India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni didn't try to hide his glee at the team's perfect start to their title defence in the Twenty20 World Cup even though he felt the side settled for a below-par score.
"It's a great start and it's always important to win the first match of any tournament," an elated Dhoni said after the side beat Bangladesh by 25 runs in their Group A opener.
According to him, the side could not make the most of the flying start given by openers Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir even though the total proved enough for a facile win.
"We got off to a great start but could not capitalise on that. Me and Gautam tried to accelerate but we could not. At that phase, we were going below-par. Looking at 180, I would say it's a par score here and we reached it thanks to Yuvraj's (Singh) brilliant knock down the order. Rohit (Sharma) too played a crucial knock at the top," he said.
Dhoni singled out Yuvraj, who hammered 41 off just 18 balls, and said it was always great to watch the left-hander on song.
"He is a kind of player who can have great impact on a game. Whenever he plays like that, the biggest of ground can be small for him," Dhoni said.
Dhoni also took the occasion to underline that the team was a close-knit unit and there was no rift in it.
"We always have been a close unit and we are not bothered about what people think outside," he said.
Introducing Yusuf Pathan as early as in the third over turned out to be Dhoni's master-stroke as the off-spinner broke Bangladesh's opening stand just when it started looking dangerous. Dhoni said with the pacers proving ineffective, he had to try something different.
"See, Yusuf is one of those bowlers who are very consistent. Even in IPL, we have seen part-time bowlers like Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina doing a great job. So if nothing works, you better try something out of the box than just going with the fast bowlers," he explained.
His Bangladesh counterpart Mohammad Ashraful felt they conceded 20 extra runs which cost them the match.
"I think we didn't bowl and field well. We gave away 20 runs too many and it proved costly in the end," he rued.
Pragyan Ojha, who was adjudged Man of the Match for his four-wicket haul, was beaming after shining in his debut Twenty20 International, something he would never forget.
"It was cold out there because of the breeze and bowling was not easy. But I'm happy with the way I performed. It was a great feeling and a memorable debut for me," he said.
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!! Dhoni Very Happy With The Good Begining !!
Posted by Poorav at 12:27 AM 0 comments
T20 IS A BATSMAN GAME ALL THE WAY!!!
After Friday's performance against the Netherlands, it would be easy to believe that England are still not taking Twenty20 seriously. I think that's far from the truth. What I believe is that England are taking 20-over cricket seriously, but are not good enough at it yet. What other explanation could there be for the way in which they were limited to 162 when they were 102/1 at one stage? The least they should have got was 180.
The thing is, Twenty20 is a batting game, no matter what spin you try to put on it, and England have shown that they are at least aware of the problem by leaving out the Test players and packing the side with youngsters like Ewan Morgan and Adil Rashid. However, the old tendency to collapse like a pack of cards persists.
The other thing they are suffering from is a lack of leadership. Make no mistake, I think Paul Collingwood is a lovely lad, but he always was, and remains, a reluctant captain. He even gave it up last year, if you remember. And against the Netherlands, he appeared to be leading by committee as everyone kept going into huddles. Great captains allow only so much democracy in the team, and my belief is that the shorter the version of the game, the greater the role of the captain. Therefore, Robert Key, who captions Kent, would have been ideal for the role of captain in the absence of Kevin Pietersen.
But the problem is that Key hasn't been batting too well of late, which may have prevented the selectors from appointing him as leader. As it is, he only got picked because of Pietersen's injury. So what we have is a situation in which a team fairly full of newcomers has a reluctant leader at the helm: not exactly a recipe for success.
To make matters worse, tomorrow's game against Pakistan is likely to be a huge one for England. It ought to be a high-scoring encounter, given that the Oval is among the truest and flattest pitches in England, with the ball coming on nicely to the bat on an even bounce, but self-destruction is a quality that defines the teams of both Pakistan and England, so it remains to be seen who will blink first.
If England lose on Sunday, they are likely to find themselves struggling to stay in the tournament and depending on other teams to play badly. Pakistan, not having tasted defeat yet, have a slight edge there, but given their unpredictability, cannot be relied upon to walk away with the spoils. However, it ought to help if England panic the way they did against the Netherlands, and if the captain is unable to think on the move. When you have a format in which two overs can change the course of a game, there's no substitute for quick thinking. Protracted team discussions in the middle are only going to make matters worse.
Posted by Poorav at 8:48 PM 0 comments
ICC World Twenty20 CUP : SPECIAL
Fri Jun 5 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 1st Match, Group B - England v Netherlands Lord's, London | 9 - 17° C | |
Sat Jun 6 10:00 local | 09:00 GMT | 2nd Match, Group D - New Zealand v Scotland Kennington Oval, London | 8 - 16° C | |
Sat Jun 6 14:00 local | 13:00 GMT | 3rd Match, Group C - Australia v West Indies Kennington Oval, London | 8 - 16° C | |
Sat Jun 6 18:00 local | 17:00 GMT | 4th Match, Group A - Bangladesh v India Trent Bridge, Nottingham | 6 - 13° C | |
Sun Jun 7 13:30 local | 12:30 GMT | 5th Match, Group D - Scotland v South Africa Kennington Oval, London | 8 - 17° C | |
Sun Jun 7 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 6th Match, Group B - England v Pakistan Kennington Oval, London | 8 - 17° C | |
Mon Jun 8 13:30 local | 12:30 GMT | 7th Match, Group A - Bangladesh v Ireland Trent Bridge, Nottingham | | |
Mon Jun 8 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 8th Match, Group C - Australia v Sri Lanka Trent Bridge, Nottingham | | |
Tue Jun 9 13:30 local | 12:30 GMT | 9th Match, Group B - Netherlands v Pakistan Lord's, London | | |
Tue Jun 9 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 10th Match, Group D - New Zealand v South Africa Lord's, London | | |
Wed Jun 10 13:30 local | 12:30 GMT | 11th Match, Group C - Sri Lanka v West Indies Trent Bridge, Nottingham | | |
Wed Jun 10 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 12th Match, Group A - India v Ireland Trent Bridge, Nottingham | | |
Thu Jun 11 13:30 local | 12:30 GMT | 13th Match, Group F - TBC v TBC (D1 v A2) Trent Bridge, Nottingham | | |
Thu Jun 11 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 14th Match, Group E - TBC v TBC (B2 v D2) Trent Bridge, Nottingham | | |
Fri Jun 12 13:30 local | 12:30 GMT | 15th Match, Group F - TBC v TBC (B1 v C2) Lord's, London | | |
Fri Jun 12 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 16th Match, Group E - TBC v TBC (A1 v C1) Lord's, London | | |
Sat Jun 13 13:30 local | 12:30 GMT | 17th Match, Group E - TBC v TBC (C1 v D2) Kennington Oval, London | | |
Sat Jun 13 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 18th Match, Group F - TBC v TBC (D1 v B1) Kennington Oval, London | | |
Sun Jun 14 13:30 local | 12:30 GMT | 19th Match, Group F - TBC v TBC (A2 v C2) Lord's, London | | |
Sun Jun 14 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 20th Match, Group E - TBC v TBC (A1 v B2) Lord's, London | | |
Mon Jun 15 13:30 local | 12:30 GMT | 21st Match, Group E - TBC v TBC (B2 v C1) Kennington Oval, London | | |
Mon Jun 15 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 22nd Match, Group F - TBC v TBC (B1 v A2) Kennington Oval, London | | |
Tue Jun 16 13:30 local | 12:30 GMT | 23rd Match, Group F - TBC v TBC (D1 v C2) Trent Bridge, Nottingham | | |
Tue Jun 16 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 24th Match, Group E - TBC v TBC (D2 v A1) Trent Bridge, Nottingham | | |
Thu Jun 18 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 1st Semi-Final - TBC v TBC Trent Bridge, Nottingham | | |
Fri Jun 19 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 2nd Semi-Final - TBC v TBC Kennington Oval, London | | |
Sun Jun 21 15:00 local | 14:00 GMT | Final - TBC v TBC Lord's, London |
Posted by Poorav at 8:45 PM 0 comments
Labels: Australia, India, Newzealand, Pakistan