South Africa has finally got rid of their reputation as chokers. They now face Pakistan in an intriguing semifinal encounter of the Men’s T20 World Cup. Pakistan did not start the campaign on a good note as they went down to England in their first match of the tournament. Since then Pakistan has not looked back. They have shown their class and regained the form that has brought them this far in the tournament. The Proteas on the other hand has not lost a single match in the tournament and got the better of teams like New Zealand, India, England, and West Indies during their journey to the semifinals. Therefore, it will not be fair to take a call as to, which team holds the upper hand in this semifinal encounter.

Pakistan may have lost to Sri Lanka in their first Super 8 match, but it is important to understand that the Lankan lion’s are playing the best cricket of their life since the 1996 world cup. Pakistan did give them a good fight in that match but could not manage to reach the final total. However, Pakistan now looks like a team on a mission to regain their lost title. Players like Afridi, Mallik, Ajmal, Gul, and Razaq have put in superlative performances whenever the team required their services. Under the captaincy of a very relaxed Younis Khan, the Pakistani team looks very dangerous and hungry to regain the title.

South Africa has played Pakistan just once in the T20 format of the game. A great innings from their skipper Graeme Smith ensured that they got the better of Pakistan that time. However, past performances will not matter as the location is new, the match is an all-important semifinal clash, and both teams are looking forward to win the title for the first time. Therefore, things are completely different as compared to their last encounter.

The Proteas are unperturbed by the chokers tag, which had cost them dearly in the past. In 2009, they want to prove to cricket audiences worldwide that things have drastically changed in their approach to the game. With five consecutive victories in the tournament and players like Kallis, Smith, Botha, De Villiers, Gibbs, Parnell, Morkel, and Steyn showing good form, the South Africans are the hot favorites to win the tournament this time round. Only one thing is certain from this match and that is high intensity and non-stop entertainment as the two titans of cricket clash to regain their lost glory.

Pakistan, loosing finalists of last year’s T20 WC competition came closer to booking a Semi Finals spot with a convincing 39 runs victory over Ireland. With the Kiwis having injury worries ahead of their crucial encounter against SriLanka, the only way for Pakistan to be knocked out of the competition is through a comprehensive New Zealand victory over Sri Lanka. This looks highly unlikely as the Lankans have been the in form team in the competition thus far.

The Pakistanis decided to bat after winning the toss and looked comfortable while piling up 159 runs by just loosing five wickets against the Irish bowlers. Kamran Akmal took the experienced Irish bowler Trent Johnson, to the cleaners by smashing 20 runs of his second over of the match. The only Irish bowler to have troubled the Pakistani batsman was Boyd Rankin. His steepling bounce caused a lot of anxiety for the Pakistani openers and kept them under leash. The Pakistani batsman looked in control thereafter with notable contributions from Kamran Akmal (57 runs), Shahzaib Hasan (23 runs), Sahid Afridi (quick fire 24 runs), and Misbah-ul-Haq (20 runs) to take the score past 150 and set a challenging total for the Irishmen.

The target 0f 160 seemed to be a long distance away for Ireland with a lethal Pakistani bowling attack going full throttle against them. Saeed Ajmal spun a web around the Irish batsman with his 4-wicket haul thereby spinning Ireland out of the match. Umer Gul joined the party with a 2-wicket haul to leave Ireland 39 runs short of the target. The Ireland batsman never looked in control during the run chase as wickets tumbled on a regular interval throughout the match.

Pakistan thus ended the Super 8 stage of the competition with two consecutive victories to come close to a Semi Final spot from group F. A win for Sri Lanka against New Zealand would ensure that both the Sub continental teams reach the Semi finals from this group. Things could change with a win for New Zealand, which would force the Semi Finalists selection based on run rate, thereby leaving the Semi Final door open for all the three teams in this group.

A clinical performance from Sri Lanka ensured that they beat New Zealand by 48 runs in a decisive Super 8 game of the Men’s T20 World Cup. The Sri Lankan lions stormed into the semifinals of the competition with a thumping win over the Kiwis. This victory sets up an interesting semi final line up, where Sri Lanka takes on the West Indies, for a place in the summit clash of the competition. With both the teams displaying good form, it remains to be seen as to who has the last say in this match.

Winning the toss, the Sri Lankan captain did not have any hesitation to bat first. However, things started to look a bit shaky when they lost Sanath Jayasuriya in the very first over. The Kiwi pacers then got the better of Chamara Silva to put Sri Lanka in a precarious position. The whole innings was resurrected by the experienced Sangakara who scored 35 runs and Dilshan who scored 48 before Vettori picked both of them. By then, the Sri Lankans were on track towards registering a challenging total for the Kiwis. The other notable contribution came from Jayawardane who took the Kiwi bowlers to the cleaners as Sri Lanka posted a score of 158 runs. The best bowler for New Zealand was Daniel Vettori, picking up two important wickets when Sri Lanka was looking to run away with the match.

Chasing a target of 159 in a do or die encounter, the Kiwis got of to a brilliant start as Aaron Redmond hit Jayasuriya for three fours and a six in the second over of the New Zealand innings. It was looking as if the Kiwis would end up having the last laugh for the day. However, the departure of Brendon McCullum and Redmond in quick succession halted the Kiwi run chase. Martin Guptill carried on with the fight and gave some hopes of victory to the Kiwi bench, before the trickery of Mendis caught the Kiwi batsman off guard.

The departure of Taylor in the ninth over of the Kiwi innings led to a mini collapse orchestrated by Mendis, as Sri Lanka took charge of the match. The Sri Lankan bowlers then ensured that there would be no let up, as Kiwi wickets fell in regular intervals. The Kiwi tail did not have the sufficient skills to wag this time round and the Lankan lions got a thumping victory in the match. With this result, the other team in the group and last years loosing finalist Pakistan, heaved a sigh of relief as they qualified for the Semi Finals as group runners up. They will take on the South African’s in an interesting Semi Final battle.

The T20 Cricket has it roots in England where it was introduced for the first time in professional county cricket tournament. The shortened version of oneday cricket played for only 20 over each side has drawn audiences worldwide and is extremely popular as compared to other versions of cricket. This form of cricket was to provide a short version of the game to worldwide audiences. It was never meant to replace or degrade other forms like oneday and test match cricket. However, to ICC’s surprise, the governing body found that this form of cricket can help introduce the game to many more nations across the world.

The first International T20 match featured the likes of Australia and New Zealand played at the scenic Eden Park stadium in Auckland. The game has made rapid strides since then with the inaugural T20 World Cup Men’s competition being held in South Africa during September 2007. The competition played over duration of two weeks show very entertaining cricket from all the teams. It was the first time that T20 had made it this big and all the teams were uncertain about their performance in the tournament. The first bowl out in the history of T20 cricket was played between India and Pakistan in Durban after the teams were tied in the mandatory 20 over’s period.

Bangladesh proved once again that they are no longer the minnows in World Cricket with their shock defeat of the West Indies; Zimbabwe had also contributed their bit to make the tournament exciting by defeating the Australians in Cape Town. The group stages itself had laid the foundation for the tournament ahead. A young Indian team led by their inspirational captain MS Dhoni, steam rolled over England, South Africa, and title favorites Australia to set up the summit clash against arch rivals Pakistan. The final was an exciting affair with Misbah Ul Haq almost ensuring victory for Pakistan with a big six in the last over of the tournament. However, his miscalculated shot helped India achieve a dramatic 5-run victory over Pakistan and be crowned the T20 champions of the World.

The highlight of the tournament was an over in which Yuvraj Singh of India hammered Englishman Stuart Broad for six sixes of consecutive balls in that over. The most number of runs in the tournament was scored by Gautam Gambhir of India, while Umer Gul of Pakistan snapped up the maximum number of wickets. The Highest strike rate of 183.68 was achieved by Yuvraj Singh and the highest score in a T20 match was 117 scored by Chris Gayle of West Indies against South Africa. Daniel Vettori of New Zealand had the best economy rate amongst the bowlers conceding only 5.28 runs per over in a competition that favored the batsman. The highest score in a T20 match of the tournament was achieved by Sri Lanka when they amassed 260 against the minnows Kenya.

The second edition of the T20 World Cup is currently underway in England with 12 teams making it to the Men’s competition. The tournament is scheduled to be conducted after every two years except for West Indies hosting the tournament in 2010. The matches are being played in locations such as Lord’s, Trent Bridge, The Oval, and Taunton. The group stages have recently finished with Ireland and Netherlands being the surprise package of the tournament. The Dutch had raised their hopes of qualification into the Super 8 round of the tournament with an emphatic victory over England in one of the group games. However, Pakistan steam rolled them and ended all their dreams in the competition.

Ireland has been constantly improving since they first entered the big stage, a memorable win against Pakistan in the Oneday International World Cup held in West Indies, they also went on to beat Bangladesh to qualify for the Super 8 round of the competition. The in form teams of this tournament South Africa and Sri Lanka are playing solid cricket to keep their hopes alive of a summit clash, but West Indies, Pakistan, and New Zealand along with the Defending champions India will not make things easy for them. The last half of the tournament promises to be as exciting as the first half, which will throw many surprises and entertain the audiences with display of exciting cricket.