate not going over four. On the other hand, teams from subcontinent have always looked to hit boundaries every over, especially in the power-play. That's the reason they have never been put under pressure at any stage and have always looked to have momentum in the innings which even Australia lacked against India, although they got to two-hundred and sixty in Ahmedabad. To beat the Lankans, Vettori and his boys will need to do that, get momentum in run scoring. New Zealand will need to play fearless cricket as they have nothing to lose and that will be the key for them. Sri Lanka on the other hand is in tremendous form and will go confident in this game. But I am sure that the senior pros in the team will not take things lightly. The Sri Lankans will be keen to have Murali on the park as it is his last international tournament. He has a hamstring niggle and Sangakkara will need to be careful that he goes past the two games in the tournament. It will be a challenge between two teams, one which needs to keep doing exactly what they did in the last game. The other will need to take on the Sri Lankan spinners and set up a total which will challenge the Lankans. It is how each of them will handle the spinners on either side which will decide the outcome of the game. — The writer is a former Indian captain.