INDIA ARE WORLD TWENTY20 CHAMPIONS

Ist Twenty2o World Cup Final

Monday, 24th September : Johannesburg, South Africa

India: 157/5 beat Pakistan: 152 all out

Stories from the Cricket Blogosphere

The prayers of a blue billion and about half a green billion have been answered - an India vs Pakistan final is one of the ultimate fantasies of a cricket fan and it's been delivered, and how!! With Twenty20 having caught the imagination of the world, i thought of surfing the blogosphere and see what fellow cricket bloggers were writing. Here are some random gems

1.

"I will smash your face, you just wait" - The Yuvraj Singh-Flintoff controversy. And Yuvi's "Pay-Back Drama." Karthikeya digs into this story on his blog A Cricketing View - while this is not the best time to criticize Mr. Sixes, but i think Yuvraj had ready sound-bites for the media post his 666666. You must have already heard the "God, this is not justice" crap. I don't know why the press or the electronic media let go off of the 'tendonitis/tennis elbow' nonsense so easily even though Nasser Hussain and Harsh Bhogle had supplied the world with enough fodder for thought.

2.

India v South Africa by the Left Arm ChinaMan

Thus spake the Atheist: So frustrated by their ineptitude, that the Saffer wicket keeper, Mark Boucher, began to slap the faces of surrounding players with his glove, followed by some sound punching and then he tripped them up with a cricket bat which has recently grown from his mid-rift.

Go there, if not for the text, for the image accompanying this post.

3.

"Its l like watching an Angelina Jolie sex scene" - Uncle Rod similizes Yuvi's power hitting

4.

Homer's Eeerie parallels between the autumns of 2000 and 2007

5.

This ain't a pure cricket blog, but she writes the cutest posts on cricket: Dravid Resigns at Pri's World

"I title my post Dravid Resigns and yet every other word in my post ends with a kar, you know like Gavaskar, Vengsarkar etc. "

6.

Visit Brian Carpenter's Different Shades of Green for the best/most elegant header image amongst all the cricket blogs in the world. Like everyone else in England, he too seems to be mch troubled with Mr. Yuvraj Singh and is trying to find succour in county cricket!!

7.

"Brett Lee bowled with speed and aggression, knowing a good performance here could help him push another million Bollywood singles. "- JC's report on the India-Australia semi-final at his Cricket Blog. A tad staid by JC's standards, but the comments make-up for the lack of spice.

8.

Catch Bhajji's Bhangra (India vs Australia) at Six and Out . And if you are there, you may as well read this brief piece titled Yuvraj's Jab in Freddies Jaw

9.

I love cricket, but if it could be combined with a bit of art and a bit of action, it would be perfect. Check out Cricket=Action=Art for some stunning cricket artwork. Here's an example.

Plenty of visual delights on this blog, including an image of the victory huddle that India formed yesterday afternoon at the Kingsmead, Durban.

Twenty20 SemiFinal: What happens in case of rain?

Here are the 'ICC Twenty20 Playing Conditions' which give the rules in case a semi-final of the Twenty20 World Cup is abandoned due to rain.

In case of No result in the Semi Final – the team with the most wins in both the Group stage and Super Eight Series matches shall be placed in the higher position.
If still equal the team with the higher net run rate in all matches (in both Group stage and Super Eight Series matches) shall proceed to the Final.
If following the net run rate calculation above there are teams which are still equal, then the team with the higher number of wickets taken per balls bowled in all matches (in both Group and Super Eight Series matches) in which results are achieved, shall proceed to the Final.
If still equal, the finalist shall be determined by drawing lots.

So Pakistan will go through to the semi-final in case the semi-final is abandoned. (NZ has a total of 3 wins so far but Pakistan has 4)

World Twenty20: It's a India vs Pakistan final

It was the expected thing in the 1987 Reliance World Cup, but didn't happen as England and Australia spoiled the fun at the penultimate juncture. Twenty years later in the Twenty20 Cup, with both India and Pakistan fielding young teams and new captains at the helm, no one expected the sub-continent arch-rivals to reach this far. But then cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties, ain't it?

In the first semi-final of the inaugural World Twenty20 championship, New Zealand took on Pakistan at Capetown. Daniel Vettori won the toss and asked Pakistan to make first use of the wicket which promised some movement and early help for the faster bowlers. Shane Bond got into the act in the first over itself scalping opener Imran Nazir ever before the young man had opened his account. But from there on it was Pakistan all the way as they thrased the Kiwi attack all round the park. Even Vettori, who has had a most economical series so far was not spared. The hapless NewZealand captain was taken for 24 runs in his final over as Shahid Afridi just missed breaking Yuvraj Singh's record of T20's fastest fifty. Afridi was finally dismissed for 49 off just 10 balls. (for the video of Afridi's 8 consecutive sixes, click here :)) .

Chasing a mammoth target of 222, NZ got off to a blistering start reaching 75 in just 5.0 overs. It was the brilliant change of attack from the Pakistan captain that changed the tide of the game completely - in the 6th over, Malik brought on himself even though the fielding restrictions were still on and in the 7th over, a double change happened as spin was introduced from the other end as well, in the form of Afridi. Malik and Afridi bowled in tandem right from the 6th to the 13th over - and what a spell it was! Many many years from now, cricket fans would still remember this afternoon in Capetown when two Pakistani spinners mesmerized the Kiwis into abject surrender.

Not a single wicket fell in the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th overs but the Kiwis were in deep tangle as the scorecard read 80/0. Just five runs were scored off the last five overs and the asking rate had climbed to a steep 14.20. Under intense pressure to get going, one after the other NZ batsmen threw away their wickets and by the time the two spinners had finished their quota of overs, the match was for all purposes over. The scorecard read 92/7 at the end of over no.13 . Pakistan finally won the match by 92 runs to reach the final.

In the other semi-final at Durban, Australia who chose to bat first were dismissed for all of 43 runs. Ajit Agarkar who once again managed to find a place in the India XI wreaked havoc on the Aussies as he dismissed Gilchrist, Hayden, Symonds, Hussey, Hodge, Clarke and Watson. He finished with figures of 3.5-0-21-7 . India rattled off the required 44 runs without the loss of any wickets. Speaking at the post-match conference, Adam Gilchrist said, "It was the most humiliating day of my life." (Gilchrist was out hit-wicket as a squash ball fell onto his stumps :) )

India outfield South Africa to reach Twenty20 Semis

In the past, India has out-batted South Africa to win a cricket match. Sometimes they have outbowled them too. But tonight was different - besides beating the Proteas in the batting and bowling departments, India were the better side in the field too. When Dinesh Karthik plucked the flying ball from mid-air(reaction time: 0.76 seconds) to send captain Graeme Smith back, his first ball duck earlier in the evening was immediately forgiven. New-kid-on-the-block Rohit Sharma topped up his match winning fifty with a most athletic pick n throw to run out the in-form Justin Kemp. Besides these two super efforts, the Indians were good in the outfield and barring a couple of minor errors, their fielding effort today was blemishless.

While Dhoni used his bowling resources in the smartest manner, I am not too sure about this bat first policy. The new India captain is in the grips of a chase-phobia - he admitted as much at the toss; the decision to set a target worked out well for him today, but the decision should not be a function of this fear. But for that, I have been most impressed with India's new ODI captain.

India vs South Africa: What should be India's Team?

An interesting conversation took place between the two commentators (Hindi) on Star Cricket today during the Sri Lanka-Australia world T20 encounter earlier today.

कमेंटेटर १: आज रात के दू ओर दिए मैच में भारत को एक्ष्पेरिएन्सेद् खिलाड़ियों को प्रेफेरेंस देनी चाहिऐ । जोगिन्दर सिंह अभी युवा खिलाडी हैं और पिछले मैच में उनको बहुत ज़्यादा मार पडी थी। धोनी को आज अगरकर को फिर से टीम में शामिल करना चाहिऐ।

कमेंटेटर २(भूतपूर्व भारतीय क्रिकेटर): अगर शिर्फ एक्ष्पेरिएन्स् ही सेलेक्शन का मापदंड है तो मुझे क्यों नहीं खिला लेते? मैं १९८३ की विश्वा कप विजेता टीम में भी था !!

Translated:

Commentator 1: Ajit Agarkar should be brought back into the team for the evening's do-or-die encounter against South Africa in place of rookie Joginder Singh. Singh is new to international cricket whereas Agarkar has the experience that may be required in the crucial match tonight.

Commentator 2 (former India cricketer): If performance has stopped being a criteria and experience is all that matters, why don't you play me in the evening's match? Afterall, I too am very experienced, and unlike Agarkar, I have been a member of a World Cup winning squad !!!

While i have myself been quite supportive of Mr. Agarkar in the past, i think it's now high time to drop him permanently - he has been given enough chances at the international level now, and his great batting in domestic matches should not be allowed to become a reason for his re-selection. As for his bowling - I don't think any other Indian bowler has killed as many one-dayers with '1 bad over' as Agarkar has. Yes, he was a key bowler on the memorable trip to Australia and has put in splending performances every now and then. But his inconsistency with the ball and consistency(sic) with the bat can no longer be hidden under the garb of experience. India needs to move on.

My team for today's World Twenty20 match against South Africa:

1. Gautam Gambhir

2. Virender Sewhag

3. Robin Uthappa

4. Yuvraj Singh

5. Mahendra Singh Dhoni

6. Rohit Sharma ( He has played 9 Twenty20 matches, and has a century to his credit. Sharma has taken 8 wickets at an economy rate of sub 7)

7. Irfan Pathan

8. Yusuf Pathan ( He has played 4 Twenty20 matches till date. Batting Strike Rate is 195+ and has picked up 9 wickets at an economy rate of 7.7, the only thing going against him may be his style of bowling - Yusuf is a leg-spinner)

9. Harbhajan Singh

10. Sreesanth

11. R P Singh

Twenty20 Points Table: Who will make it to the semis?

Group E current standings:

Team	Matches Played	Won	Lost	Points	Net Run Rate
South Africa	2	2	0	0	0.766
New Zealand	3	2	1	0	0.050
India	2	1	1	0	0.200

Remaining Match:India Vs South Africa

Yesterday's 18 runs victory over England, powered by Yuvi's 6-6-6-6-6-6 has made India's task much simpler now. To ensure a spot in the Twenty20 World Cup semi-final, Dhoni and his men need not bother about the net run rate now - a simple win over South Africa will do.

Let's look at the various possible scenarios in this group.

1. If South Africa wins, India will be knocked out. NZ & SA go through to the semis.
2. If India wins, India go through to the semi, for sure. But New Zealand and South Africa's fortunes will be a function of the margin of India's victory.

- If South Africa lose by about 30 runs, they will be out.
- If India chases, they will need to win with about 3 overs to spare to give New Zealand a spot in the semis.

(approx calculations: please allow a small margin for error, i am no mathematician :) )

For now, it's time to start gazing at the TV screen as i hope Sri Lanka will knock Australia out of the Twenty20 World Cup.

Collingwood goes Bang-Bang

Antonia (second from left) hails from Romania. She is 23 yrs old and her bust size is 34 c. Louisa is from Ukraine and so is Yara. Jasmine is..........

Aren't they all pretty and ooh-so-attractive? The Maverick Revue Bar in Capetown has 90 such stunning beauties and the England cricket captain is a man after all. Surely this is a better place to drown your sorrows than the Caribbean Sea that Freddy had chosen for himself earlier this year. And poor dear Paul Collingwood had gone there for just a beer and not for something that rhymes with his score the next afternoon (in case you are getting any ideas) !! A 1000 £ fine is too much for such minor transgressions!

What's making me feel worse is that i can't even sincerely wish him good luck for his next match - England take on India tomorrow. The match is happening in Durban, more than a thousand miles away from the temptations of Maverick Reveue and Bang-Bang Bars of Capetown. English fans can only hope that with Jasmine, Yara and gang too far away from the Kingsmead, their captain will concentrate on the job at hand. So what if his shots are greeted by the Indian fans with shouts of "Yara, kya hai mara"!!!

Twenty20 World Cup:Super Eight Schedule

Here's the full schedule of the Twenty20 World Cup Super 8 Matches.

Date	Group	Match	Venue	Time
16 Sep	E	India vs New Zealand	Johannesburg	0800
16 Sep	F	Australia vs Bangladesh	Capetown	1200
16 Sep	E	South Africa vs England	Capetown	1600
17 Sep	F	Pakistan vs Sri Lanka	Johannesburg	1600
18 Sep	E	England vs New Zealand	Durban	0800
18 Sep	F	Australia vs Pakistan	Johannesburg	1200
18 Sep	F	Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka	Johannesburg	1600
19 Sep	E	South Africa vs New Zealand	Durban	1200
19 Sep	E	India vs England	Durban	1600
20 Sep	F	Australia vs Sri Lanka	Capetown	0800
20 Sep	F	Bangladesh vs Pakistan	Capetown	1200
20 Sep	E	India vs South Africa	Durban	1600

For Indian viewers: The morning match (0800 GMT as in chart above) starts about 1:30 pm IST in the afternoon, the 1200 match starts about 5:30 pm in the evening and the day's last match at 9:30 pm Indian Standard Time.

India defeat Pakistan 3 - 0 !!!!!!

A wonderful game of cricket ended in a bit of a farce, though I didn't mind the extended fun one bit. In a see-saw battle between arch-rivals India and Pakistan, the plank finally came to a rest parallel with the cricket field as Misbah-ul-haq failed to get the final single that would have sealed the match for his team. But that was only after Misbah-ul-haq got Pakistan back into the game from a hopeless situation with some brilliant power hitting in the 48th and 49th overs.

The match would have ended with both teams tied at 141, but for the introduction of the new 'Bowl-Out' system to determine who gets the 2 points for the match. While the bowl-out did look a kind of a joke, Mahendra Singh Dhoni needs to be complimented for getting the choice of bowlers right. Two of the three bowlers who hit the stumps were not regular bowlers, in fact they hadn't bowled a single ball in the match earlier. No wonder both Sehwag and Uthappa were thrilled with their efforts.

**

India vs Pakistan, Durban, September 14th 2007

Scores: India - 141/9 and Pakistan 141/7

Ashes and War

Two pairs of arch rivals will fight T20 battles tomorrow in the much drenched cricket-fields of Capetown and Durban. Tommorow's afternoon fight promises to be one exciting one with the most fiercesome of the four warriors back against the walls having suffered a gory loss to an unfancied outsider in the 1st Battle-of-Capetown. Will the giant be able to brush apart its bruises and scars and finish victorious in the do-or-die clash tomorrow? In yesterday's encounter Ponting's soldiers started off with the intetion of blitzkrieging the men from Zimbabwe. The strategy backfired with heavy early casualties, a position of weakness from which the Australians never could recover. What will be their game plan for the morrow? Afterall the English castle is only stronger than the Zimbabwean one, and unfocussed heavy shelling may not be a prudent idea. However a planned artillery attack to weaken the enemy before the final hand-combat might just do the trick.

Translated: Gilchrist and Hayden will need to avoid the tempation to go firing on all cylinders all the time. Give Freddie the respect if he bowls like the way he did today againt Zimb. It is possible to reach a 190-200 score even if one bowler ends up with figures of 4-1-29-2. T20 is slam-bang but not as slam-bang as Ponting thought/thinks it was/is!!

When the sun sets tomorrow in Durban, the stars will rise - to shine, and fight. A new general is in charge of the Hindoostan army and unlike the previous incumbent he is no Wall. To the contrary, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a 'Wall-Demolisher'. He dislikes minor skirmishes prefering instead to wage mounted battles or launching missiles. In an earlier avatar as an ordinary soldier, he had once brought the same enemy to its knees in a battle on the eastern coast of India. In that magnificient battle, Dhoni single-handedly shot down 148 men of the Pakistan navy - most remarkable were those four sensational shots when he drowned naval ships carrying 6 men with a single fire. 15 other times he shot down ships carrying 4 men apiece. But that clash is now history and tomorrow is a new day. The Pakistani army is also under a new dynamic and multi-talented leader - Shoaib Malik. For General Malik the primary task will be to marshall his own unruly troops. He knows that he has a bunch of great individual fighters, but can they stop the in-fighting to focus their energies on wiping out the opposition?

Will Dhoni's men be able to put it across Pakistan then? I suspect the key may lie in INS Sehwag, that old warship which has seen much battle but rusty now for lack of use. INS Pathan faces a similar predicament. If these two old war-horses can kick off that rust and manage to shimmer, the Blue stars can definitely outshine the Green ones tomorrow night.

*******

Twenty20 World Cup: 14 September 2007

Afternoon, 1200 GMT : Australia vs England, Capetown

Evening, 1600 GMT : India vs Pakistan, Durban

Twenty20 Twist to Rain Rule

It's raining on the Kingsmead, Durban and the start of the India-Scotland match has been delayed. India would not want to miss out on the points and more importantly the batting and bowling practise that the match would provide. Tonight ICC may actually come to the rescue of the Indian team.

The Playing Conditions of the T20 World Cup have seen an important (and sensible) change to rules regarding the resumption of the game if the match gets disrupted by rain.

Law 3.9 - Suspension of play for adverse conditions of ground, weather or light
Laws 3.8 and 3.9 shall apply subject to the following:

3.5.1 If conditions during a rain stoppage improve and the rain is reduced to drizzle, the umpires must consider if they would have suspended play in the first place under similar conditions. If both on-field umpires agree that the current drizzle would not have caused a stoppage, then play shall resume immediately. In these circumstances the provisions of Laws 3.9 (b) (i) and 3.9 (c) (i) shall not apply.

The previous rule was that 'once play was stopped due to rain, resumption could only happen when the rain came to a complete stop'. That stringency has now been relaxed, thankfully as India may realize later tonight.

Bangladesh put West Indies out of Twenty20 World Cup

Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful recorded the fastest 5o in the history of Twenty20 Cricket to send West Indies tumbling out of the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup. Only a little earlier Ashraful must have been a disheartened man as he gave away 24 runs off the 19th over of the Windies innings - West Indies had put up a most lackadaisical batting display and it was only a late flurry of runs that allowed them to reach a respectable score.

Sarwan may have been thinking that 164 should be enough for the West Indies to stop Bangladesh and as they lost early wickets things looked bright and hopeful for him. At 28/2 Ashraful walked in to bat and by the time he walked out, after having played just 27 balls, the match was as good as over for West Indies. It was a most delightful innings studded with 2 of the cutest 6's ever hit on a cricket field. Dougie Marillier would have definitely been proud of Ashraful today!!

Ian Chappell had conjectured yesterday about the possibility of Bangladesh upsetting one of the two teams in its pool and was proved right in less than a day. Two big upsets in two days and the Twenty20 World Cup is generating some serious excitement and crowd interest already - unlike the other World Cup which happened earlier this year. More interestingly a bigger upset may be on the cards - if England beat Australia, which i would think is at least a 50:50 possibility, that will send the favourites Aussies packing back home. Now that will be some good fun!!!!

Zimbabwe upset Australia

Well not yet...but not far off. Zimbabwe needs 26 runs off 21 balls and are firm favourites now to win the match. Watch this space for more....!!!!

Updated:
Zimbabwe have done it indeed - they have just pulled off the most sensational upset beating Australia in their first match of the Twenty20 world cup 2007.

Austrlia may be in a real tight spot now - the other team in the pool is England and it won't be a big surprise if Australia are sent back home early!!

Gayle Super-Hundred not enough: SA beat WI

So this is what Twenty20 is all about then. A team which is chasing an improbable asking run rate of 10.26 does it with 14 balls remaining!!

6's and 4's rained at the Wanderers tonight as host South Africa became the first team to chase a 200+ total in a Twenty20 international. Earlier in the evening, Chris Gayle became the first batsman to compile a hundred in the shortest version of cricket. Gayle scored 117 runs at a stupendous strike rate of 205, hitting 10 sixes and 7 boundaries.

(Amazing) Match Statistics:

Total no. of 6's : 18

Total no. of 4's : 36

Total no. of runs scored: 413 in 37.4 overs

Pollock's bowling analysis: 4-0-52-1

Most economical bowler - Fidel Edwards : 3-0-21-1

South Africa's average run rate: 11.78

...and the party has just begun!!

Twenty20 World Cup: Format Explained

The 12 participating teams have been divided into 4 pools, wherein each team will play once against the other 2 teams in its pool to decide who goes into the Super Eight. Let's look at the pools:

Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D	Group Seeding
S.Africa	Australia	NewZealand	Pakistan	1
West Indies	England	Sri Lanka	India	2
Bangladesh	Zimbabwe	Kenya	Scotland	3

( The last column only indicates the seedings within the group)

Whether South Africa finish 1st or 2nd in the group, they will be called A1 for the purpose of Super Eight. West Indies will similary be called A2 irrespective of their group standing at the end of the first round. However if there is an upset and Bangladesh qualifies instead of South Africa, Bangladesh will be A1. Similary if Bangladesh qualifies instead of West Indies they will be called A2.

Super Eights

(Unlike the ODI World Cup, the points from the first round will not be carried forward to the Super Eight stage)

This round will comprise 2 groups, E & F. Group E will comprise A1, B2, C1 & D2. Group F will comprise A2, B1, C2 & D1.

Each team will play against the other teams in its group only. ( 3 matches each) In the semi-finals, the team which finishes first in Group E will play the runner-up of the Group F and vice-versa.

*******

Other interesting posts:

Duckworth Lewis for Dummies

Net Run Rate Calculation Method for World Cup 2007 (ODI)

Twenty20: No stumpings on wide balls

Here are a few of the more interesting among the 'Playing Conditions' framed by the venerable ICC for the inaugural Twenty20 Championship.

Law 8.2 - Size of stumps

The following shall apply in addition to Law 8.2
For televised matches the Home Board may provide a slightly larger cylindrical stump to accommodate the stump camera. When the larger stump is used, all three stumps must be exactly the same size.

Comments: Why can't they simply write: Size of stumps in case stump-camera is used shall be X.

More interestingly, i am waiting for the 'bowl-out'(which will happen in case of a tie, to decide the winner). I am waiting to see what kinds of stumps are used then - the one with the smaller radius or the larger one with the stump-cam. For a list of 'laws' where they have gone to ridiculous lengths to be comprehensive, it's surprising they missed out on this point. Can Ponting or any other captain raise an issue that they had practised 'bowl-outs' with the regular ICC authorised size?!!

Law 19.3 - Scoring a boundary
The following shall apply in addition to Law 19.3.
If an unauthorized person enters the playing arena and handles the ball, the umpire at the bowler’s end shall be the sole judge of whether the boundary allowance should be scored or the ball be treated as still in play or called dead ball if a batsman is liable to be out as a result of the unauthorized person handling the ball.

Law 24.2

For any free hit, the striker can be dismissed only under the circumstances that apply for a no ball, even if the delivery for the free hit is called wide ball.

Comment: Watch out for more discussions and debates on the definitions of a 'run-out' vs 'stumping'!

Law 41.2.5

If an innings is interrupted during an over and if on the resumption of play, due to the reduced number of overs of the batting team, the required number of Fielding Restriction Overs have already been bowled, the remaining deliveries in the over to be completed shall not be subject to the fielding restrictions.

Law 3.2.2 d.

When reviewing the TV replay(s), if the third umpire finds the batsman has been bowled rather than hit wicket or stumped, he shall indicate that the batsman was dismissed.

Getting lawyers to frame laws is one thing. Explaining and making the umpires and referees understand it is quite another - as we saw during the World Cup Final. Thankfully, both Aleem Dar and Steve Bucknor are not on the Twenty 20 Umpires Panel.

Twenty20 World Cup Schedule with Predictions (HTML Improved Version!!)

Hi! I always a felt little envious of other bloggers who knew and understood HTML more than me - always wondering how they so easily cross out things and just have a little more fun than I had. Further Blogger.com always troubled me with the formatting part, often driving me nuts over small little things. So i decided to take the plunge and here i am - all improved!!

Now I've learnt to make tables and little cells and to celebrate this latest acquisition of knowledge here's my plan to show it off. I'm going to do another post on the "Twenty20 World Cup Schedule" and to add a bit of twist, this comes with my set of predictions. This format should be easier for readers to grasp; am doing it for the First Round now and will add the second round later. So here i go...

First Round

Match	Venue	Date	Match Start Time (GMT)	My Result Prediction
West Indies vs South Africa	Johannesburg	September 11	1600	West Indies
Kenya vs NewZealand	Durban	September 12	0800	NewZealand
Pakistan vs Scotland	Durban	September 12	1200	Pakistan
Australia vs Zimbabwe	Capetown	September 12	1600	Australia
Bangladesh vs West Indies	Johannesburg	September 13	0800	West Indies
England vs Zimbabwe	Capetown	September 13	1200	England
India vs Scotland	Durban	September 13	1600	India
Kenya vs Sri Lanka	Johannesburg	September 14	0800	Sri Lanka
Australia vs England	Capetown	September 14	1200	England
India vs Pakistan	Durban	September 14	1600	India
NewZealand vs Sri Lanka	Johannesburg	September 15	1200	Sri Lanka
South Africa vs Bangladesh	Capetown	September 15	1600	South Africa

Twenty20 World Cup: Full Schedule with Times

This is the complete schedule of the 1st Twenty20 Cricket World Cup that begins in South Africa on September 11th.

( Green: Day, Date
Teams : Time : Venue )

---

Tuesday, September 11th 2007
South Africa v West Indies : 1800 : Johannesburg

Wednesday, September 12th 2007
New Zealand v Kenya : 1000 : Durban
Pakistan v Scotland: 1400 : Durban
Australia v Zimbabwe: 1800 : Cape Town

Thursday, September 13th 2007
West Indies v Bangladesh : 1000 : Johannesburg
Zimbabwe v England : 1400 : Cape Town
India v Scotland : 1800 : Durban

Friday, September 14th 2007
Sri Lanka v Kenya : 1000 : Johannesburg
Australia v England : 1400 : Cape Town
India v Pakistan : 1800 : Durban

Saturday, September 15th 2007
Sri Lanka v New Zealand : 1400 : Johannesburg
South Africa v Bangladesh : 1800 : Cape Town

Sunday, September 16th 2007
Winner Group C v Runner Up Group D : 1000 : Johannesburg
Winner Group B v Runner Up Group A : 1400 : Cape Town
Winner Group A v Runner Up Group B : 1800 : Cape Town

Monday, September 17th 2007
Winner Group D v Runner Up Group C : 1800 : Johannesburg

Tuesday, September 18th 2007
Winner Group C v Runner Up Group B : 1000 : Durban
Winner Group B v Winner Group D : 1400 : Johannesburg
Runner Up Group A v Runner Up Group C : 1800 : Johannesburg

Wednesday, September 19th 2007
Winner Group A v Winner Group C : 1400 : Durban
Runner Up Group B v Runner Up Group D : 1800 : Durban

Thursday, September 20th 2007
Winner Group B v Runner Up Group C : 1000 : Cape Town
Runner Up Group A v Winner Group D : 1400 : Cape Town
Winner Group A v Runner Up Group D : 1800 : Durban

Saturday, September 22nd 2007
E2 v F1 : 1400 : Cape Town
E1 v F2 : 1800 : Durban

Monday, September 24th 2007
Final : TBA : Johannesburg

Watch Live Streaming Cricket - Twenty20 World Cup

While you can also use the previous post on Live Streaming Cricket which I had put up during the previous India-England ODI series, here is an update on sites where you can watch live streaming videos of the Twenty20 World Cup which starts with the South-Africa West Indies match at Johannesburg on September 11th 2007.

Before we go into the discussion on sites where you can watch live cricket, let me give you the caution:

With the ICC not sanctioning any official sites for live webcasting of cricket matches, this is largely an unorganized sector. Some of them may be ‘illegal’ and please be careful while paying for the sites. Do some cross-checking if possible. Also please see if you won’t get into legal trouble depending on your country of residence.

The Desikotha Network: This appears to be a Bangladesh site with the byline “Voice of the Bangladesh People”. So those of you who understand Hindi please don’t get ideas because of the word ‘kotha’ in the name. Kotha in Bangla simply means a ‘tale’ or ‘story’.

This guys claim to have beamed the ODI World Cup action live here and are planning to repeat it for the Twenty20 World Cup. The plan here is to have 2 sopcast channels for the cricket action – one sopcast for the low bandwith users and the other a high quality sopcast.

Is it paid? Yes and no. If you want it for free you will have to actively participate in their forums, else you can pay and watch.

Package Charges: 12 $ / 24 $ for the entire duration (26 games)

Willow.TV : They are currently obsessed with the India-England series and there is absolutely no mention of the Twenty20 Cup. But this is one place you should check out before anything else. Of all the places I checked this one is the one which looked ‘non-shoddy’. WillowTV also provides features on-demand cricket highlights and on-demand replays.

Daru Chini: Another place where I could see words like ‘cricket sopcast’ and ‘live cricket’. Nothing concrete but you could check it out. Especially if you are in an area where you don’t get WillowTV

Action8Cricket: Figure it out for yourself, but as you can see it is a dedicated cricket site.

For highlights of Twenty20 World Cup matches (and video recordings) please check with the same sites listed here and on the main live streaming cricket post.

Disclaimer:
This blog is in no way connected with any of the above mentioned sites. This article is just meant to be a guide to cricket fans who live in US, Canada or other places where they are not able to watch cricket live on their TV. We shall in no way be responsible for any monetary or non-monetary losses that may result out of your choosing to use the services of this sites.

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Live Streaming Cricket and Highlights of the India-Australia Series
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Click here for the complete schedule with match timings of the Twenty20 World Cup