The T-20 World Cup in England

For those who don't know what T-20 aka Twenty20 is - here is a gist:
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in the United Kingdom for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty20

The first T-20 World Cup was held in SA, which was won by India when they defeated Pakistan by 5 runs. India were defending a moderate score of 157 against a formidable Pakistan line-up. Pakistan batsmen were falling left, right and center and India was cruising towards a famous and handsome victory, but Misbah-Ul-Haq had other plans. He almost snatched the victory from India's hand until Joginder Sharma got him in the last-over to give India a famous victory. Team India, who came as an under-dog without the big names like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid had won the first T-20 world cup.

Coming back to this year's T-20 which is being held in England...

Phew! What a start to T-20 world cup it has been! The Kangaroos have been knocked out in the first round itself. The Netherlands upset England by beating them in their own backyard, Ireland beat Bangladesh to make it to Super 8's and a brilliant knock by Dwayne Bravo has given India a reality check at the right time. The T-20 world cup has been full of ups and downs and as a spectator, it has been great fun watching these matches.

Umar Gul's splendid 5 wicket haul against New Zealand gave Pakistan a much needed victory. No one in international T-20 game had taken a fiver, till Gul carved his name in the books. It was good to see Abdul Razzaq back in the side; he has been one of my favourite players in the International Cricket. The win has not only given hope to Pakistan Cricket Team, but also their fans.

I'm eagerly waiting for tonight's India - England encounter. We know what happened couple of years back at Kingsmead, Durban. Andrew Flintoff provokes Yuvraj Singh at the end of the 17th over - a mistake, no one would like to commit again. Collingwood gives the ball to young Stuart Broad, only to see the ball disappear to 6 parts of the ground.

For the rest two matches, India needs something spectacular to beat England and SA - who are in prime form to qualify for the semi-final. There is a good possibility of NRR coming into the picture if the following scenarios take place.


1) If SA win all three matches - they're through to the semis. Since WI has already beaten India and if India beat England and Engand beat WI - all three will have 2 points each, bringing the NRR into the picture to decide, which two teams go to the Semi Finals.

2) If India beat SA and England - they register 2 wins. SA already has 2 wins with one game remaining which we assume, they lose against India. WI has already beaten India and beat if they beat England as well - all three will have 4 points each, bringing the NRR to decide, which two teams go to the Semi Finals.

So let's keep our fingers crossed that India wins both their matches and England beats WI so that India goes through. I know I'm being unfair to WI and England, but I'm just a true Indian fan :-)

Regards,
JSK