India Vs Pakistan: Super Sunday Super Eight Cricket T20!

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 Indiais 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 going to work against Pakistan as they are expert players of spin. Some point out that Yuvraj Singh is not hundred percent fit and only emotional reason to have him in is not good enough. Either drop one spinner or drop Yuvraj and bring Sehwag in for this almost do or die match—seems to be the mood. Dhoni’s autocratic decisions are not helping his team much at the moment. If Sehwag is guilty of not playing well against Afghanistan, then several others are also guilty of the same crime.

The Indian fans are also caught up in this team selection confusion and they were agonized yesterday by media reports that Sehwag did not come in for net practice. Fielding the best possible team is a must, because India must win this game to stay alive in the tournament. If Australia win the first game today against South Africa the India-Pakistan match would be like a knockout—with a Pak win India will be out. There are several other permutations for the final standings in the tournament.  India’s lowest net run rate at the moment is also a cause of great concern.

In two largely one-sided low-scoring matches yesterday in Pallekele England defeated New Zealand by 6 wickets and Sri Lanka defeated West Indiesby 9 wickets. Sri Lanka have almost their place in the semis and New Zealand nearly crashed out of the tournament. If Sri Lanka win their last encounter against England and New Zealand defeat West Indies Sri Lanka would be through and there will be a three-way tie with net run rate deciding.

Over to Colombofor the Big one at 7.30 this evening. Enjoy your Sunday! 

Cricket Twenty20 World Cup: Pakistan Makes A Match Of It, India Makes A Mess!

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 bowling regardless of the type. Just check the length and accuracy of Harbhajan and Chawla against England the day before and against Australia yesterday. Maybe poor England batting also contributed to the myth.

Of course, inspired by the Colombo turnaround of tracks Pakistan opted for four spinners while South Africa, normally depending on pace, opted for two. But the sheer intensity of the T20 international between Pakistan and South Africa was because of inspired and accurate bowling by both seam and spin bowlers.

The first match of the day between Pakistan and South Africa was a genuine thriller with fortunes swinging from one end to the other. Winning the toss SA elected to bat, but never looked confident against the Pak bowlers—mostly spinners. They could not build a single lasting partnership and lumbered to 133/6 in allotted 20 overs. Pakistan while chasing the modest target of 134 were reduced to 76/7 in the 15^thover and the game was almost lost for them. But Umar Akmal and Umar Gul then launched an incredible attack on SA bowlers hauling up the total in the last over with two wickets to spare. SA skipper AB De Villiers made several critical tactical mistakes like bringing himself down to the sixth position in the batting order due to unknown reasons and not bowling his successful slow bowlers—Dumini and Botha—the full quota of four overs each.

India too won the toss and elected to bat. They too could not build on a single lasting partnership and lumbered to a just competitive total of 140/6 in allotted 20 overs. They were reduced to 74/4 in the 12^th over and reached 140 thanks to some lusty hits by Suresh Raina and Ashwin. But what India did in the Australian chase was the farthest from inspired or intense cricket. It exposed their inability in bowling one more time and had posed serious questions regarding the team’s further progress in the tournament. The Dhoni experiment in the match against England proved costly too. Big players like Virender Sehwag are needed on big occasions like this and his continuing omission stank of problems within the team. If Dhoni detested senior players as exhibited clearly in the away tours recently then why he opted for Zaheer Khan who had done precious little so far. He also broke the rhythm of Ashwin by resting him in the last match. Now Dhoni’s future prospects can be protected only by individual brilliance of the highest order in the two matches to come irrespective of whom he drops, rests or selects.

But it is not for nothing that this awesome Group-2 of foursome—India, Pakistan, Australia and South Africa—is called the group of death. All these teams are capable of surprising one another on a particular day and therefore no forecast is good enough about which two will proceed to the semis.

India meet Pakistan on 30^thSeptember at 7.30pm. And, an encounter between these two arch-rivals is never conditioned by how they have been faring in the tournament. It is a passion and the biggest one every time they meet.The Results and Schedule:

Cricket T20 World Cup: Sri Lanka and West Indies Win Super Eight Matches!

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 commanding position. They needed 21 runs off the last two overs, but just a single from the last ball. The winning run did not come, a run out came instead and there was a tie leading to the one-over eliminator. Tilakratne Dilshan was named player of the match. The Scorecard: 

Johnson Charles!

In the second Super Eight match of the day England proved again that they did not learn at all from the Indian thrashing. Besides, the stronger they asserted that they did not miss Kevin Pietersen at all the more apparent it became how dearly they missed him. West Indies won the toss and elected to bat first. Another Gaylestorm (58) breaking out and with a solid innings by J Charles (84) West Indies went off to a flyer posting the first hundred run in the 11^th over. A few hiccups midway, as is usual with this team, a total of 179/5 was reached, again at least 20 runs short. England started disastrously and almost lost the match in the middle of their chase. A late charge by Eoin Morgan (71 not out off 46 balls) could not save them and they lost by 15 runs. What rankled most was that England lost only four wickets at that stage. Future prospects look ominous for England at the moment. J Charles was named the player of the match. The Scorecard:

Now for the big ones today: Pakistan Vs South Africa and India Vs Australia. Over to Colombo!