India smashes into out of T20 World Cup
The champions have worn-out. A three-run loss at Lord's to England on Sunday sealed India's fate in the World T20 and made sure that there will be new T20 world champions come June 21. Chasing 154, they ended their innings on 150/5.
Chasing on a wicket that was helping the fast bowlers, the well-documented inadequacy against the rising ball were exposed by an England attack that showed intent. The West Indies' pacers had shown on Friday just how extra pace and bounce can trouble this much-vaunted Indian line-up, and that seemed to be the English game plan on Sunday.
Opting for the extra pacer in Ryan Sidebottom, Paul Collinwood's team did remarkably well in containing, and removing the Indian batsmen.
The fall started as early as the second over when Rohit Sharma dragged Sidebottom on to his stumps while attempting a pull. Suresh Raina went in identical fashion, though he was caught at deep square leg while pulling.
The Lord's wicket has not been the kindest to the Indians on this T20 World Cup, and it was no different on Sunday.
There was a fighting 58-run stand between MS Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan in the end, perhaps the only period of the game where the Indian batsmen showed real intent, but it wasn't enough. It might have gone down to the last ball, but India was always second best. Get all the individual performance in batting, top bowling performance, best fielding performance, most sixes in ICC 20-20, etc on Indyalive.
Chasing on a wicket that was helping the fast bowlers, the well-documented inadequacy against the rising ball were exposed by an England attack that showed intent. The West Indies' pacers had shown on Friday just how extra pace and bounce can trouble this much-vaunted Indian line-up, and that seemed to be the English game plan on Sunday.
Opting for the extra pacer in Ryan Sidebottom, Paul Collinwood's team did remarkably well in containing, and removing the Indian batsmen.
The fall started as early as the second over when Rohit Sharma dragged Sidebottom on to his stumps while attempting a pull. Suresh Raina went in identical fashion, though he was caught at deep square leg while pulling.
The Lord's wicket has not been the kindest to the Indians on this T20 World Cup, and it was no different on Sunday.
There was a fighting 58-run stand between MS Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan in the end, perhaps the only period of the game where the Indian batsmen showed real intent, but it wasn't enough. It might have gone down to the last ball, but India was always second best. Get all the individual performance in batting, top bowling performance, best fielding performance, most sixes in ICC 20-20, etc on Indyalive.
Younus pleased by sea-change
Pakistan skipper Younus Khan reflected after his side's victory over Netherlands on the slings and arrows of outrageous T20 World Cup 2009 fortune.
Younus was philosophical about defeat in the opening match against England and was no less laidback about the shortest form of the game following the 82-run win over the Dutch.
Younus said that We lost to England and now we are in the Super Eights so we must take it easy about this cricket. It's good entertainment. Everybody follows Twenty20 these days and the good thing about it is it is changing every single over. If you lose a couple of wickets in an over you could lose quite easily. But if you get 20-25 runs from an over you can be on your way quite easily. You need energy whether you are batting, bowling or fielding.
Pakistan needed to not only win but win well to qualify for the Super Eights at the expense of the Dutch. After making 175-5, they needed to restrict the Netherlands to 150 in reply � a feat that was rarely in doubt once spin twins Shahid Afridi (4-11) and Saeed Ajmal (3-20) got to work. We wanted to be positive and so we batted first. The spinners Afridi and Ajmal bowled really well and they were given excellent support by Kamran Akmal behind the stumps.
The Pakistan captain hopes his team have got their worst performance of the tournament out of the way first up - the 48-run loss to England - and can carry on their improved form against Sri Lanka in their opening Super Eights match at Lord's on Friday.
Younus was philosophical about defeat in the opening match against England and was no less laidback about the shortest form of the game following the 82-run win over the Dutch.
Younus said that We lost to England and now we are in the Super Eights so we must take it easy about this cricket. It's good entertainment. Everybody follows Twenty20 these days and the good thing about it is it is changing every single over. If you lose a couple of wickets in an over you could lose quite easily. But if you get 20-25 runs from an over you can be on your way quite easily. You need energy whether you are batting, bowling or fielding.
Pakistan needed to not only win but win well to qualify for the Super Eights at the expense of the Dutch. After making 175-5, they needed to restrict the Netherlands to 150 in reply � a feat that was rarely in doubt once spin twins Shahid Afridi (4-11) and Saeed Ajmal (3-20) got to work. We wanted to be positive and so we batted first. The spinners Afridi and Ajmal bowled really well and they were given excellent support by Kamran Akmal behind the stumps.
The Pakistan captain hopes his team have got their worst performance of the tournament out of the way first up - the 48-run loss to England - and can carry on their improved form against Sri Lanka in their opening Super Eights match at Lord's on Friday.
England overcome slack Pakistan to pass up early on way out
England bounced back after Friday’s humiliating defeat to The Netherlands with a commanding 48-run win over Pakistan at the Oval on Sunday in the T20 world cup 09.
Chasing 186, Pakistan managed to score just 137/7 in their quota of 20 over. Despite an unbeaten 46 off 31 by skipper Younis Khan, Pakistan ended up on the losing side and it was Stuart Broad’s second over that made all the difference. He finished with figures of 3-0-17-3.
Pakistan got off to a disastrous start, losing young Ahmed Shehzad for just 4. While Salman Butt (28) and Kamran Akmal (6) did try to give some impetus to the innings but Pakistan suffered a setback when they lost both batsmen in the same over from Stuart Broad. Younis and Shoaib Malik began their partnership by milking England’s two spinners — Adil Rashid and Graeme Swann. They preferred placement over power-hitting, largely dealing in singles with the occasional boundary or two, in a bid to keep Pakistan in the hunt.
With Pakistan’s chances of a win slowly fading, Luke Wright removed Malik (20) caught behind. Misbah-ul-Haq hit Pakistan’s first six of the innings in the 17th over, but departed soon after with just 10 on board.
Earlier, a fit-again and determined Kevin Pietersen (58 off 38) powered England to a formidable 185/5 off 20 over. Luke Wright chipped in with 34 off 16, while Owais Shah managed a 32-ball 33.
Chasing 186, Pakistan managed to score just 137/7 in their quota of 20 over. Despite an unbeaten 46 off 31 by skipper Younis Khan, Pakistan ended up on the losing side and it was Stuart Broad’s second over that made all the difference. He finished with figures of 3-0-17-3.
Pakistan got off to a disastrous start, losing young Ahmed Shehzad for just 4. While Salman Butt (28) and Kamran Akmal (6) did try to give some impetus to the innings but Pakistan suffered a setback when they lost both batsmen in the same over from Stuart Broad. Younis and Shoaib Malik began their partnership by milking England’s two spinners — Adil Rashid and Graeme Swann. They preferred placement over power-hitting, largely dealing in singles with the occasional boundary or two, in a bid to keep Pakistan in the hunt.
With Pakistan’s chances of a win slowly fading, Luke Wright removed Malik (20) caught behind. Misbah-ul-Haq hit Pakistan’s first six of the innings in the 17th over, but departed soon after with just 10 on board.
Earlier, a fit-again and determined Kevin Pietersen (58 off 38) powered England to a formidable 185/5 off 20 over. Luke Wright chipped in with 34 off 16, while Owais Shah managed a 32-ball 33.
Sangakkara reverse Sanath to blaze
The expert opener struggled during the recent Indian Premier League, for Mumbai Indians, and was not at his most fluent during Tuesday's T20 World Cup 2009 warm-up match against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge.
Sangakkara said that Jayasuriya is still very important to us, I think he is just working his way into the tournament. His job for us is to go out there and be Sanath. If he wants to hit the first ball out of the park then that's what we want him to do. Everyone in the team has the fullest confidence in him - that's why he's here and that's why he's going to be part of our side in the near future as well, looking forward to the 2011 World Cup."
Question marks may be raised about the left-hander's ability to still cut it as he approaches his 40th birthday (on June 30) but his captain does not believe age is a barrier when you are as fit of body and mind as Jayasuriya.
"He's changed his game over the years? Fine-tuned it? but Sanath is still Sanath," Sangakkara stressed. "He keeps it very simple, watches the ball and if it's in his areas then he gives it his maximum effort and hits the boundary. And still his role hasn't changed and for us that is what we are looking for him to do. The fact he is always going to be in our starting XI is because we have that confidence in him. In our fitness tests he is still up among our top eight so age or fitness is not going to be a problem � he just needs to work his magic when the opportunity presents itself."
Sangakkara has been reasonably happy with his side's performances during their warm-up matches so far, including their most recent four-wicket victory in Nottingham.
"All of the bowlers have had a good run and most of the batsmen have had a good outing so we need to make sure we pick the right guys to handle those pressure situations at the right time [once the tournament begins].
Sri Lanka continues their warm-up campaign with a match against South Africa at Lord's on Wednesday.
Sangakkara said that Jayasuriya is still very important to us, I think he is just working his way into the tournament. His job for us is to go out there and be Sanath. If he wants to hit the first ball out of the park then that's what we want him to do. Everyone in the team has the fullest confidence in him - that's why he's here and that's why he's going to be part of our side in the near future as well, looking forward to the 2011 World Cup."
Question marks may be raised about the left-hander's ability to still cut it as he approaches his 40th birthday (on June 30) but his captain does not believe age is a barrier when you are as fit of body and mind as Jayasuriya.
"He's changed his game over the years? Fine-tuned it? but Sanath is still Sanath," Sangakkara stressed. "He keeps it very simple, watches the ball and if it's in his areas then he gives it his maximum effort and hits the boundary. And still his role hasn't changed and for us that is what we are looking for him to do. The fact he is always going to be in our starting XI is because we have that confidence in him. In our fitness tests he is still up among our top eight so age or fitness is not going to be a problem � he just needs to work his magic when the opportunity presents itself."
Sangakkara has been reasonably happy with his side's performances during their warm-up matches so far, including their most recent four-wicket victory in Nottingham.
"All of the bowlers have had a good run and most of the batsmen have had a good outing so we need to make sure we pick the right guys to handle those pressure situations at the right time [once the tournament begins].
Sri Lanka continues their warm-up campaign with a match against South Africa at Lord's on Wednesday.
Pak team gone for T20 World Cup without dopes trial
The Pakistan cricket team has proceeded to England for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup without any of the players having undergone dope tests as has been the practice in recent times.
A senior official of the board confirmed on Sunday that no out-of-competition tests were carried out by the board this time prior to the World Cup.
"The reason is that we have already been educating and informing the players about the anti-doping policy and regulations of the ICC," the official said.
He pointed out that the Pakistan Cricket Board had conducted out-of-competition tests few months back and all the players tested negative.
The official, however, confirmed that the ICC would pick nine players from each man’s team and two from women's teams in the Twenty20 World Cup for the tests.
"We are confident there will be no problems with doping issues," he added.
Two of the Pakistani players, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, who have faced doping issues in recent times, are not in the Pakistan squad for next month's tournament.
A senior official of the board confirmed on Sunday that no out-of-competition tests were carried out by the board this time prior to the World Cup.
"The reason is that we have already been educating and informing the players about the anti-doping policy and regulations of the ICC," the official said.
He pointed out that the Pakistan Cricket Board had conducted out-of-competition tests few months back and all the players tested negative.
The official, however, confirmed that the ICC would pick nine players from each man’s team and two from women's teams in the Twenty20 World Cup for the tests.
"We are confident there will be no problems with doping issues," he added.
Two of the Pakistani players, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, who have faced doping issues in recent times, are not in the Pakistan squad for next month's tournament.
