Posted by Minnows, upsets, India v Pakistan and the semi-finals already – this World T20 is getting the job done. And while some people claim that Twenty20 can be a lottery, you can make a strong case for the four remaining teams also being the four strongest.
Sri Lanka v West Indies
Darren Sammy is averaging a hundred in this tournament with a strike rate of 224. He’s managed to make an extraordinary impact in just 45 balls at the crease. Rangana Herath has played even less cricket but he too has made his mark. Bowling just 21 deliveries, he is currently averaging 0.60.
That sort of sums these teams up. Both seem like proper Twenty20 sides, chock full of weirdness and heavery. Neither gets too disheartened whether chasing a big total or defending a small one. We’ve no idea who’ll win, which is the way we like it.
India v South Africa
Insofar as any team can have reliable batting in Twenty20, India have reliable batting, but their bowling is more than doing a job in these conditions. Hardly anyone’s going for runs and in fact this is probably why the batting has appeared solid. They’ve been able to play within themselves.
For their part, South Africa have been uncharacteristically erratic. They’ve been generally underwhelming but with flashes of individual brilliance and appear to be working to Broad’s Law about only needing a maximum of two or three players to play well in this format. We’d bet on India, but unfortunately we don’t hold a position of responsibility within the BCCI and are therefore not permitted to lay wagers on cricket matches.
You may bet on India if you wish, KC, but only if you follow the correct procedure.
I believe the etiquette in these circumstances is for you to ensure that you win your bet by approaching Faf Du Plessis just before the match, tapping him politely on the shoulder and saying “it’s not your night, kid”.
The match will then play out in accordance with your script.
If we approach Faf and say: “It’s not your night, kid” and then approach Dhoni and say exactly the same thing, we could get the perfect Twenty20 match.
We love a short format shambles.
say what you like about dj sammy as a test player/captain, he doesn’t crack under pressure… he’s becoming a bit of a talisman for that team isn’t he? would love to see windies retain the trophy – getting past india could be tough though. (unless of course the semi has already been declared not dhoni’s night.)
An ‘upset’ is not that much of an upset in a T20 where the entire match could be decided in a couple of deliveries. Which is why headlines like ‘Netherlands humiliate England’ is disingenuous as it purports to compare the actual playing strength of these two teams. Nobody would seriously think that England would lose a test match or even a one-dayer to Holland.
It might be easier if all of us agreed to view T20s as a fun form of play (that should ideally be restricted to the club level) without letting all this analyzitude to ruin the cricketainment.
Analyzitude? Is that a new energy drink?
David Lloyd once said that he sees T20 as “a form of entertainment using cricket equipment rather than real cricket.”
“but unfortunately we don’t hold a position of responsibility within the BCCI and are therefore not permitted to lay wagers on cricket matches.” – genius!
SL v WI should go down to a super over so that the match is decided by Herath v Sammy.
Is Deep Cover an Aussie?
Nope, Indian.
I believe that was satire in the form of talking like a retard. Bit like what haydos does but on purpose.
I comprehend hypothetically that was a ‘satire’ in the functional apparatus of communicational retardation as a modal option. Circulating around what Haydos does, but ends-based. Come and play in their back yard.