ICC Twenty20 World Cup, South Africa (11 - 24th September, 2007)

[jaydeep]

Yesterday ICC declared groups for the first-ever Twenty20 World cup ... India - Pakistan and Australia - England r in the same group.

Schedule will be declared in April ... Here also top 8 teams will move to Super-8 after group stage.

ICC Twenty20 World Cup Championship, South Africa

Group A -
1. South Africa
2. West Indies
3. Bangladesh

Group B -
1. Australia
2. England
3. Zimbabwe

Group C -
1. New Zealand
2. Sri Lanka
3. Kenya

Group D -
1. Pakistan
2. India
3. Scotland

[PKBasu]

India have no experience in this form of the game, having had a "head in the sand" attitude toward it so far -- much as we had towards one-day cricket before the first World Cup in 1975. Before that first World Cup, there had been just two seasons of Deodhar Trophy matches (which involved each zone playing the other once -- a total of four matches per zone!), and no other domestic limited-overs cricket. Now we are going to the Twenty20 World Cup with less than a season of domestic Twenty20 cricket behind us.

[Sandeep]

I think India shouldn't have much problem in adapting to 20/20 format. We have plenty of stroke makers in our team.

[jayakris]

We are also undefeated in Twenty20 so far, but have played only one match, right?

I think India should have taken a lead in spreading this game, but again, we are also-rans in this, as far as leadership/vision is concerned.

I think Twenty20 is the ultimate form of cricket which will make it the kind of game that the rest of the world may catch on to.

Is it too late to add Twenty20 at the 2010 Commonwealth Games?

Jay

[jaydeep]

When Aussies tour India later this year, we r planning to play our first international Twenty20 at home.

Jaydeep.

[Sandeep]

Yeah 20-20 could be the one which would make cricket very popular all around the world. The game is short, more exciting and is very very commercial friendly (no other sport in the world is as commercial friendly as cricket).

[PKBasu]

Dravid apparently called Vengsarkar to say that he, Ganguly and Tendulkar should not be considered for the Twenty20 World Cup, in order to allow younger players to be picked. Good show of statesmanship by the senior players -- although I think Sachin has shown that he is capable of doing well in this brand of cricket, especially on recent form.

Here's the story from Cricinfo:

http://content-eap.cricinfo.com/twenty2 ... 01181.html

I like many of the selections, but I think Murali Karthik should have been there. He just picked up 5/13 yesterday for Middlesex, the third best figures in the history of Twenty20 cricket.

[puneets]

And what about Dinesh Mongia ? He's by far the most experienced 20-20 player that we have.

[PKBasu]

Yes, Mongia's experienced -- but his batting record in Twenty20 is nothing to write home about (worse than Ganguly's). He can't be selected as a pure bowler (even here, he has 28 wickets in 32 games, while Ganguly has 19 in 18...). I think the selectors are doing the right thing by going for youth. Mongia and Ganguly take too long to settle down: in this form of the game, we don't have that luxury. I think Sachin should have been picked on current form.

[puneets]

From the news reports I read, it seems that Dravid, Sachin and Sourav opted out. Is that just a euphemism ?

[suresh]

From the news reports I read, it seems that Dravid, Sachin and Sourav opted out. Is that just a euphemism ?

Apparently, Dravid called Vengsarkar to inform him that the three of them wanted out. I thought that this was a classy thing to do and pave the way for youngsters. The success of these three players over the years has denied players like Amol Mazumdar who in other times would have got to play a few matches for India. So it is nice to see them ask to be dropped.

[S_K_S]

The 20/20 final is about to just start. Kent vs Glos. It's been an interesting day once again. I think this is the 3rd or 4th 20/20 finals day. They play the 2 semis and final on the same day and at the same ground which makes it a great day of Cricket and I for one love watching it.

The two teams that have made it to the final have shown that it's not match winners that win you 20/20 but rather it's overall teamwork and team spirit  hence the teams making the final are not full of any stars. Spin has been less influential than before which is interesting but may just have been a result of the pitch. One obvious element is that unless you field well you have no chance which unfortunately rules out India's chances in the 20/20 World Cup

I think it would be hard to look beyond SA and Aus as winners of the 20/20 World Cup.

[jaydeep]

Ok guys our team for Twenty20 WC is announced ... Good to see Viru, Harbhajan and Irfan r back in the team ... This team is full of allrounders (as expected) Viru, Yuvraj, Irfan, Joginder, Yusuf, Piyush and Rohit ... We can even includes Harbhajan and Agarkar (?) in this list.

Twenty-20 World Cup -
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Dinesh Kaarthick, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Joginder Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, S Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, Rudra Pratap Singh and Rohit Sharma.

[sameerph]

Bowling attack for twenty20 looks a bit thin. How come Sreesanth  is in this team & not in ODI team. If he is dropped from ODI team because he is errratic , then Munaf should have replaced him here as well. Good to see youngsters Piyush Chawla & Rohit Sharma in both the teams. Unfortunate that Manoj Tiwari had to miss out.

Ok guys our team for Twenty20 WC is announced ... Good to see Viru, Harbhajan and Irfan r back in the team ... This team is full of allrounders (as expected) Viru, Yuvraj, Irfan, Joginder, Yusuf, Piyush and Rohit ... We can even includes Harbhajan and Agarkar (?) in this list.

Agarkar as allrounder  .  Maybe he was for one match when he scored a test match hindres at Lords. 

[jaydeep]

Agarkar as allrounder .  Maybe he was for one match when he scored a test match hindres at Lords.

I m also surprised by Sreesanth's selection in Twenty20, where accuracy in bowling is very important.

Jaydeep.