No Indian Name for ICC'S World t20 XI

From being defending champions to not having a single player in the ICC’s team of the World T20, it’s been quite a sharp decline for MS Dhoni’s Indian team. what surprised me was that name of indian in form batsmen and 20-20 specialist Yuvraj Singh was not included in the squad. So that shows some biased team selection by ICC but according to me it hardly matter's for being included in world X1 and is not of much significance practically speaking.

The ICC on Monday named its eleven and not surprisingly, after losing three consecutive matches in the Super Eights, no Indian player made the cut.

Four Pakistanis feature, including captain Younis Khan who has been named skipper of this team, other than Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul and Kamran Akmal.
However, there was one Indian face figuring in the Women’s XI announced by cricket’s governing body and it was that of bowler Rumeli Dhar.

The men’s team, including 12th man Lasith Maligna, contained four players from Pakistan, three each from South Africa and Sri Lanka and two from the West Indies.

The women’s team, led by England skipper Charlotte Edwards, included five players from the winner, England, four from beaten finalist New Zealand and one each from Australia, India and Sri Lanka.

The men’s team was chosen by a select group of experts, including former England pacer Jonathan Agnew, cricketer-turned-commentator Ian Bishop, Twenty20 World Cup Tournament Director Steve Elworthy, ICC Match Referee Alan Hurst and Indian journalist Sharda Ugra.

The women’s team was selected by ICC Match Referee Chris Broad, former England captain Clare Connor, Steve Elworthy, commentator Alison Mitchell and journalist Jenny Roesler.

ICC World XI (Men): Chris Gayle (West Indies), Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka), Jacques Kallis (South Africa), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Younis Khan (Pakistan, captain), Dwayne Bravo (West Indies), Shahid Afridi (Pakistan), Kamran Akmal (Pakistan, wicketkeeper), Wayne Parnell (South Africa), Umar Gul (Pakistan), Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka). 12th man: Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka)

ICC World XI (Women): Shelley Nitschke (Australia), Charlotte Edwards (England, captain), Claire Taylor (England), Aimee Watkins (New Zealand), Sarah Taylor (England, wicketkeeper), Suzi Bates (New Zealand), Lucy Doolan (New Zealand), Rumeli Dhar (India), Laura Marsh (England), Holly Colvin (England), Sian Ruck (New Zealand). 12th player: Eshani Kaushalya (Sri Lanka)

Afridi may lead Pakistan T20, ODI teams

Flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who after guiding Pakistan to the Twenty20 World Cup title in Sunday’s final expressed willingness to lead the national team at least once before calling it quit, may soon get the opportunity.

The dream of Afridi, who cracked an unbeaten 40-ball 54 to help Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets at the Lord’s, may come true after Younis Khan stepped down as the T20 skipper.

Having regained his sublime touch with the bat and his bowling already being a potent weapon, Afridi is now most likely to succeed Younis as the T20 skipper.

“For the time being Shoaib Malik is ruled out of contention for captaincy at any level and the way Afridi has performed and handled new found responsibilities as a senior player, he is certain to become the Pakistan captain for T20 cricket,” one Pakistan Cricket Board official told PTI.

If Afridi comes at the helm of country’s T20 squad, his first assignment will be the one-off match against Sri Lanka on August 12 during their tour to the island nation.

And indications are that Afridi will also be taking over as Pakistan’s ODI captain if Younis decides to play the Test matches only.

“That might be far off as Younis has his eyes set on the 2011 World Cup,” the official said. While asked about his desire to captain the team, Afridi earlier told a leading Urdu daily,

“That is my ambition because it is an honour to lead your country.”

Afridi also admitted that at one stage when he was not scoring runs during the last two years, was so frustrated that had seriously thought about ending his career.

“But it was my bowling that kept me going because my bowling had improved and was a big plus for the team that is why I hung on. I am happy that I have finally found my batting form in this tournament,” he said.

“I told Younis I wanted to bat higher up because I was not getting enough time to settle down and play long innings. There was too much pressure on me to go and just start hitting out. He said if I had confidence I should bat higher up,” Afridi added.

Afridi is now destined to a hero’s welcome back home when he returns to Karachi on Monday.

Pakistan v Sri Lanka, Final, ICC World Twenty20

Batting: Sri Lanka Innings

Batsmen	Sri Lanka (138/6 in 20 ovs)	Runs	Balls	4’s	6’s	SR
Tillakaratne Dilshan	c S Hasan b M Aamer	0	5	0	0	0.00
Sanath Jayasuriya	b A Razzaq	17	10	2	1	170.00
Jehan Mubarak	c S Hasan b A Razzaq	0	2	0	0	0.00
Kumar Sangakkara (c) (wk)	not out	64	52	7	0	123.08
Mahela Jayawardene	c M Haq b A Razzaq	1	4	0	0	25.00
Chamara Silva	c S Ajmal b U Gul	14	19	2	0	73.68
Isuru Udana	b S Afridi	1	5	0	0	20.00
Angelo Mathews	not out	35	24	3	1	145.83
Muttiah Muralitharan
Lasith Malinga
Ajantha Mendis
Extras:	b - 0, w - 2, nb - 1, lb - 3	6
Total: (138 for 6 in 20 overs)		138	Run Rate: 6.90

Fall Of Wickets 1/0 (Tillakaratne Dilshan, 0.5 ov.), 2/2 (Jehan Mubarak, 1.3 ov.), 3/26 (Sanath Jayasuriya, 3.5 ov.), 4/32 (Mahela Jayawardene, 5.3 ov.), 5/67 (Chamara Silva, 11.3 ov.), 6/70 (Isuru Udana, 12.6 ov.)

Bowling: Pakistan

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd	ER
Mohammad Aamer	4	1	30	1	0	0	7.5
Abdul Razzaq	3	0	20	3	0	0	6.7
Shahid Afridi	4	0	20	1	0	0	5.0
Saeed Ajmal	4	0	28	0	0	0	7.0
Umar Gul	4	0	29	1	1	2	7.2
Shoaib Malik	1	0	8	0	0	0	8.0

Power Play: Sri Lanka innings

Mandatory: (0.1 - 6) overs - 34 Runs

Batting: Pakistan Innings

Batsmen	Pakistan (139/2 in 18.4 ovs)	Runs	Balls	4’s	6’s	SR
Kamran Akmal (wk)	st K Sangakkara b S Jayasuriya	37	28	2	2	132.14
Shahzaib Hasan	c S Jayasuriya b M Muralitharan	19	23	3	0	82.61
Shahid Afridi	not out	54	40	2	2	135.00
Shoaib Malik	not out	24	22	1	0	109.09
Younis Khan (c)
Misbah Ul-Haq
Abdul Razzaq
Fawad Alam
Umar Gul
Saeed Ajmal
Mohammad Aamer
Extras:	b - 0, w - 2, nb - 1, lb - 2	5
Total: (139 for 2 in 18.4 overs)		139	Run Rate: 7.45

Fall Of Wickets 1/48 (Kamran Akmal, 7.1 ov.), 2/63 (Shahzaib Hasan, 9.1 ov.)

Bowling: Sri Lanka

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd	ER
Angelo Mathews	2	0	17	0	0	0	8.5
Isuru Udana	4	0	44	0	1	2	11.0
Lasith Malinga	3.4	0	14	0	0	0	3.8
Muttiah Muralitharan	3	0	20	1	0	0	6.7
Ajantha Mendis	4	0	34	0	0	0	8.5
Sanath Jayasuriya	2	0	8	1	0	0	4.0

Pakistan reaches final for second time

South Africa repeated their history again and would have to learn a lot for coming up good in crucial semi finals in bigger tournaments like this since 1999 world cup in england they have never won in semi finals in any of the world cups, Pakistan stromed into final to be played on sunday.

Batting: South Africa Innings

Batsmen	South Africa (142/5 in 20 ovs)	Runs	Balls	4’s	6’s	SR
Jacques Kallis	c S Malik b S Ajmal	64	54	7	1	118.52
Graeme Smith(c)	c & b M Aamer	10	14	1	0	71.43
Herschelle Gibbs	b S Afridi	5	4	1	0	125.00
AB de Villiers	b S Afridi	1	5	0	0	20.00
Jean-Paul Duminy	not out	44	39	3	1	112.82
Albie Morkel	run out (F Alam)	2	4	0	0	50.00
Mark Boucher(wk)	not out	0	0	0	0	0.00
Roelof van der Merwe
Johan Botha
Wayne Parnell
Dale Steyn
Extras:	b - 4, w - 1, nb - 0, lb - 11	16
Total: (142 for 5 in 20 overs)		142	Run Rate: 7.10

Fall Of Wickets

1/40 (Graeme Smith, 5.5 ov.), 2/46 (Herschelle Gibbs, 6.6 ov.), 3/50 (AB de Villiers, 8.3 ov.), 4/111 (Jacques Kallis, 17.1 ov.), 5/134 (Albie Morkel, 19.3 ov.)

Bowling: Pakistan

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd	ER
Abdul Razzaq	3	0	19	0	0	0	6.3
Mohammad Aamer	4	0	30	1	0	0	7.5
Shahid Afridi	4	0	16	2	0	0	4.0
Saeed Ajmal	4	0	23	1	0	0	5.8
Shoaib Malik	1	0	5	0	0	0	5.0
Umar Gul	3	0	19	0	0	1	6.3
Fawad Alam	1	0	15	0	0	0	15.0

Power Play: South Africa innings

Mandatory: (0.1 - 6) overs - 40 Runs

Will West Indies tour give india a chance to prove themselves?

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s India hope a one-day series in the West Indies later this month will help them recover from a dismal campaign in the World Twenty20.

India, who won the inaugural event in South Africa two years ago, failed to make the semi-finals after losing all three Super Eight matches against the West Indies, England and South Africa.

They now embark on a tour of the Caribbean for four one-dayers, the last leg of a hectic nine-month schedule across the globe that included the five-week Indian Premier League in South Africa in April-May.
India will return home after the last game against the West Indies at St Lucia on July 5 and will get a chance to rest till the Champions Trophy starts in South Africa in late September.

Skipper Dhoni wanted his team to forget the disappointing performance in the World Twenty20 and look ahead towards the series against the West Indies.

“Once you lose a few games, you start dissecting everything and count how much better we could have played,” the Indian captain said.

“We consider 80 per cent as the benchmark. If you are close to that, with the talent we have in the team, we have more chances of winning games. But we were more like 50 to 60 per cent of our potential in England.

“The T20 World Cup is gone. We are off to the West Indies, and that is what we are thinking about now. In the next two or three days, we will take some time off. Then we will start working back on the basics again, accept this has happened and start preparing for the West Indies.

Coach Gary Kirsten blames IPL for team’s fatigue and defeat

Indian coach Gary Kirsten had strong words to say about the Indian Premier League (IPL) and how it could have contributed in his team’s fatigue and niggling injuries-factors which were responsible for his team’s debacle in the ICC World Twenty20 here.

“A lot of our cricketers carried niggles in this tournament. We picked up niggles in the IPL and lost contact with them.

“India’s schedule ahead of the next Twenty20-in the West Indies in nine months time-isn’t going to be any different. If I’m still around, we would do some good planning and if need be, pull guys out of the IPL. We want when the real competition comes along, the people are ready for it.”

The South Africa-born Indian coach also confessed his side was extremely tired ahead of the world’s premier Twenty20 event.

“We were not as energetic as we were in New Zealand…we were relatively tired when we arrived here,” Kirsten made a damning comment on the state of his team.

“We have been on the road since end of January. We were not sure if we should increase the training or give sufficient rest. In the end we gave them as much rest as we could so that they could be pumped up for important games.

“But then we had relatively easy games against Bangladesh and Ireland. We then came up against the West Indies and were found wanting. We realized how tough the battle could be against a high quality international side.”

Because of fatigue and niggles, India’s problems against short-pitched deliveries thus got accentuated.

“If we could have executed our skills the way we wanted to, we could have won the game.

“(In Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina) we have two incredibly talented young cricketers for India-for one especially the going has been tough in this tournament.

“But I have no doubt he would come through and continue to make his mark. We have played short-pitched bowling in other conditions so that’s something which is not new.”

Kirsten believed the hurt of this tournament would actually make his side a better one-the first evidence of which could come in the final Super Eight game against South Africa.

“We are bitterly disappointed. We haven’t done something people could be proud of. I saw 15 faces in the changing room and some of them were really hurt. We have come to expect good performances and so it hurt.

“MS then said where do we move from here. We need to be positive and pick ourselves up. We have to go and win tomorrow and give it everything.”

Kirsten heaped praise on Dhoni, terming him as one of the most exceptional leaders he had seen in any walk of life.

“He is an extremely professional cricketer. He is one of the most exceptional leaders that I have seen in any walks of my life. He is able to separate the other things from his cricket and is extremely focussed.

“He is one of the greatest finishers in the game of cricket. We feel in high profile game he is the one who can close out game for us. We wanted to save Yuvraj, Dhoni and Pathan for the final 12 overs of the innings.”

“In 50-overs game, he is one of the greatest finishers the game has seen. He is trying to do it in Twenty20 cricket as well. He also wants to balance it with his big hitting. His batting is improving, he is a fast learner and he would come good.”

courtesy yahoo

India's looses 3rd T20 match in a row - no respite yet

India were out to regain some lost pride but it wasn’t to be as South Africa have defended their small total of 130. They restricted the Indian team to 118 for 8 in their 20 overs hence winning by 12 runs. This was the third straight loss for the Indian outfit in the Super Eights and they might well be disappointed with their performance. There were are few batsmen who looked in good rhythm but they failed miserably against the Proteas spinners.

Sri Lanka v/s Pakistan super 8 match scorecard

Match Result - Sri lanka won it at the end comfortably

Also Read -
T20 world cup tournament standings

Batting: Sri Lanka Innings

Batsmen	Sri Lanka (150/7 in 20 ovs)	Runs	Balls	4’s	6’s	SR
Tillakaratne Dilshan	b S Afridi	46	39	8	0	117.95
Sanath Jayasuriya	c Y Khan b S Afridi	26	24	2	1	108.33
Kumar Sangakkara(c) (wk)	st K Akmal b S Ajmal	15	16	1	0	93.75
Mahela Jayawardene	c S Afridi b S Ajmal	19	18	2	0	105.56
Chamara Silva	c K Akmal b U Gul	8	6	1	0	133.33
Jehan Mubarak	run out (S Malik)	5	10	0	0	50.00
Angelo Mathews	not out	9	8	1	0	112.50
Nuwan Kulasekara	lbw b U Gul	0	1	0	0	0.00
Lasith Malinga	not out	2	1	0	0	200.00
Muttiah Muralitharan
Ajantha Mendis
Extras:	b - 0, w - 10, nb - 3, lb - 7	20
Total: (150 for 7 in 20 overs)		150	Run Rate: 7.50

Fall Of Wickets 1/81 (Sanath Jayasuriya, 8.6 ov.), 2/89 (Tillakaratne Dilshan, 10.5 ov.), 3/110 (Kumar Sangakkara, 13.6 ov.), 4/128 (Chamara Silva, 16.1 ov.), 5/132 (Mahela Jayawardene, 17.1 ov.), 6/148 (Jehan Mubarak, 19.4 ov.), 7/148 (Nuwan Kulasekara, 19.5 ov.) 

Bowling: Pakistan

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd	ER
Sohail Tanvir	2	0	29	0	3	5	14.5
Mohammad Aamer	4	0	26	0	0	0	6.5
Umar Gul	4	0	34	2	0	2	8.5
Shahid Afridi	4	0	23	2	0	2	5.8
Saeed Ajmal	4	0	26	2	0	0	6.5
Shoaib Malik	2	0	5	0	0	0	2.5

Power Play: Sri Lanka innings

Mandatory: (0.1 - 6) overs - 65 - Runs

Batting: Pakistan Innings

Batsmen	Pakistan (131/9 in 20 ovs)	Runs	Balls	4’s	6’s	SR
Salman Butt	b A Mathews	0	3	0	0	0.00
Kamran Akmal(wk)	run out (C Silva/A Mathews)	5	9	0	0	55.56
Shoaib Malik	c N Kulasekara b L Malinga	28	20	5	0	140.00
Younis Khan (c)	c K Sangakkara b L Malinga	50	37	4	0	135.14
Misbah Ul-Haq	c C Silva b M Muralitharan	21	28	0	0	75.00
Shahid Afridi	c T Dilshan b M Muralitharan	0	1	0	0	0.00
Fawad Alam	c K Sangakkara b N Kulasekara	12	11	1	0	109.09
Sohail Tanvir	c & b L Malinga	3	7	0	0	42.86
Umar Gul	not out	9	4	0	1	225.00
Mohammad Aamer	run out (A Mathews)	0	0	0	0	0.00
Saeed Ajmal	not out	0	0	0	0	0.00
Extras:	b - 1, w - 2, nb - 0, lb - 0	3
Total: (131 for 9 in 20 overs)		131	Run Rate: 6.55

Fall Of Wickets 1/0 (Salman Butt, 0.3 ov.), 2/34 (Shoaib Malik, 5.1 ov.), 3/35 (Kamran Akmal, 5.3 ov.), 4/101 (Misbah Ul-Haq, 15.3 ov.), 5/101 (Shahid Afridi, 15.4 ov.), 6/108 (Younis Khan, 16.4 ov.), 7/121 (Sohail Tanvir, 18.6 ov.), 8/123 (Fawad Alam, 19.3 ov.), 9/124 (Mohammad Aamer, 19.4 ov.) 

Bowling: Sri Lanka

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd	ER
Angelo Mathews	4	0	23	1	0	0	5.8
Nuwan Kulasekara	4	0	30	1	0	0	7.5
Lasith Malinga	4	0	17	3	0	1	4.2
Muttiah Muralitharan	4	0	28	2	0	0	7.0
Ajantha Mendis	3	0	24	0	0	0	8.0
Sanath Jayasuriya	1	0	8	0	0	1	8.0

Power Play: Pakistan innings

Mandatory: (0.1 - 6) overs - 36 - Runs

England v/s South Africa T20 Super 8 scorecard

Result - South Africa thrashed England and it was south African show all through the match
Also Read -

T20 world cup tournament standings

Batting: England Innings

Batsmen	England (111/10 in 19.5 ovs)	Runs	Balls	4’s	6’s	SR
Ravinder Bopara	b D Steyn	2	5	0	0	40.00
Luke Wright	c M Boucher b W Parnell	1	6	0	0	16.67
Kevin Pietersen	c Rvd Merwe b A Morkel	19	17	4	0	111.76
Owais Shah	c M Boucher b J Kallis	38	33	3	2	115.15
Paul Collingwood (c)	b J Kallis	19	19	2	0	100.00
James Foster (wk)	c A Morkel b Rvd Merwe	1	4	0	0	25.00
Dimitri Mascarenhas	b Rvd Merwe	1	3	0	0	33.33
Graeme Swann	c A Morkel b J Botha	5	6	0	0	83.33
Stuart Broad	b W Parnell	9	8	1	0	112.50
Adil Rashid	not out	9	17	0	0	52.94
James Anderson	b W Parnell	0	1	0	0	0.00
Extras:	b - 0, w - 6, nb - 0, lb - 1	7
Total: (111 for 10 in 19.5 overs)		111	Run Rate: 5.60

Fall Of Wickets 1/4 (Ravinder Bopara, 0.6 ov.), 2/4 (Luke Wright, 1.5 ov.), 3/25 (Kevin Pietersen, 5.2 ov.), 4/78 (Paul Collingwood, 12.3 ov.), 5/79 (James Foster, 13.1 ov.), 6/82 (Dimitri Mascarenhas, 13.5 ov.), 7/88 (Owais Shah, 14.5 ov.), 8/92 (Graeme Swann, 15.5 ov.), 9/111 (Stuart Broad, 19.4 ov.), 10/111 (James Anderson, 19.5 ov.) 

Bowling: South Africa

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd	ER
Dale Steyn	4	0	19	1	0	1	4.8
Wayne Parnell	3.5	0	14	3	0	1	3.7
Jacques Kallis	3	0	20	2	0	0	6.7
Albie Morkel	1	1	0	1	0	0	0.0
Johan Botha	4	0	25	1	0	1	6.2
Roelof van der Merwe	4	0	32	2	0	2	8.0

Power Play: England innings

Mandatory: (0.1 - 6) overs - 25 - Runs

Batting: South Africa Innings

Batsmen	South Africa (114/3 in 18.2 ovs)	Runs	Balls	4’s	6’s	SR
Graeme Smith (c)	c J Foster b S Broad	11	15	2	0	73.33
Jacques Kallis	not out	57	49	5	1	116.33
Herschelle Gibbs	b G Swann	30	30	2	1	100.00
AB de Villiers	c P Collingwood b A Rashid	11	12	0	0	91.67
Jean-Paul Duminy	not out	2	4	0	0	50.00
Mark Boucher (wk)
Albie Morkel
Roelof van der Merwe
Johan Botha
Wayne Parnell
Dale Steyn
Extras:	b - 0, w - 2, nb - 0, lb - 1	3
Total: (114 for 3 in 18.2 overs)		114	Run Rate: 6.22

Fall Of Wickets 1/17 (Graeme Smith, 3.3 ov.), 2/91 (Herschelle Gibbs, 14.5 ov.), 3/108 (AB de Villiers, 17.3 ov.) 

Bowling: England

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd	ER
Dimitri Mascarenhas	4	0	22	0	0	0	5.5
James Anderson	3.2	0	27	0	0	1	8.1
Stuart Broad	3	0	14	1	0	0	4.7
Graeme Swann	4	1	26	1	0	1	6.5
Adil Rashid	4	0	24	1	0	0	6.0

Power Play: South Africa innings

Mandatory: (0.1 - 6) overs - 28 - Runs