I am more than Happy to re start my blog with much more intense updates of T-20 World cup. World cup has to be more passionate than IPL because of huge emotions involved as supporters of one's nation. For the respective Squad, its much more important, as they are few who have been chosen from their nation's pool of talents to represent and win the cup.
Coming to the tournament in particular, I believe time has gone when there was a practice where one of the teams in the pool just fills the schedule and two definite teams go to the Super 8 stage.
GROUP B :
Holland initially created a slump in England’s camp when they won a close match against them. England had to play out of their skins to win convincingly against Pakistan, which they did it with flair. Thanks to a brilliant batting display by Kevin Pietersen and good bowling performance, especially by Stuart Broad. It did ensure a comprehensive win and made sure that they are through to Super 8 leaving Pakistan to fight with Holland the same way. This particular pool’s matches were so interesting, thanks to Holland for that.
GROUP D:
Scotland was definitely the weak link in this Group. Results did show as per anticipated. South Africa Vs New Zealand was a typical T-20 match, went in to the last ball for the game to be decided. NZ made a mess of the match, credits to RSA for holding their nerve. They cannot reproduce similar performance in Super 8 stage, where they don’t have the option to look back at their performance and correct it. RSA tops this pool and thoroughly deserving too. They do have a great team to take this World cup home.
GROUP C:
Australians, especially Ricky Ponting would have always had a dream of exit when this group did not comprise of a Non – Test team. Both West Indies and Sri Lanka used that fear factor among Australians pretty well and had a good day against Aussies on their respective games. Chris Gayle was at his blistering best, when he smashed 88 which comprised of 6 sixes and as many fours in 50 balls. Jerome Taylor is a good asset for WIs, as he can create the havoc at the top with his Pace attack.
Sri Lanka won solely because of Mendis’ brilliance. Ponting, Watson, Mike Hussey all fell in the hands of Mendis. David Hussey, along with Mitchell Johnson and Bret Lee did post 160 for SL’s run chase. T. Dilshan, who is carrying his stupendous form from IPL, played some hard square cuts and a special scoop shot, which goes right behind the wicket keeper’s head. Kumara Sangakkara played a captain’s knock. He made sure that Aussies felt the pain by his mere presence, while likes of Mubarak could play the big shots at crunch times to show Aussie the gate way home.
They went on to top the group by beating West indies by a good margin. Jayasurya had a fantastic outing along with T. Dilshan. These two openers have to be watched out for, cause on their day, they can brutalise any attack. West Indies did not have a bad day either as they chased down the target really well. Dwyane Bravo is a wonderful all rounder in world cricket at present and he is going to prove his worth in this platform for sure.
GROUP A:
Indians are yet to face tough opponents in this tournament. Bangladesh Vs Ireland match was the one, people would have expected some abnormality. And it was provided by Ireland, when O’ Brien brothers chased a modest 138 runs in 20 overs. Bangladesh was disappointing on the day as they failed to post a score close to 150 or 160, which would have provided their bowlers the mental strength to clean up Ireland.
So, at the end of preliminary rounds, Australia's exit was the biggest shock and Bangladesh, having earned the test status, is paving way for teams like Ireland to join the test playing nation's group by allowing them to move to the next stage of the cup, where Competition is fierce. I actually do not see Ireland upsetting any other team, thereby one match is walk through for certain teams. But, I would be glad if they upset some team's points table thereby India gets a clean chit to Semi finals. :-)
Thanks,
Prashy.
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