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T20 World Cup 2009

5 June 2009 No Comments Posted By:Dileep

The second edition of the T20 World Cup kicks-off on June 5th, 2009. After the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007, England play hosts this time round. The final, fittingly, takes place at the Mecca of cricket, Lord’s, on the 21st of June. There are 12 teams battling each other for the second T20 World Cup and the tournament follows the same format as that of the ’07 World T20 Cup. The teams are split into 4 groups of 3 each. Each team plays the others in it’s group once and the top two would proceed to the Super Eights stage. The Super Eights will see teams divided into two groups of four, where they will contest a second round of round robin games. The two teams at the top of each group following this stage will progress to the semifinals of the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup. The only change brought about for this world cup is scrapping of the usage of the ‘bowl-out’. This time round, a tie would be settled by what is called a ‘super-over’, in which teams get to go at each other for 1 more over each, and its outcome determines the winner. Lets now take a look at the groups and each of the teams.

Group A
India
Bangladesh
Ireland

Group B
England
Pakistan
Netherlands

Group C
Australia
Sri Lanka
West Indies

Group D
South Africa
New Zealand
Scotland

India
The defending champions of the T20 Trpohy is placed in a relatively easy Group. India has a very well-balanced team, that is strong in all three departments of the game. However, for the inaugural T20 World Cup, nobody had tipped them to win. This time, however, they go into the tournament as title favourites. Rohit Sharma and Pragyan Ojha might be players to watch out for in the tournament. The IPL would have ensured that all their players have adequate match practise going into the tournament. On the down-side, there could be a bit of mental as well as physical fatigue for the players – Zaheer Khan and Virendar Sehwag are carrying niggles. A big advantage for the team would be the able leadership of M.S.Dhoni, who was once just-another-explosive-batsman, but has matured into one of the shrewdest leaders in the game. This team definitely is in good hands.

Bangladesh
Bangladesh caused a shock last time when they beat the West indies to make the Super Eights. This time again, thanks to their getting placed alongside Ireland, they are expected to make it to the next round. However, their progress beyond the Super Eights is very unlikely. Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Ashraful, Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza are some of the key players and if they fire, we can’t write-off the tigers completely.

Ireland
Ireland did well in the World T20 qualifiers, in which they were joint winners with the Netherlands(after the final was rained-off). Andre Botha was the key player for them in the series. Another key player of recent years Eoin Morgan has been called into England’s squad for the tournament and he would surely be missed. It would be a big surprise if Ireland manages to play more than two games in the tournament.

England
England has the home advantage and come into the tournament after having a good run of form lately, beating West Indies in Test and ODI cricket. However, the T20 team is led by Paul Collingwood, as their regular captain Andrew Strauss does not feature in the T20 squad. The English players to watch out for are Ravi Bopara(who is in the form of his life), Luke Wright, Stuart Broad(though he went for six 6′s lst time) and of course Pietersen. The absence of Andrew Flintoff could really hurt the team though.

Pakistan
Pakistan are highly fancied to go one better than in 2007 and win the tournament. The fact that their players weren’t allowed to participate in the IPL might just work in their favour, as the team had lots of time to train together. They are awefully short of match practise at the international level, although they come into the tournament after completing a domestic T20 tournament at home. The team’s strength is, as has been over the years, their bowling. Shahid Afridi is in excellent bowling form. Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanveer and Umar Gul add fire-power. Two players which world cricket knows very little about are 17-year old whippy left-arm paceman Mohammad Aamer and explosive opening bat Shahzaib Hasan. The teams unsettled batting line-up could perhaps be considered it’s weakness. As always, Pakistan seems to overflow with talent.

Netherlands
Netherlands qualified for the tournament after they jointly won the T20 qualifiers. Ryan ten Doeschate and Peter Borren were imprressive for the Dutch in the tournament. Their bowling attack is bolstered by the addition of Dirk Nannes, the Delhi Daredevils man, who has gone Dutch, after repeatedly missing out on selection for Australia. The Netherlands are well-capable of springing a surprise and spoil the part for either England or Pakistan.

Australia
Australia, in any form of the game, cannot be ruled out. Most of the impressive Aussie performances in this year’s IPL were from players retired from international cricket or not included in the national team. There are people who argue that Australia’s hey-days are over, but the squad sent to England is a pretty formidable one. There is no denying the fact that the ‘invincible Aussies’ who turn up and dominate any international tournament is history, but they still have quality players like Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Nathan Bracken, Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson. Andrew Symonds was sent back from the squad for alcohol-related issues, and he would surely be missed.

Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka are playing their first international tournament, after the team fell victim to terrorist attacks during their tour of Pakistan. Some of their players did wonderfully well for their respective franchisees in the IPL, such as Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Muttiah Muralitharan. The presence of big-hitters and a well-balanced bowling attack make them a team to watch-out for.

West Indies
The West Indian power-houses are capable of blowing away any bowling attack on their day, and are well-capable of playing spoil-sport to either the Aussies or the Lankans. Key players in the Carribean squad are captain Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo and Fidel Edwards. Shockingly, Dwayne Smith who did so well for the Deccan Chargers in the IPL, has been left-out.

South Africa
South Africa are highly-rated by the bookies(behind India) to be crowned World T20 Champions, but their reputation of being ‘chokers’ haven’t been shaken off completely yet. The top-ranked ODI team in the world has the likes of Graeme Smith, Herchelle Gibbs, AB de Villers, Jaques Kallis, JP Duminy, the Morkel brothers and Dale Steyn, which makes a formidable T20 unit. The fact that most of their players were involved with the IPL would also help the team’s cause.

New Zealand
New Zealand have done particularly well against World Champions India in T20 recently. They have some good players for the format in Brendan McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram. The Kiwis are expected to progress into the Super Eights, but how they handle the pressure from there on would determine their fortunes in the tournament.

Scotland
Sotland came into the T20 World Cup after Zimbabwe withdrew from the tournament. However, Scotland’s fortunes have been on a downward trend in the past four years. Gavin Hamilton(who has played test cricket for England) is their most important player. However, their preparations for the competition has been hit by John Blain’s walk-out. Scotland is only expected to ‘fill-up’ the vacant spot in the tournament.

There you have the line-up for the ICC World T20. Having said all this, experience teaches us that in the volatile T20 format, predictions often go haywire. As India upset the best of the teams last time to win the crown, any team can emerge as a spoiler of India’s hope of retaining the title. India go-in as favourites, but there are number of teams who are well-capable of being world champions. One thing which any T20 game can promise is entertainment. Prepare to get thoroughly entertained!

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