T20 World Cup Review

Twenty20 Inaugural World Cup was a huge success after a terrible 50 over world cup in West Indies earlier this year. One main reason might be the exit of India and Pakistan in the first round. But here India and Pakistan made it to the finals. Another reason is poor pitches in West Indies where wickets are slow and low the batsman has to be extremely patient. The outfield was slow but here in South Africa the pitches are sporting where batsman and bowlers have equal chance.

The finals were between India and Pakistan who were very young teams. India were missing their senior players such as Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Zaheer Khan. Pakistan were missing Yousuf, Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar etc. Both sides played extremely well. Very few people expected India and Pakistan to make it to finals and what a finals it was. Both teams with young captains and younger players the expectations were little.

Performances of all teams

INDIA - India only lost one match to New Zealand were they fought till the end. From there on they outplayed every team includes South Africa, England, Australia and Pakistan. They won the league match against Pakistan by Bowl out. They were led by a young captain Dhoni and their younger players were really impressive. They have been good at all departments. Batsman who really impressed were Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj and Dhoni. Bowlers who really impressed were R.P.Singh and Irfan Pathan.

PAKISTAN - Pakistan on the other hand only lost two matches to India one by bowl out and the final by 5 runs. How unlucky were they? They outplayed Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Scotland. Their bowlers were superb. Their batsman excluding Misbah ul Haq and Shoaib Malik were not really impressive.

AUSTRALIA - Eventhough they made it to semifinals they lost two matches even before to Zimbabwe and Pakistan. In Semifinals they were totally outplayed by energetic India. Their openers Hayden and Gilchrist played well. Their bowlers mainly Stuart Clark was impressive.

NEW ZEALAND - They also lost two matches before reaching semifinals to Sri Lanka and South Africa. In semifinals they never had a chance against Pakistan. Daniel Vettori their new captain was impressive with his captaincy and bowling. Craig McMillan impressed with the bat.

SOUTH AFRICA - The hosts and one of the favourates during the course of the tournament couldn't make it to semifinals due to one poor match against India in the Group F. They always find a way to choke in the ICC events. I feel really sorry for them. Morkels brothers Albie and Morne were very impressive. They can consider themselves really unlucky because Australia and New Zealand made it to semifinals not as impressive as them.

ENGLAND - The pioneers of Twenty20 cricket had no chance to win the tournament. Their only victory was against Zimbabwe even though they had T20 specialists. They did fight against all teams. They never had a team to win a major ICC event. Their best chance was to win the Champions Trophy at home in 2004 when lesser players Ian Bradshaw and Courtney Browne seal the victory for West Indies.

SRI LANKA - They were impressive in some matches and unimpressive in other matches. They relied too much on Jayasuriya. I dont know what is going to happen after his retirement. Dilhara Fernando was very impressive with ball.

BANGLADESH - They were really aggressive in some matches and not at all aggressive in other matches. They didn't properly planned their batting. They have some good talent in batting such as Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed and Siddique and bowling such as Rasel, Razzak and Mahmudullah.

WEST INDIES - They didn't make it to second round in spite of a good start to the tournament.
Their batting didn't let them down this time but their bowling and fielding did. They bowled too many extras and down the leg side. Their coach has a real job in his hands.

ZIMBABWE - They were really impressive even though they didn't make it tp second round. They defeated Australia in the first match and fought hard against England in their second match. Elton Chigumbura was really impressive with the ball and Brendon Taylor with the bat.

SCOTLAND - Their match against India was washed out but they fought hard against Pakistan.
Their opening batsman and bowlers were impressive.

KENYA - Least impressive team in the tournament. They scored the lowest total against New Zealand and they gave the highest total to Sri Lanka. Ever since Sandeep Patil left as coach they have been struggling.

Indo-Pak A Dramatic Finish

India and Pakistan played out a thrilling tie at the ICC World Twenty20. Pakistan won the toss and chose to field mainly because of overnight rain with slow outfield and there will some movement for fast bowlers.

India open the batting with Gautam Gambhir and comeback man Sehwag. Asif's bowling reminded the great Glenn McGrath. Gautam Gambhir was brilliantly caught on the follow through at the second attempt, while Sehwag was sorted out as he so often has been of late, inside-edging one back on to his stumps. Sehwag's weakness has been totally exposed. I don't know how he is going to get back to his best. Everybody including the fans except him knows his weakness.

Uthappa got going with a great flick off his pads for four, and a splendid lofted on-drive off Gul showed that he meant business. But there was little support at the other end, with Yuvraj Singh miscuing one off the leading edge to mid-off. At that stage India desperately needed Yuvraj to continue. Dinesh Karthik briefly alleviated the gloom with two glorious strokes off Asif, making room and lofting through the off side, but when the extra bounce induced another inside edge, Pakistan were right on top. Asif as always been vulnerable with new ball, even the best batsman cannot take him out.

Pakistan allowed Asif to complete his full quota which was the right decision and he proved it with four wickets in four overs. Asif's exit gave Uthappa and Dhoni the chance to resurrect the innings. Uthappa thumped Arafat for a straight six and then lofted him way into the stands at midwicket, but both batsmen struggled to work out the left-arm medium pace of Sohail Tanvir, who bowled off the wrong out a la Mike Proctor. Sohail Tanvir has an interesting bowling action with his run up similar to Irfan Pathan but his delivery stride like a spinner. He uses both his hands like a spinner and moves the ball completely away from right handed batsman. He bowled a tidy spell in his first international match, a great prospect.

Afridi's introduction didn't stem the Indian momentum either, with Uthappa cutting and driving for fours, but a brief rain delay after he had reached 50 made all the difference. A thin edge through to Akmal gave Tanvir a first wicket, and brought Pathan to the crease.

A fascinating little tussle with Afridi followed. Two huge sixes over midwicket had the Indian fans cheering themselves hoarse, but Afridi had the last word with a quicker delivery that crashed into the leg stump. Harbhajan Singh as always using his brain brilliantly by taking a single of last ball and denying Dhoni the strike. In the end he played a terrible shot to get out.

Dhoni clubbed Arafat for a straight four and then swung him over fine leg for six, but the promised late explosion never came. Agarkar luckily got two short deliveries from Gul, which he cut for boundaries. Once Dhoni skied one to Younis at deep cover, India were left to limp to the finish. Dhoni's innings was far from impressive. Ever since he is made the captain of T20 he hasn't done well in the One Dayers or any format. Here the situation demanded him to stay on which he did. He should have stayed till the last ball and given some big blows to get India to 150. The way he got out was terrible, i don't know which boundary he was aiming at.

Pakistan opened with Imran Nazir and Salman Butt. Rudra Pratap Singh had given India the perfect start, cleaning up the reckless Imran Nazir, and both he and Sreesanth kept the runs down to increase the pressure on Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal. Sreesanth eventhough not atgood when it comes to bowling to left handers, but still he didn't gave too many runs. It was Butt that finally succumbed to it, edging Ajit Agarkar's second delivery behind the stumps. That evened the scales somewhat, but after a fairytale comeback over from Pathan, it was India that were right on top.

A misunderstanding with Younis Khan sent Akmal packing off the first ball, and when Younis then gloved one back on to the stumps, a Pakistani victory was no longer a formality. The wicket maiden from Pathan brought India right back and pulled out Scotland's hopes completely of making it to second round. A partnership was needed, and Misbah and Shoaib Malik built one, concentrating mainly on singles and the odd clever thump over the field.

Malik's patience finally snapped in Pathan's final over, with Harbhajan Singh taking the skier in the circle, and Pakistan needed almost two off every ball when Afridi walked to the middle. Afridi shouldn't bat this low down the order he should be batting up the order. He was dropped by Agarkar of his own bowling. He never got going either, but instead of the death-knell, his departure sparked a stunning finish.

Pakistan needed 39 of 14 balls with Afridi gone India was going to pull an amazing victory. Harbhajan's otherwise immaculate spell was ruined by a six and a four from Misbah, when the sardar became complacent. When the woefully off-radar Agarkar was clouted by Yasir Arafat and Misbah for 17 in the penultimate over, Pakistan needed just 12 from six. Agarkar is playing for India for nine years, i still don't know why he is still in the team. During the penultimate over he was bowling length deliveries instead of yorkers. He could have at least bowl low full tosses, which would have made things difficult for batsman. Instead he made things easy for batsman. Had they played good shots i wouldn't have been disappointed.

Misbah placed one beautifully over cover and then thumped one straight down the ground. With 1 run needed off 2 balls Pakistan was looking pretty thanks to Agarkar. Sreesanth didn't loose his cool and bowled a short delivery outside off stump coming from around the wicket at a speed of 141 kmph. It was a dot ball. With one run needed of 1 ball still Pakistan can make it all the fielders came inside the circle. Everyone expecting a yorker including the batsman, but Sreesanth came and bowled a short ball outside the off stump that Misbah could only parry to silly mid-off. Robin Uthappa with the throw and Sreesanth grabbed the ball cleanly and whipped the bails off, Misbah had no chance of completing the single.
With Misbah-ul-Haq run out off the last ball of the match it was a tie. Indian players celebrated but Pakistanis were extremely disappointed. But the tournament rules didn't allow for the ponits to be shared, and it was India that prevailed in the bowl-out. Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa were Dirty Harry-accurate, while Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi all missed by a fair distance as a sell-out crowd celebrated an enthralling finale.

The 33-year-old Misbah, who made a magnificent 53 from just 35 balls, had been an unlikely hero for Pakistan after Shahid Afridi's dismissal, with 39 needed from 14 balls, had left them in a seemingly hopeless situation. He needed just one run from the last two balls of the innings, but Sreesanth came round the wicket and had the last laugh.

India then fielded with great energy and bowled superbly to defend the total but Pakistan stormed back in the final three overs. They might however reflect on the batting order, with the destructive Afridi having come to the crease when the situation was almost beyond salvage.
It was great match with India and Pakistan coming back from situations which were totally against. Dhoni in his first match as captain handled his bowlers well. Pakistan shouldn't be totally disappointed because they played really well. India were really lucky. India should immediately replace Agarkar with somebody else. Man of the match Mohammed Asif for his fantastic bowling. Irfan Pathan made a very good comeback. If he can continue his form India has got a very good all rounder.

T20 of to a Breathtaking start

Chris Gayle's stunning century - the highest score in the history of the Twenty20 game, surpassing Ricky Ponting's 98 - turned out to be a pyrrhic effort as a dazzling 90 from Herschelle Gibbs, helped by some wretched bowling and fielding, piloted South Africa home with 14 balls remaining, the highest score chased down in 20 internationals. West Indies dropped three catches and bowled a staggering 23 wides in a slipshod display epitomised by Dwayne Smith's two overs for 37 runs.

South Africa's refusal to succumb was best illustrated by the courage of their captain, Graeme Smith. After being struck a sickening blow on the right wrist off the first ball of a superb opening over from Daren Powell, Smith carried on with typical bullishness, muscling the ball over the leg side and through cover using his bottom hand. By the time he thumped one straight to cover and departed to the hospital for X-rays, he had 28 from 21, and South Africa the ideal platform on which to build.

Gibbs did that with some delightful heaves and drives, and even a clever dink down to fine leg off Dwayne Bravo. He also enjoyed two reprieves, with Bravo grassing one at deep cover when he had made 20 and Shivnarine Chanderpaul spilling one at deep square leg after he had reached 43. With West Indies showering wides around like confetti, the run-rate never spiralled out of control, and AB de Villiers did his part with a brisk 16 before a miscue off the impressive Fidel Edwards was pouched by Denesh Ramdin.

Justin Kemp was also dropped, at deep mid-on by Marlon Samuels when on 13, and he and Gibbs, batting with De Villiers as a runner, scattered the bowling to all corners of the Bullring as they clattered a century partnership from just 50 balls. The clincher was Ravi Rampaul's final over, the 15th of the innings, with Gibbs deftly picking up two fours and Kemp blasting two huge sixes.

West Indies were left to reflect on one that got away. Gayle's had been a magnificent effort, one that started with a square-drive so powerful that it burst through the hands of backward point on its way to the rope. Having had a few sighters, he then played an astonishing whip off his pads off Shaun Pollock that landed next to his team-mates in the dug-out square of the wicket.

With the tone set, it was Makhaya Ntini's turn to feel the power, and two stupendous straight sixes that cleared the rope by yards. With the situation already desperate, Smith turned to Johan van der Wath and Mornè Morkel to restore a semblance of sanity.

There was hardly any swing though, and little movement off the pitch, and Gayle took advantage with some monstrous hitting. His 50 came from just 26 balls, and when Vernon Philander came on, he said hello with a carve that went deep into the stands at midwicket. Albie Morkel got the same treatment, and by the halfway mark, West Indies had cruised to 109 for 0.

With his seam options having produced nothing, Smith brought himself on, only to concede 17 from the over as Gayle nonchalantly clouted one over long-on. The first-wicket partnership was worth 145 from just 13.3 overs when Philander finally broke through, but though Samuels fell cheaply, there was no let-up in momentum.

A straight-drive down the ground for two got Gayle to three figures from just 51 balls, and he celebrated with more devastating strokeplay down the ground as South Africa's bowling threatened to implode. Pollock went for 52 in his spell and it was left to the less celebrated trio of van der Wath, Mornè Morkel and Philander to rein in the rampant batsmen.