ChinmayC Blog

Thanks to the hidden powers of West Indies exhibited amply in the semi final against Australia we hopefully predicted an unpredictable ICC World Cup T20 2012 Final in Colombo tonight. But the past masters of raw power and skill of the game of cricket decided to stick to their one decade and a half long subdued or rather suffocated cricket. Like in the Super Eight stage they nearly handed over the match and the Cup to Sri Lanka . But in the end skipper Mahela Jaywardene could not take it even in his fourth World Cup Final entry and this time at home. West Indies have won a first World Cup title, though in T20 format, after India snatched the World Cup from them in 1983. Winning the toss and electing to bat first West Indies scored just one run off the bat in the first three overs. Their score of 14 for 2 was the fourth worst after Powerplay (6 overs) and their 32 for 2 was also the fourth worst after 10 overs in T20 World Cup history. Of course, the Sri Lankan seamers, particularly...

In the first semi final of the ICC World Cup T20 2012 Pakistan surrendered meekly to allow Mahela Jaywardene to lead his team into the fourth Final of ICC limited overs tournaments including that of against India in World Cup-2011 and in T20 World Cup in 2009 without a title. Now, in this final Mahela has another chance at home to make Sri Lanka victorious. In the second semi final Australia were swept away by Gaylestorm last night in Colombo . An incredible performance steered West Indies to meet Sri Lanka tomorrow in the Final in Colombo . After the intense race between India and Pakistan to reach the knockout stage it was an absolute anticlimax with Pakistan lacking both intensity and purpose. Their bowlers, as usual, did a good job again to restrict Sri Lanka to just 140 in allotted 20 overs. A little application in batting could have seen Pakistan edge past Sri Lanka into the final despite the slow and sluggish pitch. But their chase was a disaster from the word go. In fa...

  The India-Pakistan match on September 30 became historic not because India defeated Pakistan convincingly, but because the intense duel continued till the latter threw the former out of the ICC World Cup T20 2012. India crashed out despite defeating South Africa in a thriller by 1 run and thus allowing its arch-rival Pakistan enter the semi finals. There was a technical possibility of both India and Pakistan entering the semis. For that Pakistan needed to beat Australia by minimum 40-run margin and India too needed to beat South Africa by a large margin. Unfortunately this did not happen. What happened was this: Pakistan indeed defeated the mighty Australia by a big margin of 32 runs, but not the required 40 allowing Australia qualify. This gave India the challenge to win against South Africa with a good enough margin to better the Pakistan net run rate to throw their arch-rival out of the tournament. The duel raged on. India would have loved to chase yesterday knowing exactly...

The whole of India is celebrating is celebrating as if India have won the ICC T20 World Cup 2012! No wonder, if India go on losing the semi final berth and the Cup from here millions of fans all over would still be happy that India had indeed defeated Pakistan on the way! No wonder, if Pakistan proceed from here to win the T20 World Cup it would still rankle millions of fans all over that Pakistan got defeated by India on the way! Such is the passion for matches between these arch-rivals. And, no harm done really as finally it proves the love for cricket one more time. In the much awaited crunch match in Colombo on 30 th September India crushed Pakistan by 8 wickets with 3 overs to spare. Thus India have kept the record of never losing a World Cup, be it one-day or T20 internationals, against Pakistan unbroken.  Pakistan won the toss choosing to bat first and the decision was instantly criticized by Pakistan experts, because the chasing team has been winning the matches recently...

Two nations and millions of fans the world over are waiting with bated breath for the titanic clash of the arch-rivals, India and Pakistan in a crucial Super Eight match of the ICC World Cup T20 2012 in Colombo today. Fans would love their favorite team win and the desperation to win for any of the two teams is conditioned by the two passionate nations. This passion is not conditioned though by whatever happens in the tournament later. The desperation for India is even greater. On superior bowling strength and current performance Pakistan have the edge over India . Add to this the terrific Pak all-rounders like skipper Hafeez, Jamshed, Afridi and now even Umar Gul. India , on the other hand, are burdened with the last thrashing by Australia , the Sehwag riddle and team selection chores. Indian skipper Dhoni has been under fire by many cricket experts and cricket lovers for omitting Sehwag in the last two games and his gamble for three spinners. Anyway, the three spinner tactic is not ...

The two Umars—Umar Akmal and Umar Gul—rescued Pakistan out of absolute devastation and powered them to a pulsating victory by two wickets in low scoring thriller against South Africa in Colombo yesterday. In the second match India made a mess of everything and lost by nine wickets to Australia with 31 balls to spare. Both of these Super Eight matches of the ICC World Cup T20 2012 were studies in contrast. Australia exploded the myth created by India that Colombo tracks had been becoming ideal for spinners offering lot of turn and spin. They have hardly made a difference between fast and slow bowlers hitting everyone mercilessly out of the ground. Such was the fury of the Australian openers Shane Watson (72 off 42 balls with 7 sixes, and 3 wickets) and David Warner (63 off 41) that the top Indian spinners Ashwin, Harbhajan and Chawla were not even allowed to settle down. India skipper Dhoni complained of a little rain that made the ball wet, but finally it comes to good and accurate bo...

Dilshan! The first Super Eight match of the ICC World Cup T20 2012 ended in a tie and for the first time in the tournament the super over eliminator came in to decide the outcome. Malinga for Sri Lanka did the trick finally in his super over and Sri Lanka won beating an unlucky New Zealand in Pallekele. Winning the toss New Zealand elected to bat and made a solid start thanks to Nicol (58 off 40 balls) and Guptil (38). Brendon McCullum (25) kept the momentum on, but could not last long. Though well on the way for a total in excess of 190 the Kiwis finally fell short by about 20 runs, but 174 was still a challenging total and the match was on. Sri Lanka in reply raced to 119 in the 13 th over with Dilshan (76 off 53 balls) coming into form in a magnificent way, but midway lost the plan with a bit too many run outs. Interestingly both teams were at level in the 17 th over and like New Zealand could not capitalize on the last four overs Sri Lanka too could not force a win from a ...

The Super Eight stage matches of the ICC World Cup T20 2012 in Sri Lanka start today with the big one coming between hosts Sri Lanka and spirited New Zealand in Pallekele. In the last match of the group league on 25 th September buoyant Pakistan beat a fighting Bangladesh by 8 wickets. Bangladesh fought very hard trying to win by more than 36 runs which would have taken them into the Super Eight stage. There is hardly much to choose between the two teams. While Sri Lanka would be looking for the home advantage with their specialized slow bowling that suffocates opposition on various occasions New Zealand is set to benefit too as they played their two matches here in Pallekele where they crushed Bangladesh and ran Pakistan to the wire in the second. Sri Lanka on their journey to the Super Eight bulldozed Zimbabwe in the first match of the tournament and then lost to South Africa in a ridiculous 7-over encounter. The biggest plus for Sri Lanka would be the return of the magical spi...

Harbhajan Singh The Player of the Match It was India’s biggest win in terms of margin of runs in any T20 history. It was England’s lowest total ever in T20 history. It could be the T20 international of the century in terms of the most dramatic turnaround with spinners dominating absolutely. It gave Harbhajan Singh a most memorable comeback to Team India. The off spinner had an incredible figure of 4 wickets for just 12 runs with 17 dot balls in 4 overs. With his partner spinner, another comeback guy, Piyush Chawla the duo captured 6 England wickets for 25 runs. Thanks to them England crashed from 39/2 to 60/9, looking at achieving the ignominy of being the team scoring less than the lowest ever total of 67 by Kenya in T20 history.   The last England pair saved that humiliation at least by taking the score to 80. India crushed England by 90 runs in their last group encounter in Colombo on 23 rd September, 2012.   Indian skipper Dhoni seemed to have done everything right on t...

The first two big matches of the ICC World Cup Twenty20 2012 were scheduled on September 22--Sri Lanka Vs South Africa and Australia Vs West Indies. Spectators were indeed regaled by some splendid batting performances including that of Chris Gayle who is back in the West Indies team (54 runs off only 33 balls with 5 fours and 4 sixes), De Villiers for South Africa (30 runs off 13 balls) and Shane Watson for Australia (41 off 24). The first match between Sri Lanka and South Africa in Hambantota started after a delay of more than two hours due to heavy rains and so it got reduced to a ridiculous 7 overs each. Sri Lanka made it worse for themselves by opting to field first after winning the toss, maybe influenced by the overcast conditions. Thanks to De Villiers South Africa posted a daunting 78 runs for 4 in 7 overs. The Sri Lanka reply was a disaster as their batsmen had no answer to the pace and accuracy of South Africa bowlers. South Africa won by a huge margin of 32 runs. Malinga was...

Yuvraj Singh Takes Crucial Wickets! India struggled to beat Afghanistan in their first match of the ICC World Cup Twenty20 in Sri Lanka yesterday in Colombo. When finally they won by 23 runs it was not at all worthy of the current one-day Champions.  India huffed and puffed to 159 for the loss of five wickets in allotted 20 overs with the openers Gambhir and Sehwag failing again. The pitch could be a valid reason, because the Australia-Ireland match was played in the same track a little earlier. Just to exploit the wear and tear of the pitch Afghanistan must have decided to send India in after winning the toss. But equally important was the sheer pace of Afghan pacer Shapoor Jadran who accounted for the both the openers and the energy of a spirited Afghan team. The openers departed for just 22 runs on the board in the 5 th over. Yuvraj Singh in his second major comeback match made 18 off 20 balls with one six. They could have reduced India to 79 for 5 if the catches were taken an...

Match winning 92 by Kamran Akmal As anticipated an all out war broke out at the warm-up T20 cricket match between India and Pakistan in Colombo today in the run-up to the ICC World Cup T20 tournament starting tomorrow. In line with the epic cricket wars between the archrivals even this insignificant practice match whipped up passion and tension in cricket lovers. Amidst ups and downs finally Pakistan emerged triumphant beating India by five wickets with nearly an over to spare.  India elected to bat winning the toss and lost Gambhir early. Sehwag too could not get going after a good start and it was the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year Virat Kohli again who took command. With Rohit Sharma Virat crafted a partnership of 127 runs to take the total score to 185/3 and set a challenging target of 186 runs for Pakistan. Virat remained unbeaten on 75 off only 47 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes. As in the practice match against Sri Lanka that India won comfortably Rohit came good here too sco...

Laurels for Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. For the fifth consecutive year Dhoni has been selected in International Cricket Council (ICC)’S ‘ODI (One Day International) Team of the Year’ and this time he has been named the captain too. Not only this, Team India got its three players along with Dhoni selected—the highest for any team. Australia (Michael Clarke and Shane Watson), Pakistan (Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal) , England (Alastair Cook and Steven Finn) and Sri Lanka (Kumar Sangakkara and Lasith Malinga) have two players each and South Africa has one (Morne Morkel). The other two Indian players are Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir. The ICC Chief Executive David Richardson announced the 'Squad' at a special function ahead of the LG ICC Awards being held tomorrow in Colombo , Sri Lanka . The LG  ICC Awards honor the best performing international players and officials of the last 12 months. A specially appointed five-member expert panel headed by West Indies...