West Indies Win T20 World Cup: Dramatic Win In A Suffocated Final!

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 Indiasnatched 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 Mathews, bowled beautiful length and swing, and when the magic of spinner Ajantha Mendis (4 for 12 runs in 4 overs) unfolded it was too much for the West Indies batsmen.   Thanks to a brilliant 78 off 56 balls by the Player of the Match Marlon Samuels and a finishing 26 off 15 balls by skipper Sammy the total managed to reach a little bit of respectability at 137/6 in allotted 20 overs. Chris Gayle, the demolition man, had a most ungainly innings of 3 runs from 16 balls. For Sri Lanka in home conditions the total was far from an intimidating one. 

Wonder of wonders! The masters of suffocating cricket in the slowish pitches this time themselves suffocated to a bowling attack that did not have a superior tag at any point of time during the tournament. Though progressing slowly Sri Lanka were at a healthy 51/2 in the 11^th over, but very soon they slid to 69/7 in the fifteenth over. It was all over but for a late charge from seamer Kulasekara. Spinner Narine’s 3 for 9 in 3.4 overs matched Mendis for Sri Lanka. Sammy too captured 2 wickets in his slow pace bowling and to add woes to the struggling Sri Lankans there were two run outs due to direct hits. The mighty hosts got all out for just 101 runs in the 19^th over disappointing the screaming home crowds terribly. West Indiescaptain Darren Sammy whose abilities as a bowler or a batsman were always in question has now attained some popularity in the world of cricket.  The Scorecard: 

Apart from the spirited and sprightly cricket on the field the celebrating West Indies players have also amply displayed their dancing ability and the joyous dancing went on almost endlessly. The first bout of dancing was witnessed after the match against Australia. 

A World Cup T20 Final and a result that many of the cricket lovers all over might not have expected to have ever happened. But in this short format of cricket any team is as dangerous as the other as we have said in the beginning. 

Sri Lanka Vs West Indies: ICC World Cup T20 Final Tomorrow!

In the first semi final of the ICC World Cup T20 2012 Pakistansurrendered 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 Indiaand 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 fact most of the Pak batsmen fell to casual and careless shots. They have now disappointed their fans on two major counts—not reaching the final and winning the title, and, losing to India. The Scorecard: 

West Indies was revelation of the hidden power inherent within the team. Of course, with Chris Gayle around they are capable of having a blast anytime anywhere, but what they did to Australia last night was beyond any kind of prediction. Starting a little carefully after winning the toss and electing to bat West Indies launched a brutally professional attack on Australian bowling hitting more sixes (14) than boundaries (13) and piling up the highest total of the tournament at 205/4 in allotted 20 overs. Gayle hit 75 off just 41 balls and for the most significant part was supported equally belligerently by Samuels (26 off 20), Dwayne Bravo (37 off 31) and Kieron Pollard (38 off 15 balls including 3 huge sixes in the last over). The Australian reply was pathetic with West Indiesopening with spin and getting success immediately. Wickets fell in heaps except for a frustrated 63 off 29 balls by skipper Bailey. Except against Pakistan the Australian top three batsmen made the victories too easy for them and maybe the dependence on them misfired in the end against a bulldozing West Indies. Shane Watson—the most natural choice for the player of the tournament got finally got demolished. The Scorecard:

Interestingly the buzz among the Indian cricket fans has been that Australiaplayed to lose against Pakistanto keep India out of contention, and therefore they cheered West Indies yesterday shot by shot and jeered Australiawicket by wicket. Maybe Australia’s cruel demolition of Indiain the Super Eight group encounter was also responsible for such kind of behavior! Apart from this India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni continues to be under the hammer for all his tactical blunders and wrong decisions. 

Sri Lanka defeating West Indies soundly in the Super Eight group encounter notwithstanding the Final tomorrow would be the farthest from a predictable match even on slow Sri Lankan pitches. If Gayle gets going again the ‘slowness’ of the pitch would transform into a ‘race track’ and with sound support by other explosive batsmen as witnessed last night West Indies stand a terrific chance to win a title after long years—this final being their first major success after six years. Sri Lankabetter be wary of the Caribbean. West Indies on their part must control the unpredictability factor and continue from where they left last night.

In all, cricket fans across the globe can expect to enjoy a competitive and exciting encounter this Sunday.

India Vs Pakistan! One Enter Semis, One Crash Out Of Cricket World Cup T20!

 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 how much they needed to edge past Pakistan’s net run rate. But South Africa won the toss and sent them in. India struggled to make 152/6 in allotted 20 overs. Now, India needed to restrict South Africa to 121 or less and win the match and reach the semi finals edging out their arch-rival. The duel finally ended when South Africa reached 122 in the sixteenth over with the loss of five wickets and Pakistan thundered into the semis. Making tactical blunders all the way South Africa skipper yesterday brought in Faf du Plessis in place of out-of-form Richard Levi, and Plessis ironically threw India out of the tournament single handedly by making an explosive 65 off 38 balls—the highest individual score of the match. South Africa, their dreams being mercilessly broken so many times by other teams, this time demolished India’s though languishing with 3 consecutive super eight losses.

Pakistan deserved to be in the semis, because they stopped the juggernaut called Australia in this tournament. With four consecutive wins while chasing Australia chose to chase again yesterday and again restricted its opponent to less than 150. But this time their match winning machine Shane Watson failed and Pakistan spinners mesmerized them into absolute submission at 117/7 in 20 overs. Pakistan meet the hosts and another tough Asian rival Sri Lanka in the first semi final on 4^th October. With India out of the way Pakistan has a tremendous opportunity to emerge the ultimate champions.

Maybe India never deserved to reach the knockout stage. The reasons are all clear: Skipper Dhoni could never find his best team making experiments unnecessarily and resting key players in key match earlier on. He succeeded with three spinners against a weaker opponent and failed miserably against the toughest. He made the changes with desperation and won against Pakistan. When he should have taken two spinners against South Africa who struggled with spin so far he decided to stick to the same winning team against Pakistan. Overdependence on Virat Kohli continued throughout. Gambhir continued with his inexplicable failures. And yesterday, when they needed to post a huge total their all match winners failed after promising to build on the good starts initially—Virat, Yuvraj and Sehwag. Yuvraj later made up with his bowling efforts capturing the man of the match award, but Sehwag fell to a downright rash shot. Even the modest total of 152 was possible thanks to some lusty hitting by Raina and Dhoni who came in late, again inexplicably. Only the most balanced team can hope to win the final honors.

On 1^stOctober defending champions England got eliminated losing to Sri Lanka and New Zealand could not win against West Indies from a position of command at least three times.

The rest of the matches now: October 4: First Semi Final—Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka; October 5: Second Semi Final—Australia Vs West Indies; October 7: Final. Al day and night matches in Colombo.