Cricket Tournaments

Following Ireland’s shock upset of England, they would be high on confidence heading into the game against India at Bangalore – the venue that has produced the best matches in the tournament so far. And while now India cannot take the Irish lightly at all, they will still need to be on top of their game. The good news for Ireland is that apart from worrying about the opposition, India have some problems of their own, especially in the bowling and fielding department which they will need to try and sort out going into Sunday’s match.

Expect some changes in the bowling department. India have two options in the kitty, both come with an element of risk. Firstly, they could replace leg spinner Piyush Chawla with Ravichandran Ashwin. The problem here is that in Harbhajan Singh India already have an off-spinner, which means there will be a sameness to the attack. Having said that, Ashwin has done exceptionally well for India in the power play overs something which has been India’s bane, in fact most teams’, in recent times. But, how he performs under pressure in a World Cup scenario remains to be seen. Still, for now, he seems like a much safer option than Chawla.

The second alternative for India is to try out Ashish Nehra (if he is fit) ahead of Munaf Patel. The latter hasn’t done all that bad a job. In fact, he was India’s star performer with the ball in the opening game against Bangladesh. But, MS Dhoni seems to have a lot of faith in the left-arm seamer in spite of the fact that Nehra hasn’t been all that consistent. Also, even if fit, Nehra has always had a history of picking up injuries midway during a game. And that would be the last thing India would be need so early in the tournament. There is also a third, that of getting S.Sreesanth in, but after his wayward effort against Bangladesh that is as good as a non-existent possibility. Of the three choices, Ashwin’s seems the most sensible one and also the safest one. However, like we all know, Dhoni is prone to come up with surprises.

Whoever is selected, India will need Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, their chief bowling weapons, to be on top of their game, and they would also hope that their part-time bowlers can chip in well enough. This is because, as the Indian skipper admitted, nothing much can change about their fielding since they have too many slow movers in the field. If anything, they can better their catch and ground fielding to a certain extent. Certainly, the shoddy effort that they came up with against England last week won’t help.

The good news for India is that their batting unit is in great form. Everyone from Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir to Sachin Tendulkar is among the runs. Further, Virat Kohli and more importantly, Yuvraj Singh, have also got good scores to their credit. The Indian skipper Dhoni too has looked good. In short, the Indian batting unit will be expected to come out all guns blazing especially against a weak Ireland bowling attack. Whichever team bowls better might well end up having the upper hand.

Big test of England

Earlier in the day on Sunday, the Englishmen will take on the so far indomitable South Africans. Following the reverse against Ireland, England must beat the Proteas to keep their hopes of progressing in the World Cup alive. It will not be an easy task at all considering that South Africa at the top of their game and England have hit rock-bottom. But England will have to raise their game if they need to progress further in the tournament. A lot of things need to go right for England for them to upset South Africa.

Like India, even England have problems of plenty with their bowling and fielding. They really need James Anderson, or whoever replaces him, if that is the case, to fire if the Englishmen want to do well. Importantly, they need to hold their catches else the South Africans would really take the game away from them. Unlike England, the Proteas have everything going for them. And for England to get the better of them they would need to play out of the skins. If the Englishmen do, indeed, manage to put off a win, it would be nothing short of an upset.

Following Ireland’s massive upset of England, a lot was expected of the South Africa vs Netherlands tie. Sadly, for cricket fans it turned out to be a completely one-sided affair. The only time Netherlands managed to compete in the game was when Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis fell in quick succession. However, what followed was a wonderfully sensible partnership between two of the best batsmen in modern day cricket – Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers. After getting themselves in following the loss of two quick wickets, both stuck to their natural game and managed to put the Proteas in an extremely healthy position.

The feature of the partnership between Amla and de Villiers was that neither looked in any sort of trouble as the duo set about rebuilding the innings. The boundaries came at will, with de Villiers expectedly playing the aggressor. That said, Amla also rotated the strike well, ensuring de Villiers got enough balls to face. The duo wasn’t separated until the 45^th over. And even after Amla’s and de Villiers’ dismissal, there was no respite for the Dutchmen. Jean-Paul Duminy came in and blasted a cameo which propelled the South Africans to a highly daunting total considering the bowling attack at their disposal. Duminy slammed as many as four sixes in his 18-ball stay at the crease. Netherlands’ limitations and inexperience with the clearly ball in hand clearly stood exposed.

During the chase, the Netherlands batsmen must surely have taken some heart from the fact that Ireland had managed to chase down England’s mammoth target the previous day. But, this was going to be a doubly difficult task considering that the Proteas attack is much more penetrative and lethal. And that’s exactly what stood out as the major difference between the two sides. Apart from Wesley Barresi, none of the Dutch batsmen could stand up to the South African attack. A lot of hopes rested on Ryan ten Doeschate if Netherlands had to put up a fight. But, he was done in by Dale Steyn and no one among the rest were good enough on the day. Netherlands’ weakness against spin was also evident from the fact that more than half the side succumbed to the tweakers. Imran Tahir and Robin Peterson shared the major spoils even as Duminy chipped in with the ball as well. It was a majorly disappointing effort from the Dutch. But, to be fair, South Africa were a far superior side and there wasn’t a good enough arsenal in Netherlands’ kitty to stop the carnage.

Even as Netherlands and South Africa played a one-sided tune, things were much more intriguing in the other contest of the day. Like the abovementioned match, Pakistan vs Canada was also expected to be a one-sided affair. But with Pakistan, always be ready for a surprise or two. Their batting crumbled in the face of some disciplined but far from threatening bowling. And if not for Shahid Afridi’s deadly spell, his third in three consecutive games, we might well have had another upset post the Ireland-England humdinger.

It was an atrocious batting display from Pakistan and a definite wake up call for them going into the bigger contests. None of their batsmen could register a half-century, with only Umar Akmal getting close. But even he and the in-form Misbah-ul-Haq, the next highest scorer for Pakistan, threw their wickets away as the mercurial side capitulated inexplicably. To their credit, the Canada bowlers stuck to their guns. Harvir Baidwan was the most impressive and also the most successful. But, the others also gave him ample support. Rizwan Cheema, Balaji Rao and Jimmy Hansra all troubled the Pakistan batsmen, who were adamant on committing hara-kiri, and were suitably rewarded. Having bowled out the dangerous Pakistan for a score on under 200 would have given Canada mighty confidence to chase down the target. And they tried the level best to do it. Unfortunately for them, Afridi completed a hat-trick of sorts, standing in the way of a Pakistan defeat for the third game in a row.

While the Pakistan skipper’s batting has gone down by miles, his bowling has risen in an equally steady manner. And he is using it to lethal effect in this World Cup. Nothing changed in the game against Canada. Unlike the earlier matches, Afridi was assisted by the opening bowlers in this game. Not only did Abdul Razzaq and Umar Gul strike early, they also maintained an extremely tight leash on the batsmen during their spell. Even so, with such a meagre total to defend, all the batting side needed was one decent partnership to see their team through. The run-rate wasn’t a concern too, so Canada had everything going for them. And when Zubin Surkari and Hansra joined forced in a sensible partnership, hopes of another upset in the tournament were raised immensely. That was until Afridi took over and turned the game on its head.

After Saeed Ajmal broke the dangerous partnership getting rid of Surkari, Afridi rolled over the rest with his fastish leg-breaks, to which the inexperienced Canadians had just no answer to offer. Three of his five victims were bowled, a clear indication that they were beaten for pace and, from a seemingly safe position, Canada plunged to what at the start of the match was an expected defeat. Despite the loss, Canada can take heart from the fact that they managed to run their much more fancied opponents so close.

In the end, no surprises were reserved for Thursday. But while the South Africans would be buoyed by their thoroughly professional effort, Pakistan have a lot of work to do to ensure that they do not have to depend on Afridi’s bowling in every game to bail them out. After all, even the Pakistan skipper is bound to have a bad day with the ball, and if the rest do not rise to the occasion, it can put Pakistan in serious trouble in the matches ahead.

AB de Villiers

It was, in a way, an inaugural for the CWC 2011 as two majors of cricket were head to head at Ferozahshah Kotla, Delhi. It was Proteas against the mighty West Indies. On paper Proteas were a stronger team and they proved it on field as well, as SA beat West Indies by a comfortable 7 wickets with more than 7 overs to spare. The cricket prodigy of AB de Villiers got him the man of the match award for his 107 of just 105 balls.

The ever changing West Indies cricket, at least in terms of changing their captain, under the leadership Darren Sammy as the new captain were sent in by the South Africans.  The dangerous, Chris Gayle opened the innings alongside Devon Smith as the non-striker. South African experimented, in order to adapt to the subcontinent pitches, with Johan Botha to start with the new ball and it paid dividends in the very first over as Gayle walked back after getting caught by Jack Kallis for just 2. Then came Darren Bravo to the crease and gave a strong foundation to the WI innings with a stand of 111 before Bravo was caught napping in front of the stumps on the bowling of Botha for 73 in the 24^th over. Wickets started to flutter as Smith got out to Tahir as he favoured him a return catch, Sarwan didn’t help the WI cause much and left office after scoring just 2 of 10 balls in the 27^th over. With two new batsmen on the crease, it was required to resurrect the innings which Dwayne Bravo and Devon Thomas achieved to an extent with a 58 run stand before Bravo ran himself out. Steyn then didn’t allow WI to come out of shackles and wrapped 3 quick wickets including powerful Kieron Pollard with a skidding in swinger and claiming an lbw. WI finished at a mediocre 222 all out with 15 balls to spare.

Hashim Amla took charge of innings and scored 14 out of 15 runs before holding out to D Thomas of the bowling of Roach. WI soon got rid of, the most capped South African, Jack Kallis with scoreboard reading 20 in the 5^th over. It was prodigy of AB de Villiers, which then sailed SA to a comfortable 7 wicket win as he scored an unbeaten 107, better than run a ball while he was duly supported by captain Graeme Smith and J P Duminy, who remained not out at 42. WI bowling was mediocre with almost all the bowlers hovering around 5 runs per over. WI also faced a setback as Dwayne Bravo hurt his knee which ended the game for him and was sent for medical check-up and scans.

A small rain outburst, which is a part of South African history and their downfall in major tournaments, didn’t hamper SA pace of runs this time and duly helped by the star AB de Villiers. Imran Tahir, the debutant, was on a dream debut as he got 4 crucial wickets and at important junctures of the match.

The Sri Lankan team has exhibited great form throughout the Men’s T20 World Cup tournament and has remained unbeaten thus far. However, after what happened to South Africa yesterday nothing can be ruled out from this spicy encounter, which pits the Lankan lions against the Windies warriors. In the group stages both the teams have already faced each other and can clearly imagine what is in store for them when they meet again in this crucial semifinal encounter. Sri Lanka got the better of the West Indies team in the group stages, which will give them that crucial edge in this match. However, the Windies have never looked back from that defeat as they got the better of India and England to reach the semifinals.

The West Indies started the tournament by notching a great win over the Aussies to put a nail in their coffin before they were stopped by the Lankan lions, who notched up a convincing victory against them. The South African team added insult to injury as they comfortably beat West Indies in a Super 8 game to leave them in a spot of bother. Since then this Windies team has shown strength and character with the help of their players like Bravo, Gayle, Simmons, Taylor, Sarwan, and Chanderpaul to get the better of India and England while making it to the semifinals. West Indies are no longer a one-man show of Chris Gayle, they are now a solid unit of players who can put in performance and win against any opposition they face. Things have changed a lot since they met the Lankan lions in the group stages.

However, Sri Lanka is not bothered by the sudden return of form of the West Indian players. The Lankan players are in the best form of their life and hungry for success. Since their 1996 World Cup win the Sri Lankans have not achieved much success in International cricket. Perhaps the time is once again in their favor to achieve glory for the second time. Sri Lankan players like Dilshan, Jayawardena, Sangakara, and Jayasuriya are in prime batting form whereas the 4 M combination of Mendis, Murali, Matthews, and Malinga form a very potent bowling attack that can rip open any batting line up and tear it to shreds. The Sri Lankans have the necessary armory in place to blow up any opposition they face.

The result will only be known after the match ends but it will surely be an encounter that will keep worldwide cricket audiences glued to their TV sets. Certain factors like Gayle factor, Bravo factor, the unknown Sarwan and Chanderpaul factor, and short ball factor will keep the Sri Lankan’s on their toes. If any of these factors click then West Indies will run away with the match. However, if these factors fail miserably then do not expect any mercy from the Lankan lions because they know what is best for them and they know how to win.

In Nottingham, at Trent Bridge Stadium on 18th of June, ICC World T20 semifinal was played between the unpredictable Pakistan, and invincible South Africa. Star player Shahid Afridi with his indefatigable efforts with bat and bowl snatched the victory out the South Africa who had been on winning streak up till. In this exciting semifinal, the Trent Bridge was howling with screaming and overwhelming Pakistani supporters for the Pakistan. Shahid Afridi blasted with bat 51 runs off 33 balls giving the Pakistan head start and again with his magical spell of leg-spin caught the South Africa with awe by taking 2 wickets of 16 runs. Eventually being the significant factor for the Pakistan unpredictable and unprecedented entry into the ICC World T20 finals, making it the strongest contender.

South Africa after losing to Pakistan, yet again consolidated the notion that South Africa being perennial chokers. South Africa chasing 150 fall short of 7 runs and proved to be succumbing to the pressure.

Pakistan got blasting start by Kamran Akmal (23) with the initial hiccup of falling duck wicket of the opening batsman Shahizab Hasan (0) by Wayne Parnell. Then Akmal wicket fall on 28 by Dale Steyn, Afridi came to bat and knocked 51runs off 33 balls, taking the score to the 95 with the stabilized support from Shoaib Malik (34) end. But sooner the Afridi and Shoaib Malik were returned to pavilion by Duminy and Merwe respectively at 95 for 3 and 124 for 4. Pakistani middle order was sluggish and no boundaries were knocked in last 5 overs and Younis Khan (24) and Abdul Rassaq (12) finished innings with 149 runs.

South Africa was expected to easily achieve 150 runs target, but sooner it was realized that it’s going to be tough though. Jacques Kallis stronger innings of 64 off 54 balls, strengthened the South Africa innings. But on the other end the falling of wickets continued with Graeme Smith (10), Herschelle Gibbs (5) and AB de Villers (1) by Aamer and Afridi respectively at 46 for 2, 50 for 3 and 111 for 4. Lethargy and increasing Run Rate proved to be fatal to South Africa and in a fit to break the idleness Kallis took the uncalculated shoot by Shoaib Malik and was caught. Gul with outstanding leg cutters and Yorkers in the crucial 17th and 19th over was able to confine South Africa to 6 runs only. Hence forth despite JP Duminy (44) endeavor South Africa felled short of 7 runs and lost the semifinal.

As the 10 runs on last ball left, the Pakistani supporters were swayed by exhilaration and deafening scream. As it was predicted South Africa lost to Pakistan for just 7 runs, and Pakistani supporters were just jubilant. South Africa nerves took a toll of them and Pakistan unnerving and unflinching confidence led them to finals and making them stronger contender for ICC World T20.

Women’s ICC World T20:

Watkins Led New Zealand In The Finals By Crushing India

Indian cricket women’s team made it to the semifinals, as there opposite sex Indian cricket men’s team lost all their matches in the super 8. Hope rose higher for Indian cricket women’s team even though they previously lost to England crushingly. India stood with higher expectations in front of stronger New Zealand, but as they clashed in first semifinal on 18th of June, India couldn’t sustain a bit and lost to the New Zealand by 52 runs. New Zealand powerful team played like winner and came out eventually with pre-ordained victory.

Nottingham, at Trent Bridge, New Zealand faced India; Aimee Watkins contributed solely to the huge total of 145 runs for 5 by her stunning 89 runs of just 58 balls. Aimee Watkins brilliancy with bat and captaincy gave no vent for India to make a slightest of modifications to the precedence over match. New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat first and with the greater contribution of Aimee Watkins, New Zealand aggregated 145 runs off 5 wickets.

Kiwis came to bat, but initially kiwis stumbled by losing Suzie Bates (10) to a ferocious catch by Harmanpreet Kaur on bowling of Amita Sharma. With initial dent, Aimee Watkins came to bat and trampled the hopes of Indians and played sustainable and stunning innings of unbeatable 89 runs of 58 balls on here other end the wickets kept on falling with Lucy Doolan (3), Amy Satterthwaite (10), Nicola Browne (5) and Sara McGlashan (4). Amita Sharma with her bowling figure was impressive, by taking 2 significant wickets and just giving 21 runs. Rumeli Dhar and Priyanka Roy were out of other 7 bowler who took 1-1 wickets. Indian bowling was impressive still it was not able to confine Aimee Watkins.

New Zealand aggregated 145 runs off 5 wickets after them India came to bat to chase 146 runs target. India was expected to put up some entertaining show like Aimee did, but Indian batting order felled like playing cards palace. Anjum Chopra (15), Mithali Raj (20) and Amita Sharma (24) were only to bat double figures and still they were not able to contribute and none sustained on the pitch. Wickets kept falling one by one and not a single player was able to stay on the pitch. New Zealand fielding and bowling under the captaincy of Aimee Watkins was too tight and beautiful that it gave not a single opportunity to the India. Sophie Devine, Kate Pulford, Suzie Bates took 1-1 wickets and Sian Ruck and Suzie Bates took 2-2 wickets, showing off the stronger and stable bowling line up of New Zealand.

India toddling at 93 runs for 9 wickets, New Zealand winded up with the last match with great margin of 52 runs victory over India. First semifinal of New Zealand Vs India was lop sided, and New Zealand winning the match made it into the ICC Women’s World T20 finals.

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.

The boys from West Indies got the better of the England in a rain-reduced run chase through the Duckworth Lewis method to make it to the semi finals of the T20 WC Men’s competition. They beat the hosts to knock them out of the competition. This is for the first time after a gap of more than ten years that the West Indies team has made it to the Semi Finals of a major tournament.

The experience of Ramnaresh Sarwan and classy Shivnarine Chanderpaul through an unbeaten partnership of 37 runs in 20 balls ensured safe passage for West Indies into the Semifinals. With South Africa having already qualified from this group, the match between England and West Indies was nothing sort of a Quarter Final Clash. The Windies players managed to hold on to their nerves in an intriguing match to make it to the Semi finals of the T20 World Cup competition this year.

Earlier set into bat the Englishmen scored a respectable 161 runs loosing six wickets in the process. Ravi Bopara played the crucial anchor’s role scoring 55 runs and Kevin Pietersen scored a quick fire 31 runs of just 19 balls to set up a challenging total for the West Indies. Other notable contributions included Owais Shah with 18 runs, Stuart Broad with 10 crucial runs of just 2 balls and James Foster with a useful knock of 13 runs towards the end of the innings. The Englishmen were hoping to get a complete match, which might have given them a chance of reaching the semis.

With heavy downpour right after the England innings, the match eventually got underway with West Indies being set a revised target of 80 runs from nine overs. The England bowlers did their best to restrict the Windies batsman as Ryan Sidebottom got rid of the dangerous Chris Gayle, after the opener had hammered him in the first four balls of the over. Stuart Broad got rid of Lendl Simmons in his very first over. West Indies were tottering at 23 for the loss of three wickets and the shortened target was looking stiff.

Dwayne Bravo, the only Windies player to have been consistent throughout the tournament contributed useful 18 runs to the run chase, before the English pair of Swann and Foster combined to remove him. With Bravo gone, the West Indies were looking for some miracle to make it to the next round. With 16 runs required of the last two overs, the experienced pair of Chanderpaul and Sarwan ensured that West Indies suffered no further hiccups in the run chase. By scoring 13 runs of the penultimate over the Windies batsman ended all hopes of an England victory. Sarwan ended the match by smashing Sidebottom to the extra cover boundary.

West Indies thus made it to the Semifinals of the competition through group E and must watch out for the match between South Africa and India, to get to know their fate. If South Africa can beat India, the West Indian team would qualify for the Semi Finals as the Group runner up and might face the daunting task of playing last year’s loosing finalist Pakistan in the Semi finals.

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.