T20 World Cup: Australia Edge Out South Africa On Better Net Run-Rate To Enter Semi Final In Group-1, India Await The Afghani Verdict!

Australia beat the West Indies by 8 wickets and ensuring a better net run-rate ousted South Africa even as the latter beat England, ending their unbeaten streak. In the crucial last match in Group-1 for Australia in Abu Dhabi today, the defending Champions West Indies, for whom the match was of no consequence after being eliminated owing to their loss against the already-ousted Sri Lanka, came out with the right intentions of playing for respect put into bat; but after a few lusty shots by Gayle the same old story unfolded as three wickets fell in quick succession. Chris Gayle, the oldest playing international cricketer at 42 years of age, made only 15 in probably his last appearance in international cricket. A partnership promised to grow between Evin Lewis and Hetmyer, but Lewis getting out for 29 at the team score of 70 ended that. A partnership again seemed to bloom between Pollard and Bravo, but it happened to be only a brief one. Captain Pollard (44), this time, stuck on and helping his team post a respectable total, and Andre Russell remaining not out at 18 off 7 balls hit two lusty sixes in the last two balls as his team crossed the 150-run mark and posted a target of 158 runs for Australia which is a fighting one, but fell short of perhaps by at least 20 more runs. Russell finally seemed to find his touch, but unfortunately he was sent in this time a tad too late. For Australia, fast bowler Josh Hazelwood captured 4 wickets for 39 runs with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa taking one each.

 

The key to the disastrous performance of the West Indies in this ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 is the consistent failures with the bat of their all-time greats like Gayle, Pollard, Russell and Bravo, the latter coming out of his announced retirement to play for repeating national glory. Almost in every innings, it fell on the shoulders of Hetmyer to do some repairs to the nearly irreparable damage done by the top order. Their bowlers too did nothing in particular to put the oppositions under pressure and were freely hit around most of the time. The once-mighty West Indies, known for their fiery fast bowlers in particular, managed to beat only the down-and-out Bangladesh who lost all their matches.

 

Dwayne John Bravo got out after making only 10 runs and perhaps we had seen the last time he came in to bat; he also made emphatic goodbye signs as Christopher Henry Gayle did earlier to the viewers. Bravo remains as the highest wicket taker in T20 internationals at 553 wickets. For a rather ironical goodbye Gayle took the wicket of Marsh when Australia were just one run away from victory. At the end of the match every player on the field embraced Gayle and Bravo warmly. Sad moments indeed! Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi recorded these moments forever as a live witness.

 

Australia with 6 points, after a deadly blow from England, bounced back strongly routing Bangladesh completely and knew their job well against the West Indies: to win the match with a good margin of victory so that it becomes impossible for South Africa, also with 6 points, to overcome the former’s net run-rate even if even they win against England in their last encounter later today. With today’s win Australia made it sure that they occupy the second spot indeed. The total of 157/7 finally offered by the West Indies was not intimidating enough for the professional Aussies. David Warner (89 not out off 56 balls) clicked for the second time in the tournament, and he along with Mitchell Marsh (53 off 32 balls) put up a 124-run partnership taking the match away from the West Indies, and more importantly kept up the run-rate momentum despite the relatively early loss of Captain Finch at the team score of 33 runs. And Australia won by 8 wickets at 161/2 with 20 balls to spare, further improving their net run-rate.

 

Now, over to Sharjah for the second crucial match. South Africa was desperate for a semi-final berth facing perhaps the impossible task having not only to win against England but win by a significant margin to overcome Australia’s net run-rate (for example, if SA score 200 runs, they’ll have to win by a margin of 67 runs), and as a dampener their captain Temba Bavuma lost the toss to Eoin Morgan and was, expectedly put into bat. South Africa fielded an unchanged team while England replaced an injured left-arm fast bowler Tymal Mills with right-arm fast bowler Mark Wood. South Arica needed to post a huge total on board and indeed had a splendid start despite the early loss of Hendricks thanks to a blooming partnership between the now-knee-taking de Kock and Van Der Dussen. But it was cut short when de Kock fell to Adil Rashid at the team score of 86/2 in the 12th over. Moeen Ali consumed the first wicket. A definitive  rollicking partnership between a brilliant Dussen (94 not out off 60 balls) and Aiden Markram (52 not out in 25 balls) helped South Africa post a challenging total of 189/2, their highest of the tournament and the highest by any team against England in the round-robin stage. However, the margin of victory that has to be at least 60 runs if they win was the point of concern. For the first time England showed chinks in their armor through too many loose deliveries and rare misfields.  

Chasing the highest target of 190 runs so far in the tournament England got off to a solid start putting up 50 in 5 overs with Jason Roy retiring hurt after scoring 20 quick runs even as South Africa started the attack with Spinner Maharaj straightaway. South Africa tasted the first blood as Buttler, fresh from his century in the previous match against Sri Lanka, fell to Nortje for 26 in 15 balls. Shortly after South Africa got a huge wicket as Bairstow was out LBW to spinner Shamsi, England reduced to 59/2 in the 7th over. With good contributions by Moeen Ali (37), Dawid Malan (33)  and Livingstone (28) England crossed the magic figure of 131 runs thus ousting South Africa from the World Cup, and the latter's frustration could be felt in their body language as Rabada who, unfortunately, could not pose any threat to England batsmen was hit for three consecutive sixes by Livingstone in the 16th over. As England wickets fell in quick succession at the death South Africa finally won the match by 10 runs with none other than Rabada achieving a hat-trick. Brave South Africa gave a tremendous fight, but finally lost out on the net run-rate race with all three teams of England, Australia and South Africa ending with 8 points each. 

England have retained their top spot, but this defeat and the probable loss of Jason Roy due to injury may hurt them just before the elimination stage starting 10th of November. Australia is most likely to meet Pakistan in the semi-final unless the latter lose to Scotland tomorrow. Whom England is going to meet in the semi-final will also be decided tomorrow unless New Zealand lose to Afghanistan. 

 

For India in Group-2, everything depends on Afghanistan spinners delivering a death blow to New Zealand in the encounter tomorrow. In the improbable scenario of New Zealand losing, if the little tottering displayed by them against Namibia was any indication, India would exactly know what to do as they’ll be playing the last Gropu-2 match on Monday against Namibia, because in that case they’ll be locked with New Zealand in terms of points and the net run-rate would come into consideration. As per the requirements India have demonstrated glorious cricket in the last two matches against Afghanistan and Scotland, routing them in incredibly one-sided encounters, as if finally abandoning their ‘death wish’ after being struck with the two near-fatal death-blows in their first two matches by Pakistan and New Zealand. At the moment India is the top team in Group-2 in terms of net run-rate. Whatever happens finally, the NZ Vs Afg match is set to generate one of the highest TRPs, perhaps after the India-Pakistan match, tomorrow. Hope the rampant betting, a usual occurrence particularly during the IPL tournaments, does not come out victorious.

T20 World Cup: Who Will Be The Top Two Teams In Group-2?

Pakistan have almost sealed their berth in the semi-finals as probably the top team in Group-2 winning three out of three matches and notching up 6 points so far. What is more significant is the fact that Pakistan have crossed the main hurdles by defeating the toughest opponents in the group, namely India, New Zealand and Afghanistan. Now they have only two teams to overcome, considered to be weaker rivals. Of course, Namibia, creating another historic chapter by winning their first ever Super-stage match against Scotland, and Scotland are not pushovers. However, considering the roaring form Pakistan are in now winning against those two teams is not likely to be very tough, and in that scenario they will have 10 points—the maximum any team can manage in the group. The Pakistan team has arguably the best bowling attack of the tournament—combining pace and spin—and a very balanced team with someone up or down the line to finish the game. Captain Babar and wicket-keeper batsman Rizwan have shown consistency among quite a few others.

 

Afghanistan earlier trounced Scotland in the way of a champion and gave a tremendous fight against Pakistan taking their 5 wickets with 24 needed from the last two overs. But for finisher Asif Ali’s four sixes in the penultimate over the match could have gone in any direction. Their decision to bat first after winning the toss was probably due to Rashid and Nabi, but they could’ve done better by putting Pakistan in as the latter has not been tested so far in their ability in setting a target in the sluggish pitches. Unfortunately, Afghanistan could not manage to preserve one of their best strike bowlers for the death. The team has arguably the best spinners of the tournament in Rashid Khan and Nabi with the latter almost taking the game away from Pakistan in the 18^th over. Rashid Khan is in the seventh heaven capturing his 100^th scalp in 53 T20I matches. Already with 2 points Afghanistan have at the moment two tough opponents in the form of India and New Zealand apart from Namibia. With their spirit and talent they can really hope to get to 6 points to remain in contention. Their thundering six-hitting prowess has also become an important factor in their favor.

 

For India it is a must-win situation tomorrow against New Zealand; they have to win at least three out of the four remaining matches to get to 6 points to be in contention for a semi-final berth. The depth of their batting is yet to be tested, and Rohit, Rahul and Virat must fire against New Zealand—a very tough opponent with quality fast bowlers and super fieldsmen. As per the first match against Pakistan the Indian bowling attack seems the weakest in the group and there are several niggles in the team selection. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has not shown his strike-bowler abilities either in the IPL-2021 or in the crucial match against Pakistan and he is a prime candidate for being replaced by Shardul Thakur who can also bat. Captain Virat Kohli’s obsession with Hardik Pandya is another hassle, because Pandya has not been bowling at all in the previous matches and his batting of late is also not promising. That puts the team in a crisis of not being able to find a sixth bowler in need. Ideally, Pandya should be replaced by Ravichandran Ashwin who has shown his prowess as a genuine all-rounder recently. But reports suggest that the same eleven will be fielded tomorrow. If India manage to beat New Zealand the future course would be relatively easy, at least to get 6 points.

 

New Zealand must be boiling hot and gearing up for a much-needed win after losing narrowly to Pakistan. If they manage to beat India with their ferocious pace attack then the future course would also be easier for them to notch up the minimum of 6 points to remain in contention. They would hope to overpower Scotland and Namibia, and even Afghanistan if they handle their spin attack successfully. New Zealand beat India in the famous World Cup-2019 semi-final and lost the final against England under controversial circumstances. Their super fielding is an additional asset for all their rivals concerned.

 

Therefore, we can imagine a situation of three teams of Group-2 ending up with 6 points each where the net run-rate would come into consideration to decide the second top team from the group, provided Namibia and Scotland do not cause any upsets. Tomorrow’s India Vs New Zealand encounter is perfectly setup with both teams facing a desperate must-win situation. As per the pitch behavior in UAE we can possibly expect a low-scoring cliffhanger or a one-sided affair if the Indian batting potential gets real with their spinners finding the deadly turn or if New Zealand fast bowlers manage to destroy Indian batting. As usual, the toss would be crucial as the dew factor would come into operation later in the night. For commercial reasons India figure in the second slot in all matches, but the toss and the dew factor may finish off commerce totally if India are unable to make it to the semi-finals.

 

Interestingly, in any world cricket tournament the India Vs Pakistan match is always of tremendous importance for the Indian fans. If India beat Pakistan in the round-robin then the fans feel as if the final has been won and if the opposite happens like in this tournament, although it was for the first time in one-day and T20 World Cups, most of the fans stop caring who goes on to win the final and the Cup. Nevertheless, if India manage to get to the semi-final stage the fans, barring the bigots, are expected to come roaring back to support their team.

Unimoni Asia Cup-2018: No India-Pakistan Final, It’s Vs Bangladesh!

In the last Super Four match of the Unimoni Asia Cup-2018 played in Abu Dhabi tonight Bangladesh played like tigers overcoming a spirited-in-splits Pakistan by 37 runs. It was a virtual semi-final with the winner set to meet India in the Final to be played in Dubai on Friday, 28^thSeptember, 2018. Seemingly Pakistan could never recover psychologically from the dumps inflicted by arch-rivals India, not once but two times. Their batting was lackadaisical and painfully slow this time too. More importantly for millions of fans all over the globe, a possible third encounter between India and Pakistan in the tournament was snuffed out. 

  

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first. After a shaky start they finally managed to put up a competitive 240-run target for Pakistan thanks to a glorious but unlucky innings of 99 by Musfiqur Rahim and a dashing 60 by Mohammad Mithun. Pakistan bowled them out in 48.5 overs. In reply Pakistan also tottered at the start losing three wickets quickly. Then Shoaib Malik and Imamul Haq steadied the innings. Malik was dismissed by a brilliant one-handed catch by Mashrafe off Rubel ending that partnership and Pakistan was reduced to 87 for 4 wickets. Very soon they were 95 for 5, and when it seemed to be a point of no return Pakistan staged a fighting comeback thanks to a solid partnership between the lone man standing Imam and Asif. Although Bangladesh catching was brilliant throughout Asif’s dropped catch by the wicket keeper could have proved to be a turning point, but a short while after Asif was consumed by Mehidy Hasan and the match was in the balance again with the asking rate going above 7 per over. Bangladesh sealed the match and almost earned a berth in the Final against India by capturing the prized scalp of Imamul Haq (83) at 167 for 7. Bangladesh bowlers, both pacers and spinners, delivered an intense performance and suffocated Pakistan batsmen effectively. Pacer Mustafizur Rahman took four Pak wickets. Finally it was all over for Pakistan ending a sorry tale at 202 for 9 in 50 overs.  

Last night India, as habituated to it, experimented with fire (read Afghanistan) again, and nearly lost the match. Realistically speaking, it’s no use blaming only the team management and coach. You can call it the experimental mindset. Even legendary or famous ex-cricketers or experts and prominent sports journalists ask for ‘experiments’ whenever possible and constantly push for their favourite cricketers for a ‘look-in’ in the national squad. In most of such experiments India suffer defeats or near escapes from defeats. Irrespective of whether a match is inconsequential or not a loss is a loss and it never helps a team in future assignments. India rested five top players, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni came out for the toss giving his fans ecstatic moments. Perhaps it was well thought out plan to make Dhoni stand-in captain for an already stand-in captain and thus giving him the 200^th opportunity to lead India in an ODI. 

In the absence of three Indian strike-bowlers Afghanistan had it relatively easy and raced to 252 in 50 overs opting to bat first. Opener Mohammad Shahzad hit his fifth ton in a brilliant innings of flamboyance and belligerence—a century that can match the highest professional standard of international cricket. On the slow UAE surfaces chasing a 250+ total has always been tricky, and India without the high-scoring openers was in a spot of bother. However, Lokesh Rahul and Ambati Rayadu had mounted a 100+ run partnership, and just when India seemed to be cruising the middle order collapsed, of course, with at least two doubtful umpiring decisions. Unfortunately India had no DRS review left after Rahul, surely playing only this match, wasted one in his clear out decision. The match went down to the wire, and in the last over India needed 7 runs with 9 wickets gone. Jadeja almost made sure with just a run needed off the last two balls, but he lofted the penultimate ball to get caught at midwicket and the thriller ended in a tie making Afghanistan burst into a tizzy of excitement and joy.

Letting the syndrome of experiment rest for the moment we must say that Afghanistan played valiantly in the tournament and really deserved more. They topped Group B at the league stage beating both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka convincingly, and in Super Four they lost narrowly to Bangladesh and Pakistan getting knocked out in the process. And Afghanistan tied India in an inconsequential but an unforgettable match, unforgettable particularly for them. Afghanistan is sure to create a commotion in the 2019 World Cup.

Now, all set for the Friday Final at Dubai International cricket stadium. Hope India do not resort to experiment again!

Cricket World Cup T20: India Just Manage To Beat Spirited Afghanistan!

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 and fewer extras conceded. There was just a solitary half century by the ever dependable Virat Kohli in the Indian innings. Raina made a neat 38 and Dhoni added a quick-fire 18 off 9 balls to set a somewhat respectable target of 160 to win for Afghanistan. 

Afghanistan started in a whirlwind fashion notching up 27 runs in the fourth over when Balaji struck for India. But the momentum was never lost though wickets started to fall at regular intervals and in the form of a gallant Mohammad Nabi (31) Afghanistan kept fighting to the end. Slow and spin bowling had the better of the Afghans as Yuvraj Singh exhibited his all-round abilities by capturing three wickets at a crucial juncture. The comeback medium pacer Balaji too came up with three wickets and R Ashwin got two scalps. Finally India just managed to win by 23 runs and the underdogs Afghanistan proved its point very emphatically to the cricketing world. The Scorecard:

 

Indian captain Dhoni would still be a worried man on his team’s batting and bowling against a qualifying team. India has almost ensured a place in the Super8, but they must set things right in the match against England on September 23 to get ready for the final stage. Man of the match Virat Kohli cannot be expected to come to the team’s rescue every time. Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan continue to be big worries too. 

The results in ICC World Cup Twenty20 cricket tournament so far: * On the first day that is September 18 hosts Sri Lanka crushed Zimbabwe by 92 runs riding on the incredible performance of spinner Ajantah Mendis who created T20 history by capturing 6 wickets for 8 runs in 4 overs. Scores: SL 182/4 and Zimbabwe 100 all out in 17.3 overs. * On September 19 Australia registered an easy win on qualifying Ireland by 7 wickets. Scores: Ireland 23/7 & Australia 125/3 in 15.1 overs.