ICC World T20 - West Indies 2010

Considering the fact that this is a world cup event, all the squads have been announced and we are just 3 weeks away from it I think it's the right time to start this thread, we are already discussing about this in other threads so I thought it's better to start one for this.

The ICC World T20 begins in just 3 weeks time as Pakistan look not only to defend their title but also to erase the memories of what happened the last time when they were here for a world cup event.

I think the defending champions along with India, NZL and AUS will be the top 4 favorites for this tournament, RSA can also win but I don't see them as favts as of now, hosts West Indies will have the home advantage and they might surprise everyone, while SLN and ENG also have an outside chance. The minnows may not win but they can surely cause some BIG upsets.

List of Fixtures:

Fri Apr 30 17:00 GMT | 13:00 local 22:30 IST	1st Match, Group B - New Zealand v Sri Lanka Providence Stadium, Guyana
Fri Apr 30           21:00 GMT | 17:00 local 02:30 IST +1d	2nd Match, Group D - West Indies v Ireland Providence Stadium, Guyana
Sat May 1 13:30 GMT | 09:30 local 19:00 IST	3rd Match, Group C - Afghanistan v India Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Sat May 1 17:30 GMT | 13:30 local 23:00 IST	4th Match, Group A - Bangladesh v Pakistan Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Sun May 2 13:30 GMT | 09:30 local 19:00 IST	5th Match, Group C - India v South Africa Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Sun May 2 17:30 GMT | 13:30 local 23:00 IST	6th Match, Group A - Australia v Pakistan Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Mon May 3 13:30 GMT | 09:30 local 19:00 IST	7th Match, Group B - Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe Providence Stadium, Guyana
Mon May 3 17:30 GMT | 13:30 local 23:00 IST	8th Match, Group D - West Indies v England Providence Stadium, Guyana
Tue May 4 13:30 GMT | 09:30 local 19:00 IST	9th Match, Group B - New Zealand v Zimbabwe Providence Stadium, Guyana
Tue May 4 17:30 GMT | 13:30 local 23:00 IST	10th Match, Group D - England v Ireland Providence Stadium, Guyana
Wed May 5 13:30 GMT | 09:30 local 19:00 IST	11th Match, Group A - Australia v Bangladesh Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Wed May 5 17:30 GMT | 13:30 local 23:00 IST	12th Match, Group C - Afghanistan v South Africa Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Thu May 6 13:30 GMT | 09:30 local 19:00 IST	13th Match - TBC v TBC (A1 v D2) Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Thu May 6 17:30 GMT | 13:30 local 23:00 IST	14th Match - TBC v TBC (C1 v B2) Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Fri May 7 13:30 GMT | 09:30 local 19:00 IST	15th Match - TBC v TBC (A2 v C2) Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Fri May 7 17:30 GMT | 13:30 local 23:00 IST	16th Match - TBC v TBC (B1 v D1) Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Sat May 8 13:30 GMT | 09:30 local 19:00 IST	17th Match - TBC v TBC (A1 v B2) Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Sat May 8 17:30 GMT | 13:30 local 23:00 IST	18th Match - TBC v TBC (D2 v C1) Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Sun May 9 13:30 GMT | 09:30 local 19:00 IST	19th Match - TBC v TBC (C2 v D1) Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Sun May 9 17:30 GMT | 13:30 local 23:00 IST	20th Match - TBC v TBC (B1 v A2) Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Mon May 10 13:30 GMT | 09:30 local 19:00 IST	21st Match - TBC v TBC (A1 v C1) Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Mon May 10 17:30 GMT | 13:30 local 23:00 IST	22nd Match - TBC v TBC (B2 v D2) Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Tue May 11 17:00 GMT | 13:00 local 22:30 IST	23rd Match - TBC v TBC (B1 v C2) Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Tue May 11           21:00 GMT | 17:00 local 02:30 IST +1d	24th Match - TBC v TBC (D1 v A2) Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Thu May 13 15:30 GMT | 11:30 local 21:00 IST	1st Semi-Final - TBC v TBC Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Fri May 14 15:30 GMT | 11:30 local 21:00 IST	2nd Semi-Final - TBC v TBC Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Sun May 16 15:30 GMT | 11:30 local 21:00 IST	Final - TBC v TBC Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados

Edited by sam_ahmed - 08 April 2010 at 7:13pm

Mate, Gambhir is starting to look back in some form - he hit some very disdainful shots the other day but was cut short by yet another run out and Sehwag is still seeing them well.  Yuvraj is getting back some touch.  The batting and the spinners is set in my view but the pace attack is really in disarray.  Sorry for Kumar, he relies on swing but sorry to him, not going to find much of that in the Caribbean.  It's raining back quite a bit now so that might add moisture and make him lucky but that's his only hope of swing, a bit of humidity.

Might as well give the cup to South Africa A or South Africa B  (better known as England).

Pakistan will rely heavily on Kamran, Afridi and Razzaq. Razzaq is the main player and a very good match winner for Pakistan. I think Pakistan will miss Nazir. He could have easily won them one or two matches on his own. He is a must in T20. He should be picked instead of Butt. Hafeez can replace Malik. If Gul can find his form then it will be a good chance for Pakistan to reach the finals for the third time.

All the test nations exept BD can reach the finals. There are no favourites. Australia has good pace attack but this can be used by the Batsmen specially in T20. McCullum showed that in the last month. They are lacking good spinners.


Edited by kahmad - 09 April 2010 at 8:53am

Butt and Fawad can hold the inning together but sometimes they stops the momentum and cant find gaps easily. Younis has that quality to change the strike.

That would be my XI for Pakistan:

Kamran
Hafeez
Salman/Fawad
Afridi
Umar
Misbah
Razzaq
Aamer
Gul
Asif/Hammad Azam/Arafat
Ajmal

India's team is not that great and has poor balance. No genuine all rounder, Yusuf  is not a genuine all rounder by all means... and no pace attack of note, Khan is decent though.

Australia and Pakistan have attacks which I rate. Smith and Hauritz are very good 2020 spinners as are Ajmal and Afridi. In terms of pace bowling, both teams have some great options. I'd like see Pakistan use Abdul Razzaq well.

Originally posted by zuhair_abbasi Very true. they cant win on batting alone. Zaheer and Bhajji might do well - but that is about it. Al others will leak runs. India should feel lucky they dont have BD in their group.

Exactly India is lucky to be in another group, while Pakistan inspite of being seeded 1 have Bangaladesh  seeded 8th and Aus 9th in the Group A.  

I guess Aussies lost to both Zim and BD. Indians lost one to SRL and the other one was probably washed out.

India still have to fae Afghanistan though - I wouldn't be surprised if they give a tough time to the men in blue.

I agree with spinny there, I think BAN and ZIM might be dangerous but AFG and IRE will not be able to match the standards so soon. IRE is still a good side but they are not much of a T20 side. It's a bit tioo early for AFG but qualifying for such a big event itself is "job well done" from their point of view.

he wants him to open with Kamran and Hafeez in the middle order to fill the gap of Malik. Imran Nazir would have a better option i think.

you are right but pakistani Batting will depend lot on Afridi. He will under more pressure to win the matches for the team this time.we will miss Malik for sure.

Kahmad, I don't rate Imran Nazir one bit and surely the selectors couldn't do worse if they left him out.  As far as i'm concern, he just swings his bat, regardless of where the ball pitches!  I'd rather play Salman Butt ahead of him and that says something, as Sam would tell you about me haha.

I agree with SW Imran Nazir is a waste of space. Please dont compare him with Warner.

Edited by mystery - 16 April 2010 at 12:05am

Originally posted by spin wizard Kahmad, I don't rate Imran Nazir one bit and surely the selectors couldn't do worse if they left him out.  As far as i'm concern, he just swings his bat, regardless of where the ball pitches!  I'd rather play Salman Butt ahead of him and that says something, as Sam would tell you about me haha.