The Hindu : Sport : A setback for England

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A setback for England

Younis Khan will relish the opportunity of eliminating England, writes Sourav Ganguly

One of the best aspects of Twenty20 is that absolutely any team can turn up and win on their day, as it just takes one or two players to win a game for their side.

This is exactly what happened in Holland’s shock win over England, leaving the hosts with a must win game against Pakistan, to stay afloat in the competition.

England have always been an inconsistent bunch in limited overs cricket, and have particularly failed to perform in any major ICC tournament.

Another defeat against Pakistan today will signal an early exit from the World Twenty20, which will be a huge disappointment for the home fans.

England started off well with Bopara and Wright. I think England should have got a lot more runs than they actually did. The last nine balls fetched them 12 or 13 runs. I think that’s where they lost a bit of momentum at the end.

Tremendous season

Ravi Bopara is coming off a tremendous season with the Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, and it was extremely pleasing to see him carry his form into the World Twenty20 against Holland. England will look to Bopara for another blistering start at the top of the order, and his partnership with Wright at the top of the order, will keep the Pakistani bowlers on their toes for the first six overs.

Pakistan have been starved of international cricket over the past year, but still managed to beat Australia in their last T20 international in the Gulf, and could well be the surprise package in this tournament.

Umar Gul is one of the best Twenty20 bowlers out there on the international circuit, and he will look to rush the English batsman into their strokes, with his extra pace and accurate yorkers.

Younis Khan will be under pressure as captain, and will relish the opportunity of eliminating England, which will set his talented side up for the rest of the tournament. Pakistan was pretty ordinary in the charity game against India.

I am not sure whether they were experimenting a few things but they need to give Sohail Tanvir the new ball as he is a genuine swing bowler and has been a success for Rajasthan Royals with the new ball only.

Yasir Arafat is a better one-change bowler and I am sure Younis Khan with think over this. With the amount of all-rounders Pakistan has in their ranks, they can afford to play one more extra batsman because Afridi and Ajmal, the off-spinner, will be very handy in these conditions as spinners have definitely a big role in Twenty20.

South Africa take on Scotland in another David v Goliath battle, but after watching Holland the other night, no side will take the risk of relaxing against a so called ‘minnows’.

In this format of the game any side is dangerous as the shorter the competition the lesser is the difference between any side. That’s why they say that Test cricket is a real test of ability of players.

South Africa are one of my picks for the semifinals, and the confidence of their skipper Graeme Smith is clearly evident from his claim that this is the best opportunity for his side to win a major tournament.

Professional Management Group

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