Left-handers give India edge over others in T20 WC

London (PTI): Defending champions India and South Africa boast of an upper hand in the ICC World Twenty20 Championships, beginning later this week here, owing to the presence of left-handers in majority in their teams, according to statistics.

Both India and South Africa have eight left-handed specialists in their squad of 15 which leaves their right-handed brethrens in the minority.

History shows that left-handed cricketers have unfailingly ruled the roost in this treacherous format, be it the Indian Premier League (IPL) or the first edition of the ICC World Twenty20 in 2007.

The recent IPL was topped by Matthew Hayden (572 runs) and Adam Gilchrist (495) with Suresh Raina (434) at number four, not much behind to AB de Villiers (465).

As for bowling, RP Singh (23 wickets), Ashish Nehra (19) and Pragyan Ojha (18) took three spots among the top five bowlers.

The first IPL, if anything, was still more startling. The first three toppers were all left-handers: Stuart Marsh (616), Gautam Gambhir (534) and Sanath Jayasuirya (514) all proved the scourge of bowlers.

Pakistan's Sohail Tanvir (22 wickets) was the leading wicket-taker of the inaugural IPL.

All eyes on New Zealand's new crop

First, the good news. The shorter the format the more competitive New Zealand become. Despite slumping to eighth on the Test rankings they have been World Cup semi-finalists in two of the past three tournaments and matched that achievement at the inaugural World Twenty20, where they were denied a place in the decider by Pakistan.

Now the bad news. Their leading performers two years ago included Craig McMillan, Shane Bond and Mark Gillespie, none of whom are there this time around. But there is an upside: since 2007 they have added a couple of more than handy names to their team with Jesse Ryder and Martin Guptill proving dangerous at international level.

And the other plus is that New Zealand have found themselves in a group with Scotland, meaning along with South Africa they should have no trouble progressing past the opening stage. Then things become less clear-cut. Will a few powerful hitters and an economical A-grade slow-bowler be enough for them to move past more imposing line-ups? Only time will tell. But it's a fool who writes off New Zealand when the 50- or 20-over tournaments arrive.

Strengths

Crafty, high-quality spin is a major weapon in Twenty20 and slow bowlers don't come any cannier than Daniel Vettori. New Zealand can all but guarantee that he will deliver four thrifty overs each match; he has done that in every one of his 14 Twenty20 internationals and the most he has ever gone for is 6.75 an over. Of men who have played ten Twenty20s for their country, only Umar Gul has a better economy rate than Vettori's 5.35.

Weaknesses

While Vettori contains at one end, the fast men will be required to keep things tight at the other. And that is New Zealand's biggest challenge. Bond, Gillespie and Chris Martin did adequately in 2007 but none is in this squad. A pace attack based around the likes of Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien, James Franklin, Ian Butler and Jacob Oram won't strike fear into many Twenty20 batting line-ups. To compensate for a lack of firepower they'll need to bowl smart - changes of pace, yorkers, cutters - or else risk an early exit.

X-factor

According to the online Wiktionary, an x-factor is that which has "unknown or unforeseeable consequences". That's pretty much how New Zealand Cricket would define Jesse Ryder. Despite having had behavioural issues in the past and being one of the big flops of the recent IPL, Ryder hasn't often let his country down with the bat. A Twenty20 strike-rate of 137.61 shows his power and if he and the equally dangerous Brendon McCullum can get their side off to a couple of quick starts, it could be the difference between an early departure and a place in the finals.

Key players

Vettori is the most important with the ball, Ryder and McCullum could destroy attacks and Oram has the ability to finish an innings in style. But it's hard to argue that any of those men are more important to New Zealand's chances than Ross Taylor. No. 4 is a key position in Twenty20. If the openers have failed he must be steady without stalling; if they have thrived he needs to maintain or increase the momentum immediately. Taylor has the game to fill that role. He had a good IPL and his barely believable 81 off 33 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders was a highlight.

Twenty20 form guide

Warm-up wins against Bangladesh and Ireland don't reveal much, although the form of Taylor and Guptill in those games was a pleasing sign. More of a positive was New Zealand winning their two most recent Twenty20s, against the reigning champions India in February. Since then it has been an up-and-down time for their squad members. Taylor thrived at Royal Challengers Bangalore, McCullum played a couple of strong innings as captain of Kolkata Knight Riders but was in the firing line as his team failed, while Ryder, Oram and Scott Styris had largely forgettable tournaments. In the meantime, Franklin has enjoyed a productive stint with Gloucestershire and O'Brien has been acclimatising with Leicestershire.

Squad: Daniel Vettori (capt), Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum (wk), Nathan McCullum, Peter McGlashan (wk), Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor.

Ganguly begins TV stint with T20 World Cup

New Delhi: India's most successful captain Sourav Ganguly is set to herald the start of a new innings behind the microphone post-retirement after he was signed by ESPN STAR Sports as an expert analyst for the ICC World Twenty20, commencing in England on Saturday.

Ganguly will be part of an ESPN STAR Sports commentary panel including the likes of Ian Chappell, Ian Bishop, Wasim Akram, Sanjay Manjrekar, Harsha Bhogle and Nasser Hussain.

Ganguly, who will start his stint with the channel from the semi-final stage, said he was excited about his new role, which also comprises interacting with his former teammates.

"I look forward to interviewing my erstwhile teammates. I am very excited about my new role as the ICC World Twenty20 is the biggest event for an analyst like me and I look forward to the semi-finals and the final where I will be commencing my stint with ESS," he said.

R C Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd. Said Ganguly's uncanny ability to read match situations made him fit for the job.

"Sourav is recognised by the cricket fraternity globally as one of the shrewdest captains in the history of the game combined with his extraordinary leadership skills his uncanny ability to read match situations gave the national team a defining edge during his tenure.

"His analysis and his understanding of the modern day game will now lend a new dimension to the overall experience in the commentary box," he added.

STAR Cricket, the 24 hours cricket channel from the ESPN STAR Sports stable, will telecast live all the 27 matches of the tournament.

World T20 raises hopes of revival in England

LONDON: June 13, 2003 to June 2009 has been a long journey indeed. Twenty20 had just saved English domestic cricket from the sport that is No.1 to 10 in Britain - football.

Stuart Robertson, who was the marketing manager of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), introduced the format to bring in new and young audience into cricket stadiums. It soon became a raging hit.

Many thought that as England had introduced the format and actually allocated some weeks for it in its domestic calendar, English cricketers would be the best and most proficient in it. But it didn’t quite turn out that way. Like One-Day Internationals, which were first played at the county level, England have turned out to be laggards at T20 too. They didn’t qualify for the semi-finals in the inaugural edition held in South Africa.

Now, with the ICC World Twenty20 coming back to its roots, there is a semblance of hope amongst the ECB and English fans that it’ll see a revival of fortunes for the hosts when it comes to their performances in the game’s shortest format. More importantly, the ECB would hope that it will revive interest in cricket, something which was a given when Andrew Flintoff turned in an inspirational all-round performance to help England win back the Ashes in 2005. But as the performances dipped, so did the interest levels.

The format pioneered by England has almost been hijacked by India. The Indian Premier League has captured the imagination of most cricket lovers and even the most grudging Englishman and ECB member would admit that Lalit Modi has won the battle of securing global eyeballs and media attention. The Twenty20 Cup, which is England’s domestic Twenty20 event, almost pales in comparison to the IPL.

And it’s not just the IPL that the ECB is competing with. IPL’s bastardised version, the Indian Cricket League (ICL), too, has been successful in taking away talent from England and other countries. For a brief period, the ICL also did enough to attract media attention from all over the cricketing globe. Now, there are already plans in place for another money-spinning league, the American Premier League (APL) and it can only erode whatever fan base the ECB has for Twenty20 cricket.

With more exciting Twenty20 cricket coming up in the form of Champions League

T20 (October 8 to 23 in India) and IPL chairman Lalit Modi’s adventurous claim to have two IPLs a year, one each in India and abroad, the ECB can start counting its troubles. ECB is planning a rival to the IPL called P20, which is a franchise based model involving 18 teams, from 2010. Will that bring back the interest? As P20 will compete with Twenty20 Cup, won’t it dilute the competition and format in England even further and thus reduce interest even more?

What will definitely bring back the crowds is a little bit of dynamism from Paul Collingwood’s men. If they play with the same enterprise as Kevin Pietersen and his men during their 4-0 triumph over South Africa in an ODI series and lift the trophy on June 21, it’ll be a moment of epiphany for the English.

But if the calls for ‘‘bravery’’ from Collingwood to his side aren’t paid heed to, the ICC World Twenty20 could only turn out to be an unappetising starter for what is surely the main course of the English summer, The Ashes. It seems that’s all that the locals and even the media and ex-England cricketers are waiting for.

IPL experience will benefit India in T20 WC: Manjrekar

Former Test batsman Sanjay Manjrekar feels the experience of playing high-pressure matches in the IPL will stand the Indian players in good stead during the upcoming World Twenty20 Championship commencing on June 5 in England.

''There is nothing like match practice getting into a tournament like the ICC World T20 and India have had a lot of match practice. I also believe that India are the strongest team in the competition because of individual ability of each player and experience in this form of the game. This is beacuse of the sudden surge of T20 interest in India and the IPL,'' Manjrekar wrote in his coloumn in 'espnstar.com'.

''In the last three to four years, the Indian team has changed in nature. Earlier in the 1990's, the team depended heavily on a couple of players to win matches but with the unpredictable nature of the Twenty20 format, you need more than two or 3 match winners and that is where India's strength is. Now there are at least eight players out of a 11 who can win you matches single handedly,'' he added.

With several young Indian players coming out with standout performances during the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Manjrekar feels Team India stand a strong chance of defending their World Twenty20 crown.

''The emergence of Suresh Raina is also vital. He wasn't as dangerous a player in the last World T20 as he is this time round.

''I get the feeling he himself has been surprised by discovery of a new facet in his batting. The big hitting,'' he stated.

''Then there is Pragyan Ojha, who is such a handy bowler to have in the side. A spinner who wants to make difference to the side by taking wickets and not just bowl his quota of overs without incident. His grown confidence has added to India's ability as a T20 team.

''Furthermore, RP Singh's performance is good news for India. His body language looked great in the IPL and with his tail up he will enjoy bowling in England,'' he added.

The 43-year-old former right-handed batsman also praised skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's leadership qualities for India's success in the shortest format of the game.

''MS Dhoni's calm leadership is also critical. We have seen how much leadership plays a part in the success of teams in the T20.

India's leadership is what also makes India a top T20 team and worth defending champions,'' Manjrekar opined.

''Because of the unique fan following of the game in India and with it the abnormal expectation, India is getting accustomed to generally handling pressure. Also having played many high profile matches and series in the recent past, This Indian team is also now more used to playing in the big matches than some of the other top teams.'' However, the former middle-order batsman sounded a word of caution, warning that the abundance of talent in the squad is no guaratee that India will emerge T20 world champions yet again.

''Finally and most importantly having raved about India's qualities as they go into defending the title does not mean that they will. From the short history of T20 we have seen so far that all decent teams have a great shot at winning,'' he warned.

''It's a high risk sport and more things are out of your control in T20 game than a 50 over game or a Test match. So because 'you have a very good team you have great shot at the title' is a logic that would apply the least here.''

Why India will win the ICC World Twenty20

India are the favourites to win the ICC World Twenty20, and with good reason. They have the match-winners, strength in depth and mentality to succeed, and as holders, know what is required to go all the way.

India have some of the best Twenty20 players in their ranks. Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Virender Sehwag are three of the biggest hitters in world cricket, meaning they are ideally suited to the format. Sehwag’s relatively poor record in Twenty20 cricket should be corrected in England.

Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan are also capable of scoring quickly in different ways, whilst the bowling is well-covered in all areas, with RP Singh and Harbhajan Singh likely to be key performers.

However, India’s main advantage over their rivals is their experience. All 15 members of their squad featured prominently in the recent Indian Premier League, meaning their techniques are well-grooved in Twenty20 cricket . The batsmen are used to the need to score quickly from the outset and the bowlers should have the necessary variations to hand.

The scale of this advantage can be measured by the number of IPL games each squad has played between them. India’s 15 players have featured in 390 IPL games over the last two years. South Africa have had 12 participants playing 190 matches and Sri Lanka 10 playing 157 matches.

The major teams with the least exposure to IPL cricket are England, with 18 matches spread between six players, and West Indies, who have had six players involved in 40 matches between them.

The pressurised, high-profile nature of the IPL is the perfect preparation for the World Twenty20, especially as it provides the participants with regular exposure to the best players in the world.

Anything can happen in Twenty20 cricket, but India have given themselves the best chance of being the ones to do it.

Team India needs to guard against complacency

The Indian cricket team needs to watch out for an unfamiliar enemy in the ICC World Twenty20 2009 World Cup- complacency. They have never before entered a World Cup as clear favourites. Not even in 1987 when they were the defending champions and ultimately lost in the semis at Mumbai to the Englishmen. In fact the Indian team looks much stronger than in 2007 when they emerged champions, but had some modest players in their ranks.

On paper they look remarkable this time, with a batting line up that reads- Sehwag, Gambhir, Raina, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Rohit, Pathan and Pathan. No other team, not even Australia or South Africa, can boast of such batting firepower in this World Cup. Each of India’s top eight batsmen has the ability to clear the field by some distance, the only question being who hits the longest sixes. In that department, Yusuf Pathan is probably the winner, closely followed by Sehwag, Raina, Dhoni and Yuvraj, in no particular order!

India’s bowling looks robust too, with RP Singh having grabbed the Purple Cap in the just concluded IPL, and also having bowled the maximum number of dot-balls in that tournament. Irfan Pathan bowled superbly in the IPL too, and picked up a bagful of wickets. Ishant Sharma bowled well in the warm-up game against the Kiwis and though India lost that match by 9 runs, they can take heart from the form of their spinners too- Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha were quite impressive. If Zaheer Khan is fit, then India’s bowling would test the very best. They also have an embarrassment of riches in the batting-all rounders department, with Yusuf Pathan, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma all proving to be capable spinners of the ball.

Their fielding looks impressive too, with only a few of the bowlers being somewhat slow in the outfield. Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina are absolute dynamite in the inner circle. While the Indians garnered invaluable practice during the IPL, top players of teams like New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa benefitted immensely from the event too. In fact the South Africans are second-favourites given their all round skills and the form that their batsmen are in. Their fielding is still the world’s best, even though the Kiwis and the Aussies run them close in that area. The experience of Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Graeme Smith coupled with the firepower of Dale Steyn and Albie Morkel makes them a formidable line up.

The Australians are probably next in the list of likely winners. They can never be counted out as potential champions and have the ability to raise their game in World Cups. Ricky Ponting still has a point or two to prove in this format, while Michael Hussey and his brother David, along with Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds lend them some real class in the middle order.

Sri Lanka are next, and have in Mahela Jayawardene, skipper Kumar Sangakarra and old war horse Sanath Jayasuriya, three of the most attacking batsmen in world cricket. The bowling looks a little suspect though, despite the presence of the slingy Lasith Malinga and the ever potent Muthiah Muralitharan in their ranks.

New Zealand could well be the dark horse of ICC World T-20 2009. They have always been under estimated by opposing teams and the media at major cricketing events. In Ross Taylor they have one of the finest batsmen in the world today. Brendon McCullum.

Jesse Ryder and Jacob Oram add some serious hitting-power to their batting. Daniel Vettori is not only a wily spinner but also a cool captain.

Last time’s losing finalists Pakistan are inhibited by lack of international exposure, of late. England would enjoy home advantage but are missing Freddie Flintoff. Skipper Paul Collingwood remains their best player in this format along with the mercurial Kevin Pietersen. Their bowling is their strength, with some good seamers in the side, led by Stuart Broad.

The Windies are looking below par too, as they go into the tournament. Despite having come off a Test and ODI series in England recently, and having an edge over other visiting teams in terms of the need to acclimatize to conditions, they would need some remarkable performances from Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo.

It is extremely difficult to predict anything that has to do with T-20 cricket. Nevertheless, the ICC World Twenty20 World Cup in England would be won by the team that combines a large amount of flair with confident execution of plans, and also holds its catches. Some nail-biting action is in store for sure.