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.