IPL is gone and world cup is on. The T-20 world cup has started with a big bang and India has started the campaign with a comprehensive victory against Bangladesh.
This time around as well, Team India looks the team to count on for defending the title. (Well, the team certainly looks very formidable at least on paper boasting of a line up of stars and in-form talents). The team led by Captain Cool MSD has batting stalwarts like Sehwag, Yuvraj, and young and promising talents like Yusuf, Raina, Rohit Sharma and Gambhir. The bowling department also boasts of heavy duty stuff with pace attack led by Zaheer and Harbhajan leading Spin department. Also India boasts of bowlers like Ishaant, RP, Praveen Kumar and Pragyan Ojha all capable of turning match on their own performance.
There are other dark horses also in the race. Teams like South Africa, New Zealand cannot be written off. But the teams to watch out for in this tournament are what are considered as minnows till now. Teams like Netherlands and Scotland have shown that T20 format does not rest on past laurels of the team and no team can afford to be complacent in any game.
Netherlands showed that a team like England can be beaten in its own territory and that even a score of 160 is not which can make a fielding captain feel relaxed. On the other hand Bangladesh came very near to the cricketing giants Australia’s mammoth score of 219 and went on to score 181 which was commendable in a warm up game. The best thing about them is that they do not have any burden of expectations and that has made them fearless. It is in such conditions that these teams script biggest of upsets. Another upset to the reigning leaders of the game when Chris Gayle unleashed his ferocity and treated every Aussie bowler with equal disdain. West Indies won the match much comfortably even though the target was daunting.
T20 has brought the excitement and the uncertainty that the game of football possesses and has increased the excitement of the game manifolds. Further, it has reduced the duration of the game which has made it even more popular. The concepts like Super Over and Bowl Out make it more thrilling and keep audiences on the edge of the seats.
Everything is going great for T20 at the moment with the cricket extravaganzas lined up one after the other. With the demand of test and one-day cricket reducing gradually, the new form is being accepted more & more. The only question remains, will too much of cricket kill the value and the interest of the game. Will these big tournaments have same enthusiasm going forward? Also, does it reduce the career span of a player with his age and with plenty of other alternatives? Only time will tell what happens, at the moment, everybody is gung-ho about it, so sit back, and enjoy each game as it comes.
Which team do you think will win this time? (Mine is India obviously!)
The author, Kartiik Kulkarni blogs at http://rebelinpeace.blogspot.com
