Pakistan team to win semi-final: Zaka Ashraf

By AM Khan

LAHORE, Pakistan (TheSportsNEXT) October 4, 2012: Chairman Pakistan Cricket Broad (PCB) Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf expressed his hope on Wednesday that the national cricket team would win semi-final against Sri Lanka because players are united and have performed very well throughout the ICC World Twenty20 2012.

Zaka Ashraf told local media here that Mohammad Hafeez was leading the team in good fashion as skipper and the team was fully capable to perform well.

The team would win World Twenty20 title because it has developed into a good combination, Zaka maintained.

To a query regarding Shahid Afridi’s future, he said: “Afridi is an outstanding all-rounder and has the ability to change the situation of match. I hope Afridi will perform as he was key player in past.”

"We have appointed a fielding coach and now team is showing good result in fielding,” he added.

He said that team would keep playing with the same spirit and perform well to bring more laurels for the country.

Captain Hafeez said that team would succeed in semi-final. “We will fulfill the hopes of the nation.”

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ICCWT20: Blunders and Controversies hitting Pakistan, Sri Lanka skippers

By Hamad Hussain

KARACHI, Pakistan (TheSportsNEXT) October 4, 2012: As former World T20 champions Pakistan and title favorites Sri Lanka will fight for the place in the final of ICC World T20 2012 today, I want to bring my readers’ attention towards the controversies hitting captains of the two teams during their Super Eights matches.

The much-awaited match of the ICC World T20 2012 was played between arch-rivals Pakistan and India on Sunday September 30, 2012. The match which had created the hype and caught attention of billions of people proved nothing more than a drop-scene as India outclassed Pakistan in a one-sided encounter. Every cricket follower is well aware that Indian cricket team always prefers to chase totals as batting is their prime strength. But on that day, when billions of people were watching the two bitter neighbors clash in Sri Lanka, Pakistani skipper Mohammad Hafeez made a blunder of decision when he won the toss and decided to bat first which ultimately laid the foundation of Pakistan defeat.

The strange decision of Pakistani skipper shocked not only millions of Pakistani cricket lovers but also his teammates as well as the team management in Colombo as it was decided in the team meeting that Pakistan will bowl first after winning the toss to reduce Indian chances of victory.

So far, Mohammad Hafeez is yet to justify his decision of batting first against India as cricket lovers are still trying to understand the logic behind Hafeez’s strange decision.

On the other hand, Sri Lankan cricket team were entered in controversy in their last Super Eights match against England when they sent Kumar Sangakkara for the toss despite of the fact that both captain Mahela Jayawardene and vice captain Angelo Mathews were playing in the match but Sri Lankan team management decided to give captaincy to Kumar Sangakkara in the important match.

It raised eyebrows of many cricket followers as this may be sign of some revolt or dispute within the Sri Lankan team as Mahela got back the captaincy this year after he resigned from the post in 2009. Sri Lanka had Kumar Sangakkara as skipper after Mahela but defeat in final of ICC 2011 World Cup against India prompted him to leave the job. Dilshan was named skipper but Sri Lankan cricket team had a horrible time under him, so Mahela was reinstated as skipper of Sri Lanka but latest twist in the captaincy game against England has certainly something fishing.

The Sri Lankan team management has give stupid reason of over-rate penalty to skipper as they feel that if Sri Lankan skipper will be fined for slow over-rate, then Mahela or Mathews may have to be left out from the semi-final as both were penalized for slow over-rate in last one year. As per ICC rules, if skipper is penalized twice in a year for slow over-rate, then he will have to serve one-match suspension from match referee.

The question that arises here is that what Sri Lanka will do if they reach in the final of the tournament and their skipper will get penalized for slow over-rate?

The stupid decision may have something to do with the conflicts in the team which Sri Lankan team management is trying to hide.

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ICCWT20: First Semi-Final Preview: Bowling Comparison

By Hamad Hussain

KARACHI, Pakistan (TheSportsNEXT) October 4, 2012: The first semi final of the ICC World Twenty20 2012 will be played between 2009 world champions Pakistan and the then finalists Sri Lanka in Colombo on Thursday (today) and it would be cracker of a game as both teams have some of the finest bowling talent in their ranks.

Sri Lanka might have a little edge on fast bowling department with Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera, and Angelo Mathews all are in very good bowling form and are enjoying good record against Pakistan; especially Thisara Perera, who was the star performer during Pakistan’s tour to Sri Lanka earlier this year.

On the other hand, Pakistan are struggling in their fast bowling department as their premier bowler Umar Gul is facing the worst time of his international career and has shown no control whatsoever on his deliveries.

In absence of quality fast bowlers, Pakistan will have to heavily rely on their spin bowlers who bowled 18 overs in their last Super Eights contest against Australia.

The big worry for Pakistan, apart from their vulnerable batting, is the form of their star bowler Shahid Khan Afridi, who has been off-color since last two months and is yet to justify his place in the squad. He is due for his big performance as he had won Pakistan the matches on his own in the past and his record against Sri Lanka is also very impressive. The stage is set for Boom Boom Afridi to fire today as all cricket lovers and fans of Lala are expecting BIG EFFORT from him in this crucial match.

Despite of an in-form pace bowling attack, Sri Lanka still have something to worry about as their spinners have not come up with huge performances consistently. Their premier spinner Ajantha Mendis who, after taking six wickets against minnows Zimbabwe, hardly made an impact in the Super Eights matches. He was thrashed by Samit Patel of England in their last Super Eights match.

The encouraging sign for Sri Lanka is the impressive performances of their back-up spinners Jeewan Mendis and young Akila Dananjaya as both took five and four wickets in the tournament, respectively.

The cricket lovers will be watching a very evenly-contested semi-final today as Sri Lanka will look to take revenge of their defeat in the 2009 final to the hands of Pakistan while on the other hand Pakistan will want to improve their WT20 record by qualifying for the final this year after their horrible defeat in 2010 T20 World Cup semi-final against Australia.

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ICCWT20: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka Semi-Final Preview

By Hamad Hussain

KARACHI, Pakistan (TheSportsNEXT) October 4, 2012: Pakistan and Sri Lanka are locking horns in the first semi-final of the ICC World Twenty20 2012 at R Premadasa Stadium on Thursday.

 

If we analyze the performance of Pakistani and Sri Lankan batsmen in the ICC World T20 2012, we will see that Sri Lankan batsmen have utilized the home advantage and have been playing better cricket than Pakistani batters.

Sri Lankan team will heavily rely on their skipper Mahela Jayawardene in the all-important semi-final against Pakistan as Mahela is among the top five run-getters in the ongoing ICC World T20 with 168 runs at an average of 42.

Dilshan is also in the list of top runs scorer with 144 runs while another Sri Lankan star Kumar Sangakkara, who boasts an excellent record against Pakistan, is also in good form these days as he scored 130 runs in the event.

On the other hand, the youngster Nasir Jamshed is carrying the burden of batting for Pakistan as he has scored 144 runs in the event with two fifties. It is important to mention here that in Pakistan everyone is criticizing Imran Nazir for his poor batting performance but he is the second best batsman for Pakistan in the ongoing T20 world cup with 133 runs and has the best strike rate among the Pakistani batsmen with 164.19 runs per 100 balls.

Pakistani skipper is also in decent form these days as he is the third in the list of top runs-scorer for Pakistan in the event with 122 runs. Umar Akmal has also shown promised with the bat as it seems that he has been given the task to finish the match for Pakistan and he scored 96 runs with healthy average of 48 in the tournament.

All in all, it would be a great contest between both teams but Pakistan batting is always a worry and its unpredictability may cost them the match here.

It is also pertinent to mention here that, Pakistan also have to be wary of Sri Lankan late middle order batsmen like Jeewan Mendis, Thisara Perera and Angelo Mathews who are using the long handles rather effectively during the ongoing ICC World T20 2012.

Not to forget that Sri Lankan top order batsmen Mahela, Sangakkara and Dilshan are very good batsmen of spinners and Pakistan cricket team has the best spin attack in the world but they were exposed against India but it will be a new game altogether and pressure will be more on the batsmen as compared to bowlers because losers will be kicked out of the event, so Pakistan will have the advantage and one can predict that Shahid Khan Afridi and Saeed Ajmal may prove decisive in the all-crucial semi-final game.

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