T20 World Cup: They Finally Win One

By Jawad

Basic T20 strategy of most of the teams:
- Go out there to bat and try to question the existence of the pitiful species called bowlers and the spherical leather thing called ball by mindlessly whacking the bat.
- While bowling, try to leak as less runs as possible. Field as if life depends on it and keep the target below 170.
- Pack the team with batters and feisty all-rounders. A spinner and a pacer should suffice.

T20 strategy of Bangladesh
-Go out there to bat and try to survive 20 overs.
-While bowling put as many spinners as possible in the attack and try to restrain the opponents below 200.
-Pick the same team that plays in the test matches.

T20 strategy of Australia
-Go out there to win.
-Bowl and field aggressively and try to take wickets. Never fear any amount of runs scored by the opposition.

This year's World T20 Cup has seen the rise of these strategies in the eyes of yours truly (Bangladesh's one might be a bit exaggerated). We have seen the failure of classical strategies too, if you consider the short history of t20 to have something classic. Australia played like favourites throughout the tournament, except for most parts of the semi-finals and the place where it mattered most, the big Final. In the end, it was the English who clinched the title after some clinical performances by their South African recruits i.e. Pietersen and Kieswater.

Starting off as the 9th seed of the tournament the Aussies played so brilliantly that it seemed only Sri Lanka were the only team capable of derailing them with their able and unique bowling attack as well as the most in form batsman in T20 in Mahela Jayawardene. His consecutive scores of 81, 100 and 98* showed that class always prevails, even in the shortest form and you don't have to be a slogger all the time while playing T20. But they too fell as Australia bundled them out at only 87 runs. The English, on the other hand did not seem invincible throughout their course. They stuck to their target and batted and fielded brilliantly.

After the best match in T20 history in the semi final against Pakistan, the Aussies were a bit too overconfident. Maybe they relied heavily on Mike Hussey, and that's why they were too keen on getting out in the final. 147 in a T20 can never be a great score and England toppled that easily, losing only 3 wickets in the process.

Bangladesh's tournament ended early. But that matters little: we are a test team you know. We think twenty overs is too small a stage for us. Rather than playing in the super eights of the tiny world cup, we prefer some practice matches in England. Not being sarcastic, no.

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