An Anatomical Eye On The Top Four!

2nd October 2012, Sri Lanka - The ICC World Twenty20 Cup made every cricket fan get into a statistical mode, as all the four teams in Group-II had eyes over the spot in semis. In the turn of events, Australia lost to Pakistan & qualified, India won against the Proteas & still didn't qualify. Let's give a critic's eye to the teams who are just two steps away from Glory.

Australia the most comfortably positioned team amongst others in the group, wouldn't even have thought in their wildest dreams of getting into a situation where they had to fight for qualification. Pakistan not only won their do-or-die game, but they did it in style by overpowering the in-form Aussies.

The game against Pakistan has exposed the cracks in the Australian batting and their vulnerability against spin will make Narine's 4 overs in the semi-final the 'game changer'. Shane Watson has been the most prolific player of the tournament so far, being the leading run scorer with 242 runs in 5 games, and leading the wickets tally with 11 scalps to his name. This clearly indicates how heavily Australians bank on Watson. Together, Watson, Hussey & Warner have scored 83% of the runs Australian Team got so far in the tournament. Watson & Warner scored a total of mere 16 runs against Pakistan and Australia failed to get even 120. After knowing these facts, you actually don't have to be a cricketing genius to understand what needs to be done in the semis by the West Indies. So, lets shift focus to SL vs Pak game.

Sri Lanka on the home turf have been favorites even before the start of the tournament & their qualification in semis wouldn't have raised a single eyebrow. But, the 'captain-switch' in the last game has certainly raised a lot of questions on their integrity. As far as my opinion goes, I don't advocate such moves. Agreed that there was nothing illegal in the move & Team Manager Charith Senanayake did his research pretty well to take advantage of the loop holes in the ICC's Rules Book. For an instance, if Dhoni wouldn't have called back Ian Bell after his bizarre run-out dismissal at Trent Bridge, then even that wouldn't have been illegal. But, somewhere down the line, MS Dhoni took a call in good spirit of the game & was much appreciated by majority of cricket fraternity and the fans. So, I believe that, what Sri Lanka did was not wrong, but certainly it was not in the spirit of the game.

Coming back to their upcoming match against Pakistan, the contest seems to be even. Pakistan's bowling attack has been boosted by the 20-year old left-arm spinner Raza Hasan, who has been one of the brightest upcoming talent in the cup. Hafeez, Afridi & Ajmal complete the quad of spinners who strangled the mighty Australians in the previous game. Add Umar Gul to that & Pakistan have a good bowling attack. Speaking about their batting, the batting order is what their management needs to re-think. Players like Shoaib Malik & Umar Akmal definitely need to bat at number 4 & 5. That would not only strengthen the middle order, but would give a license to go all guns blazing to the players like Kamran, Afridi & Razzak.

Sri Lanka has a bit similar bowling attack. Mendis being the trump card on the slow wickets, Dananjaya, Jeevan Mendis complete the spin-trio, whereas, Dilshan can contribute as well. Mathews, Perera & Kulasekara take care of the pace department, along with 'The Slinga Malinga Phenomenon", who gives the Lankan bowling attack an edge over Pakistan. The Sri Lankan batting has had it woes, due to the continued dependence on the Top-3. But with Mathews, J Mendis, Thirimanne & Perera chipping in with few runs in the last game, surely gave some relief to the Sri Lankan management ahead of the big game. Still, their lower middle order is vulnerable to a collapse.

As the semi-finals approach, the curiosity goes skywards. How would Australian middle order respond if the top-3 fail?, Who would rise, if Gayle falls?, Will Pakistan show consistency or will Sri Lanka utilize the home advantage? ... The questions will be answered in coming 2 days. Regardless of who makes it to the final, the cricket lovers are surely in for a treat.

Looking forward to your thoughts. Cheers!