One cannot be blamed for not following the India Sri Lanka
Series when Olympics is taking place..
After the ODI series, which
India
won comfortably at 4-1,
India
and Lanka play a solitary Twenty20 match at Pallekele. This will be
India
's last
T20 before the final squad for the World T20 is announced (the deadline is
August 18).
India
have played just one Twenty20 international in
Sri Lanka
, in 2009, which they won.
The teams have played T20s against each other on four occasions; their last
game was more than two years ago. After three losses in a row this trip,
Sri Lanka
have
one final shot at consolation.
Earlier, it was to be a 3 Test Series but later teams
decided in favour of 5 one dayers and one T20. With the T20 World Cup beckoning, is this the
right strategy adopted by BCCI ? Among
Test teams other than
Bangladesh
and
Zimbabwe
,
India
have
played the least T20 internationals - 34.
Pakistan
have played 55, leading
the list.
Sri Lanka
have played 40. Does India bank on its
IPL experience alone for the T20 is the moot point !!!
As you would know, the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 will be the
fourth ICC World Twenty20 competition – and this is to be hosted by
Sri Lanka
, between
September 18 and October 7, 2012. Sri
Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga has been chosen as the event ambassador of the
tournament by ICC.
The last 3 were held in
South Africa
,
England
and the
West Indies
respectively. The format will see four groups
of three in preliminary round.
India
and
England
are in the same
group and will be joined by the runner up of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier;
Afghanistan
.
In the inaugural T20 WC,
India
won the title in 2007. The second event in 2009 was won by
Pakistan
and the third in 2010 at West Indies was won by
England
,
who defeated
Australia
by 7
wickets in the final at
Kensington
Oval
,
Barbados
.
This was the first ever ICC tournament won by
England
.
Some IPL heroes have never shone outside – the classic
example being Rohit Sharma, who was described as oodles of talent. In a match, when Rohit and Virat Kohli were on
TV, Gavaskar commented – ‘you are looking at the future of
India
’. Virat has done enough to rise to that – Rohit given
no. of opportunities has failed time and again. In the present series, he got 5 – all went
abegging – at the cost of Manot Tiwary who made 21 and 65 in the two ODIs he's
played on this tour. He ran well between wickets, was especially strong through
the leg side, scored at a healthy pace
and took 4 surprise wickets in a match. He was below par in the IPL, averaging
26 and finishing as the fourth-highest run-getter for the Kolkata Knight
Riders, but he hit the winning runs that sealed the title in a tight chase.
For today’s match Virender Sehwag who missed the final ODI
due to a glute problem is no available as he has returned to
India
. Zaheer Khan has also headed
back, to the
National
Cricket
Academy
in
Bangalore
.
With regards –
S. Sampathkumar
