T20 World Cup News

India begin title defence against Bangladesh

Nottingham, June 5: India will be wary of sticky customers Bangladesh when they begin their title defence in the ICC World Twenty20 at Trent Bridge here on Saturday.

India are strong favourites to retain the trophy, but they would be aware that any slip-up can spoil the party. This is something Bangladesh did in the ODI World Cup when they beat India in the legaue stage. India were eventually knocked out of the championship in the Caribbean in 2008.

This Indian team, however, is a more confident lot and are backed by tremendous success at the international level in all forms of the game in the last 12 months. They are also battle-hardened with the just-concluded Indian Premier League in South Africa.

Two years back, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's boys entered the inaugural edition as underdogs and went on to script history by winning the title. It created a sensation in the cricket crazy country and Dhoni's team found a place alongside Kapil's Devils for bringing a world title home after 24 years.

The same bunch, except for a few changes, has now gained more experience and are better equipped to handle pressure.

Also, Dhoni's shrewd leadership abilities came to the fore in South Africa in 2007. Since then, he has successfuly led the side in all the three formats.

India would be sorely missing two of their frontline players, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, who are both fighting injuries and likely to sit out Saturday.

'I am not sure about Viru (Sehwag) and even though Zaheer has started bowling, it may be too early to risk him,' Dhoni said.

The IPL, however, has given more options to Dhoni besides helping players like Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and R.P. Singh peak at the right time.

Rohit is almost certain to open the batting with Gautam Gambhir in Sehwag's absence. The right-hander stood to the test of his captain when he mauled Pakistan with a fiery 80 off 53 balls to lead India to an emphatic nine-wicket victory in the warm-up match.

The strong middle-order has Yuvraj Singh and skipper Dhoni while Yusuf Pathan can clobber any attack at any stage of the game.

The Pathan brothers - Yusuf and Irfan - give more options to Dhoni in both the batting and bowling departments.

Yusuf did a good job with his off-spinners while opening the bowling for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.

RP, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar and Irfan will share the pace workload while experienced Harbhajan Singh and impressive Pragyan Ojha will be the main spinners.

RP showed good form in the IPL and emrged as the top wicket-taker. Both Harbhajan and Ojha, too, were in the thick of things in IPL.

Bangladesh lost to Australia and Sri Lanka in practice matches this week, but they put up a fighting display in both games.

'We need to play to our potential and if we do that, we can surprise a lot of teams,' said captain Mohammad Ashraful.

Bangladesh would take confidence from their show at the inaugural World Twenty20 where they scored surprise wins over the West Indies and reached the Super Eights.

The team will count of all-rounder Shakib-al Hasan, explosive opener Tamim Iqbal and pacer Masrafe Mortaza to come good.

Squads:

India - Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina,Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf Pathan, Ishant Sharma, R.P Singh.

Bangaldesh - Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Zunaed Siddique, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mushfiqur Rahim, Roqibul Hasan, Shahadat Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Abdur Razzak, Mahmudullah, Mithun Ali, Naeem Islam, Rubel Hossain, Shamsur Rahman, Syed Rasel.

Kumble starts new innings as commentator

New Delhi, June 5: Former India cricket skipper Anil Kumble, like his team mate Sourav Ganguly, will start a new innings as a commentator and will make his debut with the ICC Twenty20 World Cup.

Both Kumble and Ganguly will be part of ESPN STAR Sports commentary team as expert analysts for the tournament.

Kumble said: 'I have always wanted to contribute to the game of cricket whether on or off the field. My association with ESPN STAR Sports poses an interesting challenge for me as I have never tried serious analysis before. I am looking forward to this unique opportunity with its mouth-watering prospect of rubbing shoulders with so many greats from the game of cricket.

'The T20 format does not leave much of a breathing space for both the player as well as the viewer as the match situation changes really fast. This fast format will surely open up many facets and nuances for the TV expert which I am sure will prove to be an enjoyable experience.'

R.C. Venkateish, managing director of ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd, said 'Anil is one of the greatest spin bowlers of all time. He has recently hung up his boots but the wealth of experience in handling all the great batsmen of the last two decades will surely come in handy when he is behind the mike. His understanding of match situations as well as inputs on bowling psychology will give a definitive edge to the illustrious roster of experts for the tournament.'

Besides Ganguly and Kumble, the panel will also have Wasim Akram, Sanjay Manjrekar, Alan Wilkins, Harsha Bhogle, Nasser Hussain, David Lloyd, Ian Chappell, Simon Doull, Kepler Wessels, Ian Bishop, Ranil Abeynaike and Athar Ali Khan.

Sehwag, Zaheer likely to miss opener

Nottingham, June 5: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni indicated on Friday that his star performers Virender Sehwagand Zaheer Khan are almost certain to miss the opening game against Bangladesh in the ICC World Twenty20 here on Saturday.

Opening batsman Sehwag and pace spearhead Zaheer are suffering from shoulder injuries. Both players missed the warm-up matches against New Zealand and Pakistan.

'I am not sure about Viru (Sehwag) and even though Zaheer has started bowling, it may be too early to risk him,' said Dhoni. 'They are important players for us, but we are trying to adjust without them.'

Zaheer picked up the injury while playing for Mumbai Indians in the early part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa while Sehwag was injured after landing in England.

Sehwag's injury forced Dhoni to gamble with Rohit Sharma as Gautam Gambhir's partner to open the innings. The 22-year-old Rohit didn't let his captain down and scored a brilliant 80 off 53 balls to script an emphatic win over arch-rivals Pakistan in a warm-up game.

Rohit, in all probability, will open the innings with Gambhir again.

Dhoni had words of praise for Rohit.

'It's nice to see someone filling in so well,' said Dhoni. 'When Viru got injured, Rohit said he was keen to open and showed his immense talent in the game against Pakistan. I hope he continues in the same way during the tournament.'

In Zaheer's absence, the pace attack will revolve around Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Rudra Pratap Singh and will be backed by spinners Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha.

'We have a good balance in the squad and this gives me a lot of confidence,' said Dhoni.