This was a much needed victory after the drubbing which India faced in the 2nd Test where they had to lose the match. Laxman was rightly given the Man of the Match award and Shewag was awarded the Player of the Tournament.This is only Laxmans’s 3rd Man of the Match award and he has done the whole country of India proud. In spite of having leg pain he asked for the runner Virendra and kept the hope of India winning the match.

Tendulkar loss after a magnificent initial partnership did not deter Laxman. Raina came in next and Laxman along with Raina enseured that victory will come India way. Indeed it came.

This would indeed be one of the memorable moments for Laxman and India too since a loss would also have meant that India lose the number one ranking in Tests.

The crowd back in India was skeptical about Laxman’s place in the team, he has however proved them all wrong. Skipper Dhoni was all praise for Laxman.

Laxman also received praises from the Sri Lankan Captain and the Indian coach Gary Kirstein.

Zaheer Khan is still sidelined because of shoulder injury that prevented tests against Sri Lanka. Ishanti Sharma, in disgrace when it comes to limited overs side after a long fallow period, takes Zaheer place and conforms to play his first one-dayer this year.

Abhimanyu Mithun, who made his Test debut against Sri Lanka, returned to the team one day squad in place of Ashok Dinda. Saurabh Tiwary and Offspinner R Ashwin,who were both in India’s victorious Asia Cup team, also find a place.

Dinda will now head to Australia, along with with Manish Pandey, to replace Ashwin and Tiwary in the Indian team participating in the Emerging Players tournament.

Dinesh Karthik, who flew as a replacement Virender Sehwag midway through the Asian Cup before becoming a man of the match performance in the final book, kept his place and is likely to open with Sehwag.

Sri Lanka and New Zealand has a league phase in which each team plays the other twice before the top two advance to final on August 28.

India squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Saurabh Tiwary

South Africa looks little dizzy with batting. Smith & Kallis are unable to score high runs. making singles and not allowing them to explore to 4’s and 6’s. Overall its an exiting game if they started to hit runs.

India: With IPL bonanza over, and now player to concentrate on the National Cricket, Indian Team has passed the “Litmus Test” of playing with a minnow. Usually in the World Cups, its been the matches against minnows which have costed India a place in the Super 8s.

This time, with a win against the Afghanistanis, Indian team seems to be well prepared for the Tournament. Batting looks strong with inform Suresh Raina and Murali Vijay should be making merry, Yuvraj should be ready to come back to form and playing for the country might inspire him as well and Dhoni, Pathan, Jadeja make it a strong batting line up.

With respect to bowling, Ashish Nehra has made a good comeback and all in all it lookd a decent bowling lineup however the bowling in middle overs need to tighten up a bit more as they were not even able to take all ten wickets. Team need to keep their spirits high as they will face trmendous pressure against South Africa.ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2010

South Africa: The South Africans have been the strongest teams ever to participate in the World Cup and still not been able to reach the finals. This time around they seem to have an all round team with Jacques Kallis in the form of his life and Graeme Smith coming back into international cricket after his finger injury would be raring to prove a point or two.

JP Duminy, Hershelle Gibbs, AB De villiars, Loots Bosman all great hitters of the game, however this team will be playing international cricket after a while so there is a chance of them being rusty in the beginning.

With respect to bowling, they have the potential to be world beaters with Dale Steyn at the top f his bowling, Morkel brothers fresh from IPL, Lengeveldt, Van Der Merwe and the next big thing Juan Theron. An important match for them to get into the super 8s with confidence.