T20 World Cup '09 - Contenders - T20 Cricket - iSport

Rohan Tawde previews the top contenders for the T20 World Cup trophy in England.

India: As I have mentioned before that pressure would be tremendous on the ‘Men in Blue’ going into this particular WT20 competition. Since their victorious campaign in 2007, we have witnessed a lot of changes in this Indian team as it has developed into world-beaters under the leadership of MS Dhoni.

There is wealth of T20 experience in the country today courtesy of the Indian Premier League (IPL), but the national side has only won a solitary game in five games since the World Cup in South Africa. Looking at the squad, India looks like a well balanced outfit with plenty of match-winners in the ranks.

But few key players have looked off the hook in the recently concluded IPL 2. The likes of Gambhir and Sehwag never looked like carrying on their innings while Yuvraj too failed to fire in most of the games. The pace bowling department comprises of names like Zaheer Khan (who has fitness worries), Ishant Sharma (who hasn’t performed well in T20 games), RP Singh (the man in form) and Praveen Kumar (who is likely play only if Zaheer is unfit). The Pathan brothers are the two all-rounders for the team but it will be a toss-up between Yusuf and Rohit Sharma for the final slot in the playing eleven.

Fatigue will also be the biggest challenge for the Indian team as almost all the players have undergone hectic international schedule coming into this WT20 tourney. Let’s wait and watch if Dhoni’s brigade can encore the 2007 performance and retain the trophy.

Australia: Being an Aussie cricket fan, it’s hard for me to not see them entering a tournament as the hot favourites. The WT20 campaign will mark the start of a long tour for the OZ outfit in the ‘Land of Angels’ and they would love to begin to start right by staking their claims for the one trophy that they don’t yet have in their decorated cabinet.

The past couple of years have witnessed Australia go through a significant transformation. With the retirements of several top-class players they have slipped down the world rankings and the new talent still struggling to find feet, the Kangaroos have had a tough time. Their record in T20 is a decent but not one to be proud of. Their squad for the World Cup looks stable with nine players retained from the one from 2007.

The opening slot won’t have the destructive names like Gilchrist and Hayden, and it would be Haddin along with either Shane Watson or the explosive David Warner at the top (which is an untested pair). The middle-order looks well set with skipper Ponting, his deputy Michael Clarke, the controversial Andrew Symonds (who will look to prove a point after his exclusion from Ashes squad) and Michael Hussey.

No quality match-winning spinner in the side means the pace battery of Lee, Johnson, Bracken and probably Siddle will hold the responsibility to rattle the opposition. It would be interesting to see if Ponting gambles with off-spinner Hauritz in place of a seamer. Another point of distraction for the Aussies would be the Ashes series which would definitely linger over the player’s mind as the competition goes on.

To make matters worse, they are placed in the Group of Death alongside West Indies and Sri Lanka, but knowing the Australians, nobody will dare to count them out.

South Africa: They are undoubtedly the biggest under-achievers of the cricketing arena today and are known to choke when it comes to claming World titles. Since 2007, the Proteas have excelled under the captaincy of Graeme Smith, doing well in all formats of the game.Their squad for WT20 consists of the combination of youth and experience.

Batting order for the African nation looks prodigious with AB de Villiers, Kallis, Duminy, Gibbs and Boucher all in great touch. Although, skipper Graeme Smith has been out of touch lately, one just cannot count him out.

Dale Steyn who will be returning from his injury in IPL will head the pace attack with all-rounder Albie Morkel. Johan Botha will be a great weapon in Smith’s arsenal when it comes to bogging down the opposition run-flow. Expect the spirited Roelof van der Merwe to make an impact in England this summer not just with the ball but with his audacious hitting.

South Africa will be one team that has benefitted substantially from the IPL 2 as twelve of their WT20 squad players appeared in the tournament and gained great exposure which would allow them to gather strategies, thoughts and preparation stuff from players of different teams. . The Rainbow nation enters every competition as the strongest contender to win it but either bad play, rain or Duckworth-Lewis method seems to always stop their march before the final step. Can they go the distance this time around?

Pakistan:Perhaps the most controversial and unpredictable team in world cricket today, Pakistan have the potential to go one step further than their performance in 2007 and win the tournament. But because of terror attack and security concerns in the country, this team has had very little exposure to international cricket in past couple of years.

Their record in the newest form of the game is very good and the victory over Australia in the solitary T20 game last month would be a confidence booster going into WT20 competition. Pakistan has retained 11 players from their 2007 runners-up campaign but this time they have a new captain-coach partnership in Younus Khan and Intikhab Alam.

The batting opening combination is very inexperienced but the middle-order consists of threatening names like Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and the skipper himself. Problematic Shoaib Akhtar will be missing another major tournament which means Umar Gul will spearhead the pace attack with an out of form Sohail Tanvir. The spin department will be the key factor for Pakistan’s success in the competition with both Afridi and Ajmal bowling with great chicanery. The former will be the USP for his team yet again and would look to repeat his Man of the Series performance like he did couple of years back.

Exclusion of the Pakistani players from IPL 2 gave the national side plenty of time together to train at home and they got a sort of intensive private T20 rehearsal in the domestic RBS Cup. On their day, this Asian outfit can turn into world-beaters and I won’t bet against them to pull some surprises on and off the field in England.