The Dark Horses:
New Zealand: The Black Caps have been carrying the tag of Dark Horses for several decades now. When it comes to one day and T20 cricket, New Zealand never enter any tournament as the walkovers but as the team with the potential to make it far. I personally believe that they are one team that can sneak around in the final if they play to their full potential.
The T20 game comes very naturally to the Kiwis and their recent outstanding performances against World Champions India justify their success in the shortest form of cricket. The Trans-Tasmanian nation has always done well in the ICC tournaments, especially the World Cups.
The New Zealand team boasts of formidable names like Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori and Jesse Ryder who are genuine match-winners. Their pace attack isn’t intimidating and the onus would be on the skipper yet again to curb the opposition batting line-up with his immaculate and wily left-arm spin bowling. All-rounders Scott Styris and Jacob Oram would be useful assets for the side when it comes to T20 cricket.
The conditions in England are similar to the one in New Zealand and it would be very favourable for Vettori’s brigade. Expect the Black Caps to be tough competition throughout the 20-20 World Cup but some extra zest would be needed if they want to clinch the title of Champions.
Sri Lanka: The Sinhalese team would be another dark horse unit in the 2009 WT20. With the current form and squad, the chances for the Lankan lions in England are very uncertain but expect them to pull surprises throughout the tourney.
Hopes will be pinned high on the Sri Lankan cricketers to do well in the T20 World Cup as the country will be playing their first international tournament since the team fell victim to the terror attacks on the Pakistan tour. The recently concluded IPL gave some valuable T20 exercise for the Lankan players but except for Dilshan, Muralitharan and Malinga, the rest couldn’t do anything special in South Africa.
Jayasuriya has looked very weary in recent matches while Sangakkara and Jayawardena aren’t looking at their very best currently. So, the onus is on the in-form Dilshan to anchor the batting line-up which has recently struggled. The bowling department will be led by match-winners like Murali and Malinga and with Mendis not remaining a mystery anymore, the duo really need to strike very regularly to slow down the run-rate. Another name to watch out for is rookie left-armer Isuru Udana who is well talked about in domestic cricket.
Things look a bit difficult at this moment for Sri Lanka but if everything falls in place for them, expect the ‘Islanders’ to make it big in this WT20.
The Underdogs:
England: As I have mentioned in my previous articles, England would be the team under most pressure to perform this summer. They not only have to stake their claim for the WT20 but also have a tough job on hand to regain the Ashes urn from their rivals Australia in front of home crowd.
Through they are the originators of T20 cricket, England have always struggled to do well in the abridged version of cricket. The main reason for that is their incapability to maintain a stable 20-20 side. Their 2007 campaign was a disastrous one as the Poms won just a solitary game in the competition. Their batting line-up has never looked convincing except for names like Kevin Pietersen and skipper Paul Collingwood.
Andrew Flintoff would be missing because of injury which would aggravate their problems in both batting and bowling department. Broad, Anderson and Swann would be responsible to give the breakthroughs for their team while Mascarenhas and Luke Wright are the all-rounders of the side.
The new combo of Coach Andy Flower and Captain Collingwood will need to work out their strategies well if they want to survive the embarrassment in their own backyard.
West Indies: The Caribbean outfit is a disappointing one with a beleaguered captain in Chris Gayle and some youngsters who just cannot perform at the big stage. Their form in England has been dismal where they were overhauled by the home team in both Test and one-dayers. West Indies were the biggest disappointment of the 2007 WT20 where they were knocked out in the first round without a single win.
Gayle personally views his team as a good challenge in T20 matches but the record of just four wins out of 11 doesn’t vindicate the skipper’s opinions. The Windies squad picked for the World Cup isn’t daunting at all but if players like Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Bravo and Gayle himself can live up to their placarding, they can be a force to be reckoned. None of these aforesaid names have had any good run recently..
West Indies are placed in the Group of Death with Australia and Sri Lanka, so their chances look bleak at the moment. But in T20 version, you never know what would happen on the given day.
Bangladesh: Being the ultimate underdogs, Bangladesh is the also the team who can cause major shocks by upsetting the big guns of cricket. In fact, they tipped over the West Indies side back in 2007, to make it into the Super Eight stage of the WT20. But the team and its players don’t have much exposure to T20 games and they only have couple of wins to their name till date.
Players like skipper Ashraful and Mortaza must have gained experience from the IPL despite both of them playing only a game each. With India and Ireland in their group, we can expect Bangladesh to cruise into the Super 8s but progression beyond that looks unlikely in spite of match-winners like Shakib-al-Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Ashraful in the team.
The Party-poopers:
Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland: All these three teams have dome extremely well to make it through the qualifiers for an entry into the WT20 Championship. Each of them have an exciting player to watch for, like Andre Botha for Ireland, Aussie Dirk Nannes who has ‘gone Dutch’ after being overlooked by the OZ selectors and the experienced Gavin Hamilton for the Scots. Advancement to the Super Eight stages is unlikely for all thee of them but a surprise result isn’t totally out of question considering the unpredictable nature of this form. If one looks at it, Ireland has the best chance if they pip the Bangladeshi side aside to sneak through to the next round.
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