T20 WC at Bangladesh : line-up in Men and Women too...

Krish Srikkanth captained India in that tour to Pak when Sachin Tendulkar made his debut … Cheeka had Kapil Dev, Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri – playing under him.  Sachin after relinquishing Captaincy played under many other captains.  When Dhoni rose to Captain, read that in a match, after a delivery, he moved towards the bowler for giving some advise, Dinesh Karthik, a senior at that stage, also reportedly started moving .. Dhoni – stopped, asked DK to wait there itself, went over and passed on his instructions …. Some hailed it as clear assertion ………. Now in a different yardstick, people say that Lankans have an advantage !!

The World T20 which has seen Netherlands being bowled out for a lowly 39; NZ 60; Eng 88; Aussie 86 …… has moved to the next stage… today – WI play Lanka in the Semis; while South Africa would play India tomorrow in the other Semi finals.  Lankans are called ‘bridesmaids’  as they could make to semis or better six times, but yet to win once … there also is the chokers, whom we expect to do now.  

Cricinfo writes that in their previous match, Sri Lanka were without full-time T20 captain Dinesh Chandimal, who was suspended due to an over-rate offence, and hence  Lasith Malinga picked up reins. Such is the wealth of captaincy options that Chandimal may not play in the semi-final and Paul Farbrace, Sri Lanka's coach, said that the experience provided by the likes of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara was of huge benefit on the pitch and in helping young players to prepare ~ added, you have Dilshan, Anjelo Matthews too.  Having former Captains in the side is now stated as a great advantage……… many a times, having too many ex-captains would only add to confusion in a powerplay of egoes…

Lankan Lions are powerful – they have reached the last four or better in six of the previous eight events, going back to 2007. The prize has eluded them every time. Their semi-final in this tournament will be a rematch of the final from last time around, when West Indies stole the hosts' thunder. Sri Lanka's passage to this point has not been as serene as some predicted, although they managed to top Group 1 on run rate. They were pushed hard by fellow semi-finalists South Africa, then ambushed by England on a dew-drenched evening in Chittagong and it required a show of bottle, with Rangana Herath playing the genie, to haul themselves past New Zealand in the final match.

Paul Farbrace, Sri Lanka's coach and the only Englishman still left in the competition, expects that his team would beat WI and would lift the cup too.  They rely on quality spinners Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath and Sachithra Senanayake.  The coach Paul Farbrace had a brief first-class career as a wicketkeeper with Kent and then Middlesex and Kent and was  with the England women's team and then the Under-19s.

Windies are high on octane ~ they leaked 178 against Australia (but still managed to win) and are on a six hitting spree with their Captain Darren Sammy leading from the front.  Samuel Badree at the start of the innings, and Sunil Narine through the middle and end overs, have been successful. Darren Sammy alone has caused immeasurable damage to the opposition bowling figures during the end period, scoring 99 off 39 balls. Sri Lanka and West Indies have played five Twenty20 internationals so far, all of them in the World Twenty20. While Sri Lanka won the first four, West Indies beat them in the big game, the final of the 2012 edition, by 36 runs.

Away from this contest, India has some concern as Yuvraj Singh didn't take part in Wednesday's training session after suffering a blow to his ankle while playing football – according to Team media manager, he had a blow on left ankle, arising out a tussle for the ball near the goal.  Yuvi should recover in time ….. but this is not the first time, players pick up injuries doing things not related to cricket and why do coaches thrust on players things which will not improve the cricketing abilities…..but hazard injuries.

Incidentally, I saw Senanayake too wearing a full-sleve while bowling against New Zealand… !! – to end, Indian women made 106/7 with Mithali Raj top scoring 39 – restricted Pak to 100 for 9 and booked a place in the 2016 Women's World T20  in the qualification play-off in Sylhet. Six teams - the four semifinalists and the two winners of the play-off games - qualify directly for the next edition of the tournament, while the other teams go into a separate qualifying tournament.

In the Women T20 WC  – Aussie play WI in the 1^st Semi today and tomorrow Eng play SA.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

3^rd April 2014.