Super Eights
The tournament has moved into it’s second stage, and already we’ve had some wonderful cricket. The biggest shock so far has been Australia, who has been sent packing. The Super Eights consists of two groups. The first group includes India, England, West Indies and South Afirca. The other group has Pakistan, Ireland, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Teams play the other group members, giving 3 games to each. The top two from each group would move into the semis.
India‘s progress into the Super Eights was comprehensive. Bangladesh did make them sweat a little bit. But, their demolition of Ireland was clinical. India was supposedly hit by injury ruling-out Virender Sehwag. However, Rohit Sharma has stepped into the big boots remarkably well, and has stitched good opening partnerships in both the warm-up games as well as the two league games. Zaheer Khan seems to have recovered from the niggle he carried. The batting looks good and the bowling has been strengthened by the emergence of Pragyan Ojha. It will sure take a good effort if the defending champions are to be stopped in their quest. It sure seems like “yeh cup kahin nahi jayega”.
Ireland springed a surprise by making it to the Super Eights, at the expense of Bangladesh. Though Bangladesh had looked good against India, they seemed to have taken their game against Ireland a bit too casually. And, in the 20 over format, that’s all the opposition needs. Full marks to Ireland, though, for having gone out there with an intent to win and not to make-up the numbers. However, the honeymoon was soon over when they met India, who demolished them. Still, looking at some of the results in the series, no team can be written-off. Ireland sure deserves to be in the Super Eights.
England – very few expected them to make it after the hosts were humiliated in the opening match of the tournament by Netherlands. The pressure got the better-of them, in a game that went down to the wire. However, a few days later, they looked a completely different team. They easily stamped their authority over a far better Pakistan side. Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright are in good nick and the bowling looks good with Graeme Swann and Adil Rashid.
Pakistan scraped through to this round, on the virtue of their higher net run rate. Holland’s World Twenty20 dream was cruelly shattered when Pakistan thrashed them by 82 runs. The Pakistanis looked very untidy in the field, and they leaked a lot of runs. Shahid Afridi impressed with the ball. Umar Gull bowled a serious spell of quick bowling against England. However, the batting hasn’t really come to the party yet. Captain Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal were amongst the runs. However, writing-off Pakistan would be a very stupid thing to do.
Sri Lanka marched into the Super Eights, when they crushed Australia, inflicting them their second defeat of the series and gifting them with a lot of time to prepare for the Ashes. The ODI World Champions doesn’t seem to come to grips with the shorter version, as their poor track record suggests. Sri Lanka have got everything working well for them. Batting is in peak form, lead from the front by skipper Kumar Sangakkara, ably supported by Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasurya. Ajantha Mendis still is a mystery to many batsmen around the world. With Muttaiah Muralitharan and Lashith Malinga among the bowling ranks, Sri Lanka is a serious T20 team.
West Indies demolished Australia. Chris Gayle’s innings in that game is enough to sent shivers down every fast bowler’s spine and the ‘group of death’ lived upto it’s reputation. Chris Gayle’s injury is a worry for the Windies. Andre Fletcher looked good against Australia and Dwayne Bravo had got stuck-into the Sri Lankan attack in the other game. The bowling attack looks sharp with Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards, Bravo and the crafty spin by Sulieman Benn. On their day, the Windies can blow-away any side. Reputations simply woudn’t matter.
South Africa come into the Super Eights after they curshed Scotland by 130 runs, and snatching win against New Zealand by a single run. Their batsmen have all had a fair-run, and AB de Villiers has looked the best. Bowling is lead by the fiery pace of Dale Steyn. Van der Merwe, with his tidy left-arm spin, is believed to have won the game against New Zealand. However, their batting failed in that close-game, and this should give some worries to captain Graeme Smith.
New Zealand moved into the Super Eights after they beat Scotland, in a rain-shortened match. They lost the dead-rubber with South Africa, although by a narrow margin of 1 run. However, their bigger concern would be the fact that a number of their players are carrying injuries. The injury list includes Jesse Ryder(a groin problem – later, had to be hospitalised), James Franklin, Ross Taylor and captain Daniel Vettori. Brendon McCullum would continue leading the side, in Vettori’s absense. New Zealand, however, would like to look at the positives. The experience of having a high-pressure game and good bowling form shown by Ian Butler and Nathan McCullum could stand them in good stead.
Here is the fixture of the Super Eights :
Thu 11 Ireland v New Zealand
Thu 11 England v South Africa
Fri 12 Pakistan v Sri Lanka
Fri 12 India v West Indies
Sat 13 South Africa v West Indies
Sat 13 New Zealand v Pakistan
Sun 14 Ireland v Sri Lanka
Sun 14 England v India
Mon 15 England v West Indies
Mon 15 Ireland v Pakistan
Tue 16 New Zealand v Sri Lanka
Tue 16 India v South Africa
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