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Sunday, June 07, 2009

Good start in the Twenty20 World Cup

If someone had mentioned that after 2 days, the two teams slated to play the best series of All-time (well, as per their respective countries of course) - Ashes - are in danger of being eliminated from the T20 World Cup, people would have laughed. It is true - for Australia and England have to win their next match to stay in the tournament!!! NewZealand got a scare when their match against Scotland was reduced to eight overs. But, their firepower was enough to get past the Scots.

India was the only team that managed to go through their first round without any jitters - of course, there were some but very quickly the least experienced (in International T20) player did the trick with some well-thought left-arm spin. Spin in the English cities, especially when there was enough in the air and the temperature was low, is not something that you wish to see - let alone two spinners.

MS Dhoni decided to take the risk of including both his spinners (on the evidence of the IPL2 and the initial warm-up matches) in the match and the match was his. The batting order was decided once Sehwag sat out of the match. The remaining batsmen put their hands up and ensured that the score was a huge one.

What will happen next in the tournament?

  • Pakistan will beat England and throw them out of the tournament. Just like the previous World Cup, the series will go on without the participation of the host country in the latter stages.
  • Sri Lanka has the chance to put Australia out of the tournament when the two teams meet on the 8th.
Then, the two teams can concentrate on the Ashes series!!!

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