The India cricket team arrived at London Heathrow Airport on Friday to participate in the second World Twenty20 tournament that begins on June 5. Before the team’s departure from Mumbai earlier in the day, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who won the cup in 2007, said he was confident about retaining the title, as the current team had enough experience of 20-20 cricket.
India plays their opening match against Bangladesh on June 6 with Ireland being their other opponent in Group A of the 12-team tournament. The 15-member India squad has a deep batting line-up and a potent pace and spin attack.
The Twenty20 cricket format has been a big hit and has strengthened its position further with the recently concluded IPL2. However, it was the maiden ICC T20 World Cup that set the ball rolling, and with India winning the championship, the Cup of joy runneth over.
Indian players are divided into the eight different IPL teams and enough action happens around these teams, whereas for a country team, T20 World Cup having a national connect has wider reach of audience as compared to IPL. However, it would not be fair to compare the two – T20 and IPL – because they are two different things as both are bigger for their own reasons, and even in viewership profile there is not much difference as they have their own element of following
he T20 World Cup 2009 should be better than the 2007 World Cup and with India as the defending champions, the enthusiasm for the game has only doubled, but viewership will only matter depending on India’s performance. Nevertheless, on the flip side, given that a lot of cricket has already been played, there is also a lot of caution on how much cricket one can take
T20 was very new last year, this year the expectations are very high because India is the defending champions and since most of the players have got practice in the IPL2 itself, therefore, making consumer interest a little more higher than last year
The T20 World Cup 2009 is scheduled to be held from June 5-21, 2009, in England.
Netherlands (Holland) Squad for T20 World cup 2009
Netherlands may be an unknown team for fans around the globe, but Dutches aren’t utterly new to top level cricket. Also known as the Holland team, they have played 42 ODIs spanning back from year 1996 when they made their International debut.
Although an old enough Associate member of ICC, lack of good performances have kept this team cold and fans unaware of their existance over the years. Come T20 World cup 2009, Holland have earned their chances to make a name for themselves.. how? Netherlands were the finalists of Qualifying round with Ireland which was rain abandoned.
Netherlands (Holland) Squad for T20 World cup 2009 Jeroen Smits (Captain/Wicketkeeper), Peter Borren, Mudassar Bukhari, Tom de Grooth, Maurits Jonkman, Alexei Kervezee, Dirk Nannes, Ruud Nijman, Darron Reekers, Edgar Schiferli, Pieter Seelaar, Daan van Bunge, Bas Zuiderent, Ryan tan Doeschate, Eric Szwarczynski.
If there’s a next big cricket team it’s Ireland. Don’t go by their overall ODI record = 36 games, 13 won, 19 lost, 1 tied and 3 no result. not that it’s a bad report card, Ireland have mainly played other less known cricket teams around the world to achieve 40.90% success rate.
Ireland Squad for Twenty20 World cup 2009 William Porterfield (Captain), Jeremy Bray, Peter Connell, Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, John Mooney, Trent Johnston, Kyle McCallan, Kevin O’Brien, Naill O’Brien (Wicketkeeper), Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Regan West, Andrew White, Gary Wilson.
Pakistan fans still can’t forget 24 September 2007. Chasing 158 in final of T20 World Cup, Pakistan required 13 off the last over and then 6 off remaining 4 balls.. Misbah-ul-Haq played a cheeky shot and was caught at short fine leg. A dream was broken.. and it sure still hurts.
Come June 5 2009, Pakistan have another chance to claim win the glory they missed by a wishker last time and their squad looks as strong as it was last time. half of their players played in first T20 World cup and most of them have plenty of experience of England contiditions where this second installment will be played.
Pakistan squad for World Cup Twenty20 2009 Younis Khan (Captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Fawad Alam, Kamran Akmal (Wicketkeeper), Mohammad Aamer, Misbah-ul-Haq, Saeed Ajmal, Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Yasir Arafat, Shahzaib Hasan.
England started cricket, played the first ever International test match. England also played the first one day international and have hosted 4 world cups.. yet, never won it!
England also invented Twenty20 cricket (T20 in short) and will be hosting the second installment of the tournament from June 5th 2009 (schedule), but can they win it on home ground? If we go by their overall T20 record of 6 wins vs 9 loss, chances look very slim.
England twenty20 World Cup Squad 2009 Paul Collingwood (Captain), Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Andrew Flintoff, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Eoin Morgan, James Foster (Wicketkeeper), Robert Key, Graham Napier, Luke Wright, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann.
Make no mistakes, Bangaldesh may not have won a single ‘respectable’ test match (only 1 vs Zimbabwe) and their ODI performance reads only 1 win over Australia (15 lost), 2 wins against India (17 lost), 1 win against New Zealand (13 lost), 1 win against Pakistan (24 lost), 1 win against South Africa (12 lost), 2 wins against Sri Lanka (24 lost).. but as you can see, as the game gets shorter, Bangaldeshi performance improves.
So far, from 10 T20 games, Bangaldesh have won 3 (biggest win = beating West Indies). Last time in first T20 world cup, Bangaldesh made it to second round and they also played the super 8s round in 2007 Cricket world cup.
In short, Bangaldesh are a minnow cricket team with meat to pull off surprises.. The shorter the game, the better thay play!
Sri Lanka is a small nation but their cricketers are smaller than none. Always a dark horse, Sri Lanka is specially known for their unusual cricketers which makes them very competitive side for smallest version of cricket.
13 Twenty20 Internationals till date, Sri Lanka has won 8 and lost 5.. figures may not favor lankans but they thrive in England conditions where there’s some swing for bowlers and lots of big shots!
Critics may not count kiwis much going into this second Twenty World Cup 2009 in England, specially since their win/loss percentage of only 42.85 from 21 games.. less than that of West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Africa, Australia and India.
But, one must not forget New Zealand were one of the top four teams in first T20 world cup, losing to Pakistan in semi-finals. and also beat eventual winners Indians in a close encounter!
New Zealand have announced their squad for this 12 nation tournament well in advance, on 7th April 2009 (= 60 days before the actual tournament) when most teams have not even announced their preliminary 30 member squad.
New Zealand T20 World Cup Squad: Daniel Vettori (Captain), Brendon McCullum (Wicketkeeper), Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Neil Broom, Jacob Oram, James Franklin, Nathan McCullum, Ian Butler, Peter McGlashan (Wicketkeeper), Kyle Mills, Brendon Diamanti, Iain O’Brien.
Today the second IPL 2009 Semi Finals is between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. match starts 8 PM at Johannesburg. Dont miss the live IPL Semi Final Action.
