World T20 discussion thread

[Duty281]

Blimey, Cross takes five fours off the sixth over. 48/1 after the PP, Scotland still in the game.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Gah Munsey hits two sixes, then picks out long on from a full toss off Sodhi. Scotland making a decent fist of this

[CaledonianCraig]

Scotland 71 for 2 after 9. Still a massive ask but at least its an improved batting display.

[Duty281]

9.7 an over needed for the final ten, only two wickets down, Scotland are well in this and Indian fans will be hoping they pull it off.

[CaledonianCraig]

9.7 an over needed for the final ten, only two wickets down, Scotland are well in this and Indian fans will be hoping they pull it off.

That has changed a bit with Cross being bowled. Scotland 77 for 3 from 11 overs.

[Duty281]

Yes, that wicket squeezed the hell out of Scotland and now the required rate is at a barely possible 12+. But they've given it a good fight in this one.

[CaledonianCraig]

But they've given it a good fight in this one.

Yes that is the important thing. To show they can compete against the big boys. 100 for 3 from 14 overs.

[king_carlos]

It's a shame that Scotland's batting hasn't fired in the Super 12. Munsey can be a very destructive player and MacLeod is a better batsman than he's shown in this tournament.

Mark Watt has been outstanding though. He must surely be in the frame for more opportunities in county cricket and the smaller franchise leagues now.

[CaledonianCraig]

Scotland fall 16 runs short against New Zealand in what was, collectively, easily their best performance in the Super 12 section. Beaten but not embarrassed.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Bah no Mujeeb for the Afghans tonight - probably too much for them to overcome that loss against India, but they have won the toss and fielded first

[Duty281]

Afghanistan have seen sense and decided to bowl first v India. No Mujeeb is a big loss for them, however.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

The news that was feared - Tymal Mills ruled out of the rest of the tournament injured. Topley called up to replace (why not Dawson is beyond me but alas).

Horrible news for him and England. Gutted

[alfie]

I guess they think they have enough spin options with Livingstone going so well. So went for a like for like replacement.
With Wood Curran and Willey on board he's highly unlikely to feature anyway.
Even though they're England pace bowlers they can't all get injured ...

Can they ?

[Duty281]

No surprise about Mills, guess that Topley is in because it's like-for-like. Hopefully Wood's fit for the South Africa game and can find some form for the semi-finals.

Brilliant start from India in this one. Afghanistan need Rashid Khan to deliver (and not for the first time!).

[king_carlos]

I'd have called up Dawson personally but Topley offers the left-arm angle and death bowling so is more like for like.

It's such a shame that George Garton was caught in the original ODI squad that had the covid outbreak over the summer meaning he couldn't make his debut. I really rate the lad highly, had he got a chance he could have made an impact I think.

[alfie]

I didn't watch the latter part of the earlier game , but see Scotland made a good fight of it...well done them.

The significance of that game is that NZ didn't get any big boost to their NRR. So regardless of the result of India/Afghanistan tonight , the Afghans remain in a good spot for the tiebreaker should it eventually come down to two or three teams on 6 points. Obviously they have to beat NZ anyway whatever happens in this match.

India going better with the bat here but they are likely to need a fair few bowling second...

[alfie]

Rohit and Rahul having some fun here...two hundred might be on.

India have been , shall we say "ineffective " with the ball so far ; but you'd think they would defend that.

[Duty281]

Could even be 220! 135/0 after 14. Good point about the NRR earlier, but Afghanistan's could be in for a bruising here.

And now Janat's coming in to bowl. Just when you thought things couldn't get worse for Afghanistan!

[alfie]

Janat breaks the stand and thanks Duty for the hex

Pant at three...makes sense.

[alfie]

India faltering a bit here as Rahul falls.

But Pant seems to be getting out of first gear now Hamid with a pressure job ahead of him against Pandya...

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

My Afghani kings chose a really bad time to have their worst bowling display in ages

[Duty281]

Scotland managed to rein in their opponents a little during the death overs...Afghanistan haven't been able to.

First 200 score of the competition. Will be fun to watch Afghanistan attempt to overhaul India's total.

[alfie]

210 after the Pandya and Pant show...

Plenty , I think. Dew or no dew , can't see the Afghans getting near that.

[king_carlos]

Hardik 35* from 13. Pant 27* from 13. Wow.

That is more like what most of us were expecting from India before the tournament. In Rohit, Rahul and Kohli they have 3 players who have often been 'anchors' for their IPL teams but have the capacity to be much more aggressive. Especially Rahul. Until today their batting had been conservative and stuttering though.

[Duty281]

Afghanistan are bonkers enough to chase this down...or run it close.

[king_carlos]

Afghanistan are bonkers enough to chase this down...or run it close.

Agreed. They'll need Shahzad and Zazai to put in a Rohit and Rahul esque stand to get close though you'd think. As such India will know that one wicket could kill the chase.

[Duty281]

Oh, they lose both openers in consecutive balls. Shame. Important Afghanistan get as close as possible for NRR purposes.

[Soul Requiem]

I'd expect India to win by at least 80 runs.

[Duty281]

66-run victory in the end. Hurtful, but not immensely damaging for Afghanistan. Their NRR is +1.48 with just one game left; New Zealand's is +0.81 with two games (including Namibia) remaining; India's is +0.07 with two games left, both against the associate nations.

The two most likely scenarios from here are:

1) If NZ beat both Afghanistan and Namibia they're through.

2) If NZ beat Namibia and lose to Afghanistan, with India beating Namibia and Scotland, it's down to NRR as all three teams are tied on six points. India v Namibia is the last game of the group so, in this scenario, India will know exactly what's needed to pip the other two sides in the NRR stakes.

Tomorrow it's back to the other group. Australia need to beat a beleaguered Bangladesh to give themselves the best chance of qualification; conversely South Africa will be hoping Bangladesh finally show up. And the West Indies play already-eliminated Sri Lanka. The West Indies have to win their final two matches to have any hope of qualifying.

[alfie]

Thumping win for India has put them back in the mix - up to a point.

They are still reliant on NZ losing one of their two remaining games. But if , say , Afghanistan were to defeat NZ , it would leave the three sides together on 6 points.

Judging by the huge change in NRR caused by this latest result , I imagine a couple of big wins over Namibia and Scotland (hardly unlikely , with all due respect) would be enough to see India's run rate take them into the semi in the above scenario. Of course NZ could set up a bit of a buffer by an annihilation of Namibia : but this really isn't the Kiwi way . They are more likely to just concentrate on winning both games and putting it all to bed without any fuss.

I can't rule out an Afghan win over NZ but I think they are now the least likely semi finalists , for all their commendable efforts these last couple of weeks. Won't stop them trying though.

[VTR]

Bangladesh put in a thorough effort with the bat to continue their bid for the worst tournament performance of all time

[Galted]

Bangladesh put in a thorough effort with the bat to continue their bid for the worst tournament performance of all time

It's a pity Cricinfo don't allow user comments any more.  Indian fans taking the piss out of Bangladeshis and how their team was winning hearts when getting stuffed was always a good laugh.

[alfie]

Seems Australia are going to leapfrog SA's NRR with this demolition of Bangladesh (who have gone from "poor" to "embarrassing" over the last couple of weeks.)

Unless SA can beat England they probably won't need it anyway but I'm sure they will be happy to have insurance.

[Duty281]

What a crap tournament for Bangladesh. Lost to Scotland and hammered three times out of five in the Super 12s.

Let's see if the West Indies can keep it interesting by beating Sri Lanka. Could be heading for a three-way tie on six points in this Group as well.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Bangladesh assure they win the most disappointing tournament award. What a shambles of a super 12s stage for them

[Gooseberry]

At least England's test team aren't the laughing stock of the world for a brief moment

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Should also say - this likely means Bangladesh fall to 9th in the t20i rankings, and will have to qualify for the super 12 stages next year again (they had risen to 6th pre tournament). In Australia as it is next year (all being well), they will be an awful lot more vulnerable in round 1 than they were this year

[king_carlos]

At least England's test team aren't the laughing stock of the world for a brief moment

I dunno. Every time Buttler hits a six I have this faint distracting vision in the back of my head of Craig Overton starting his 4th spell of 78mph seam on a drop in MCG road as England make Marcus Harris and Matthew Wade look like Bradman.

[Duty281]

Sri Lanka finally remove Kumara from the starting XI - it's too late, they're already eliminated! - and have been put into bat by the still-scrapping West Indies.

West Indies not only have to win, they have to win well to overturn their NRR deficit.

[Duty281]

190 to win for the West Indies after a poor bowling effort. Can their big name batting line-up deliver for once?

[eirebilly]

Its sad to see such a great player like Gayle keep pushing on in obvious decline. The man is 42, he should not be near this team.

[VTR]

Gayle has got to be up there as the worst player of the tournament!

[Duty281]

Gayle's recent T20I record is horrific, he's made about 3 decent scores in his last 30 innings which stretches back to the tail-end of the 2016 World Cup.

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/51880.html?class=3;template=results;type=batting;view=innings

West Indies 47/3 after a sublime catch removes Chase. It's all about this partnership if they're going to win.

[Duty281]

Comfortable for Sri Lanka, despite a brilliant effort by Hetmyer. West Indies are out.

New Zealand and India playing the two associate nations tomorrow, so not much of interest unless the biggest upset of the tournament happens.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

New Zealand are really struggling here against Namibia.

96-4 off 16 overs. India suddenly looking very alive in this group!

[Duty281]

Namibia just faltering in the death overs after an intense and intelligent bowling effort in the first 15 overs. They could still keep NZ below 150 with another wicket or two.

[Duty281]

163 in the end as Namibia fell apart in the death overs. Doesn't eliminate Namibia from winning, but they only have a very slender chance of chasing this down. Will almost certainly mean that, if NZ do win, they won't be able to overhaul Afghanistan's NRR.

[Duty281]

Comfortable 52-run win for NZ. Namibia established a decent platform after 7 overs, but in trying to push the rate up the wickets fell at a clatter.

Very simple equation for NZ now - if they beat Afghanistan they're in the semi-finals (likely v England); if they lose to Afghanistan they're out.

India up next v Scotland. They not only need to win, they need to win by a huge margin.

[alfie]

Easy win in the end for NZ - but indeed not sufficient to get past the Afghan NRR. In truth they'd have been pushed to get any serious advantage anyway and I am sure are just focused on winning that last group game. If they do , they play the semi.

Not so clearcut for Afghanistan : even if they win they will have to stay ahead of India who will undoubtedly be looking for a huge boost to their own run rate now against Scotland.

Might be a lot of Afghan's cheering for Scotland tonight

[Duty281]

Scotland 29/4. If India blow them away quickly they could find themselves with the best NRR in the Group and deal a fatal blow to Afghanistan's chances in the process.

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