With India losing to South Africa last night, the Super8 stage is over.
Three big teams- India (who started the tournament as the favorites), England (the host nation) and New Zealand (the only one team that Indians have never been able to defeat in T20) along with Ireland (the “nothing to lose” team) pack their bags to say goodbye to the biggest tournament of the shortest form of cricket.
South Africa and Sri Lanka enter the Semifinals unbeaten, as we look forward to a final match clash.
Pakistan and West Indies have shown some real good cricket in last two weeks to make it to the semifinal stage. The stage is all set for some exciting cricket in the coming days.
From here on, it narrows down to just two more wins in the coming matches for any of these teams to win the title.
India registered comfortable wins against Bangladesh and Ireland at the group stage but today is the big first test of the tournament for them. With Zaheer coming back to the form, Indian team looks very complete and the formidable batting order adds on to opposition’s worry.
West Indies: WLWWL
West Indies is as predictable as ever in the recent times. If it is Gayle’s day, he can win any match on its own. Bravo had a good time in the IPL and is capable of playing winning knocks.
Team News
India
Rohit has filled in Sehwag’s place pretty nicely and there seems to be no problems as such at the top of the order. Dhoni continues to stick to the 3rd position to play an anchor’s role, while others to follow him can hit big boundaries.
There have been ups and downs with the Indian fielding. Dhoni has shown his concerns in this area and scope of improvements. Bowling in the death overs is again an area where Dhoni needs to give a serious thought.
West Indies
Gayle is slotted to be back in the team in today’s match after he missed out playing against Sri Lanka.
Lendl Simmons, who was included as Gayle’s replacement, impressed all with his bowling and batting against Sri Lanka. Team management would like to keep him in the playing eleven in today’s match.
Possible Eleven
Looks like Dhoni will stick to the team that won both the group matches. Though Irfan Pathan looks like a weak link in the bowling attack but his ability to score quick runs in the death overs brings in good balance to the team.
India has already qualified for the Super8. Although there is no significance of this match on the rest of the tournament but India would not like to give away this match. They will be looking to try out the bench and also give some rest to the members who have recently recovered from an injury.
Ireland: WWWNW
Ireland has already qualified for the Super8 and they have nothing to lose in this match. They have not lost any T20 International matches that they have played so far. However, 138 is the highest total that they have managed in any T20. Playing against the world champions could be the real test of their skills.
Team News
India
Sehwag has been ruled out of the tournament due to a shoulder injury. Dinesh Kartik gets a chance to replace him. India would be missing Sehwag in the Super8 where it faces stiffer competition from West Indies, England and South Africa.
Gautam and Rohit have been handling their job well at the top of the order and Dhoni need not worry about that. The middle order could be one thing where Dhoni would be using his own ideas deciding who goes in to bat. I would personally like to see Yusuf Pathan getting a free license today to hit the balls out of the ground.
Ireland
The heroes of the match against Bangladesh – O’Brien brothers to hold the key to the team’s performance. Niall O’Brien scored 40 off 25 balls in the early part of the innings while Kevin O’Brien scored 39 off 17 in the end confirming the win against Bangladesh.
Possible Eleven
Looks like Zaheer will be asked to rest in this game. Sehwag has been ruled out of the tournament and it is less likely that Dinesh will be available for today’s match.
Dhoni might give chance to Ravindra Jadeja and might try to play with only one specialist spinner.
For all you cricket enthusiasts… here’s your chance to choose your favorite cricketers, create your dream 11 and earn some points!
Dream11 Gaming Pvt Ltd recently launched Dream11.com – the first graphical fantasy cricket game in India, conceptualized to provide cricket lovers with an exceptional fantasy cricket experience.
With the buzz around the T20 World Cup, you could make the most of cricket by creating your team of the cricketers you love from across the world and earn points depending on how those cricketers perform in real life matches.
Manage your virtual team with features like:
Live scores
News updates
Player profiles
Statistics
Standings
Things you could do:
You could compete with other Dream11 users for the top position on the leader board
You could challenge competitors as well as connect with friends over cricket using
Dream11 Web Messenger
Scraps
Other community features, etc.
There will soon be tools available to customize and personalize content on the home page.
Harsh Jain, founder, chairman and managing director says,
“Fantasy Sports is a huge market globally and considering the packed upcoming cricket calendar, we believe that the time is just right for Indian audiences to connect with fantasy cricket. We assure our users of the best ever fantasy cricket interface and pledge our commitment to constantly innovate in this category.”
The 8th team that will qualify for the Super8 will be either Pakistan or Netherlands. In case, Netherlands wins the match against Pakistan or the match ends in a Tie or No Result, Netherlands will qualify for the Super8.
However, in case Pakistan wins the match, there will be a three way tie between England, Pakistan and Netherlands. In such a situation, Netherlands can not improvise on its current net run rate of +0.05. Thus, England in a way would have already qualified for the Supr8.
The decision on which team out of Pakistan and Netherlands qualifies for the Super8 will depend on the net run rate of both the teams after the match.
Group B standings:
Have a look at the Group B standings for more clarity:
Group B
P
W
L
T
NR
PTS
NRR
B2 – England
2
1
1
0
0
2
+1.175
Netherlands
1
1
0
0
0
2
+0.050
B1 – Pakistan
1
0
1
0
0
0
-2.400
Net Run Rate
A team’s net run rate is calculated by deducting from the average runs per over scored by that team, the average runs per over scored against that team during the group matches.
If a team gets all out in less than its full quota of overs, the full quota of overs to which the batting team would have been entitled are used for calculating of the net run rate of both the teams and not the number of overs in which the team was dismissed.
Permutations for Pakistan
Now, let us try to see how Pakistan can beat Netherlands such that it ends up with a better net run rate than Netherlands, so as to qualify for the Super8.
Scenario 1: Pakistan bats first
Suppose Pakistan makes 180 runs in the allotted 20 overs. In that case, Pakistan should restrict Netherlands by 155. In short, what ever Pakistan scores, the margin of victory shall be more than 24 runs.
Scenario 2: Pakistan bowls first
Suppose Netherlands makes 180 runs in the allotted 20 overs. Pakistan would now need to make 181 runs in less than 17.2 overs.
In case Netherlands makes 150 runs in the allotted 20 overs. Pakistan would now need to make 151 runs in less than 17.0 overs.
Quick calculation:
If Y is the number of runs made by Netherlands in the first innings then Pakistan should make Y+1 runs in less than (2540 + 20Y) / (174+Y) overs
This seems like action packed thriller, so much happening at such a fast pace! India, Ireland, West Indies, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa have played only one match each but results of other matches have helped them secure their place in the Super8. No one would have predicted this, only eight matches have been played and seven teams have reached the Super8 stage. 🙂
The battle remains between Pakistan and Netherlands for the last spot…
Group standings
Before getting into the details, let us have a look at the group standings after the end of Australia vs. Sri Lanka match on June 8.
Group A:
Bangladesh having lost both its game is out of the tournament, thus the other two teams from the group- India and Ireland have automatically qualified for the Super8.
Group B:
In case Pakistan beats Netherlands in the final match of the group, there will be a 3 way tie… but in no case Netherlands, even after losing to Pakistan, can improve their net rate. This means that England is safely into the Super 8.
The comparison of the NRR between Pakistan and Netherland will decide which team out of them qualifies for the Super8
In case, Netherlands beat Pakistan in the final match of the group, Netherlands will qualify to the Super8 along with England.
In case the match ends in a tie or as ‘No Result’, Ireland will end up topping the group with 3 points and will qualify for the Super8 along with England.
What ever the result of the match between Pakistan and Netherlands may be, England has definitely qualified for the Super8.
Group C:
Australia having lost both its games is out of the tournament, thus the other two teams from the group- West Indies and Sri Lanka have automatically qualified for the Super8.
Group D:
Scotland having lost both its game is out of the tournament, thus the other two teams from the group- New Zealand and South Africa have automatically qualified for the Super8.
Last two T20 Internationals that India played were against New Zealand and they lost both the matches. After a big win in the warm up match against Pakistan, India is looking good for this match.
Bangladesh: LLLLL
They scored 206 against Netherlands in the warm up match and Australia piled 219 against them in another match. Their batting looks good in patches but bowling is the weak link.
Team News
India
There is still uncertainty over fitness of Sehwag and Zaheer to be in the playing XI for today’s match.
Rohit Sharma has impressed everyone with his knock in the warm up matches replacing unfit Sehwag.
Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan shall be the key player to watch out for from the Bangladesh side. He gave a fighting performance against Australia in the warm up match.
This time when the Indian team starts its campaign in the World T20 Cup, there are two major differences more than any other.
First, the team looks stronger and better prepared for the shortest form of cricket.
Second, the expectations from the fans are way more than expected.
Given the balance and experience of the side, fans have all the rights to demand nothing less but retain the cup.
Pick any playing 11 out of the 15 member squad and you will have around 8 batsmen and 9 bowlers, courtesy – a big bunch of the all-rounders… A world class seam attack, superb spin attack, very successful part time spinners, a great opening pair, a solid middle order and a super cool minded captain!
If the trophy was to be given based on the cumulative talent of the players on papers, India would have already won it. J No doubt, they start the tournament as the favorites. With a very narrow margin loss to New Zealand and a huge win over Pakistan in the warm-up matches, India has announced that they are in England to win the title.
The line-up
Opening
Be it Shewag and Gambhir OR Rohit and Gambhir (in case Sehwag is not fit) both the pairs have the potential to make the opposite team’s captain run out of ideas. Gambhir got back his form in the match against Pakistan and Rohit looked good filling in Sehwag’s place in his absence during the warm-up matches.
Middle Order
Raina, Dhoni, Yuvraj and Yusuf
All of them are so good in hitting the ball outside the stadium and rotating the strike at almost every ball other than that. The middle order of the team is like a big fort wall and any team playing against India will have to work really hard on their strategy to stop them.
Batting Depth
Jadeja, Irfan, Zaheer and Harbhajan
Jadeja got some good practice in the warm-up match against New Zealand and has placed his candidature well to be in the playing eleven, but then who will sit out to give him space? Not at least in first few matches.
Spin Attack
Harbhajan and Ojha
Both are in good form and have the potential not to allow opposition take middle overs easily.
Pace Attack
Zaheer, Ishant, RP Singh, Praveen and Irfan
Ishant looked good on English pitches during the warm-up matches… good to see him getting over the IPL non-performance in a quick time. The only question that remains is who amongst these five will sit out from the playing eleven?
Part-time Bowlers
Yuvraj, Jadeja, Rohit, Raina, Sehwag and Yusuf
Plenty of options for Dhoni… he can comfortably use them to complete at least one bowler’s quota of 4 overs.
The overall balance of the side displays an immense talent and energy required to defend the title. But, the format of the tournament is such that a single ‘off’ day can put the team out of the contest.
Overall, it should be exciting to see how team India plays and progresses during the tournament to defend its title.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has designated the World T20 2009 warm-up match between India and Pakistan as a ‘Catch the Spirit’ match. The match is scheduled to be played at the Oval on June 3 from 10:00 PM IST.
‘Catch the Spirit’ highlights the respect with which the game is played around the world and is one of the themes of the ICC’s ongoing centenary year of 2009.
As per ICC media release, the funds raised by this match will go to support the families of the victims of the attack on the Sri Lankan team and match officials in Lahore in March.
Though, complete details are still not available but the funds will be raised primarily through requests for contributions from spectators inside the ground, appeal for donations from the spectators outside the ground via television broadcasts and internet coverage of the match and contributions from other parties having direct or indirect interest in cricket.
This stands out as a testimony of a great spirit that sport events can show to support a noble cause. I wish all the success to the organizers and hope spectators and cricket stakeholders across the globe contributes wholeheartedly during the match.
The match will be broadcasted live in India on TV on Star Cricket.
