Cricketing giants clash for T20 Crown

Dilanka MANNAKKARA

It's the most unpredictable and glamorous cricket extravaganza of all - the scintillating sixes,the breath taking boundaries, the amazing catches and the unplayable deliveries will be in essence during this edition of the World Cup T 20 2012.Sri Lanka is hosting the T 20 World cup for the first time and there's plenty of excitement flocking around the entire country with the world's best T 20 masters ready to deliver action. The 12 teams that participate are divided in to four groups of three teams each and the top two teams will qualify for the Super 8 round.

[Group A]

A battle between India and England

Group A clearly looks a clear cut battle between a resurgent English team packed with T 20 specialists and an Indian team who look very strong in batting.Unless the minnows Afghanistan upsets one of the big two, all eyes will be on the India vs England battle scheduled to be on Sunday, September 23 at the R.Premadasa stadium.

Defending World Champions England will be banking on their T 20 specialists including the power hitters Michael Lumb, Jos Butler, Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales to deliver the goods with the bat.

However the consistent,attacking and super innovative strokemaker Eoin Morgan will be the key while the bowling will heavily depend on skipper Stuart Broad, ace spinner Greame Swann and Jade Dernbach.

2007 Champions India on the other hand will be counting on their superior batting strength filled with experience, shear power, brutal stroke play and power packed hitting.

Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli,Suresh Raina and Mahendra Sing Dhoni will form the core of the Indian batting while the experienced pair of the wily Zaheer Khan and Hrbhahjan Singh who makes a comeback will spearhead the bowling.

However India's biggest trump card will be the free flowing Yuvraj Singh who makes an emotional comeback to the team after recovering from lung cancer.

[Group B ]

Windies, Aussies face an impressive Irish side

One would feel that Group B looks a two horse race but Ireland can always come up with surprises as they did in the ICC World cup 2011 when they scored a shocking victory over England. Ireland will be banking on the O'Brien brothers - Kevin and Niall, Alex Cusack, skipper Porterfield and Ed Joyce to fire.

Wes Indies probably have got one of the best squads in terms of all three aspects of batting,bowling and fielding.The batting has plenty of fire power with the most brutal hitter in the modern game Chris Gayle leading the away along with all rounders Kireon Pollard,Andre Russel and Dwayne Bravo all capable of clearing the boundary ropes with ease.

Their bowling ,packed with variety is led by "mystery man" Sunil Narine in the spin attack while Fidel Edwards and Ravi Rampaul will spearhead the pace attack.

Australia are coming off from a poor T 20 series against Pakistan and will be rearing to do well as always.

The Aussies have the players to deliver for them and they usually play their best cricket in the biggest stage of them all.

The explosive pair of David Warner and Shane Watson will be the key to Australia's success while Mr Cricket Mike Hussey will be expected to play a huge role in the middle order.

[Group C ]

Sri Lanka face stiff competition from Saffers

One of the favorites for the title the Lankan Lions will be facing an extremely talented South African side determined to let go of their "choker" tag in World cups. The Lankan selectors have for once selected a pretty strong squad with in form players given the opportunity to shine. Skipper Mahela Jayawardena and Tilakarathne Dilshan will have to be at their best at the top for Sri Lanka to live up to the high expectations of being a prime contender for the title. As skipper Jayawrdena pointed out, Sri Lanka's strength will rely on the their all rounders and the bowling attack filled with variety and skill.

South Africa led by the super consistent AB De Villiers have a superb outfit this time around. The batting will be bolstered by the big hitting Richard Levi, the elegant Hashim Amla, Mr Consistent Jaques Kallis and skipper De Villiers. Saffers have a brilliant bowling unit spearheaded by the world's best fast bowler in recent times - Dale Steyn. South Africa also will be a treat to watch on the field with some of world's best fielders in their stock namely De Villers, Duminy and Du Plesis.

Zimbabwe can surprise both Sri Lanka and South Africa but they have to get their batting act together.

[Group D ]

The group of death

With unpredictability personified - this is the group that will create a lot of interest and upsets. The New Zealanders have some handy T 20 players in their ranks and they always do well in World cups. Pakistan despite having an extremely talented T 20 squad are very unpredictable and Bangladesh can down any big nation on their day.

The Kiwis will expect their star batsmen, Brendon Mcculum and skipper Ross Taylor to score big while the man mountain Jacob Oram who had a fantastic SLPL 2012 will be hoping to shine both with bat and ball.

The Pakistanis have one of the most lethal bowling attacks in the tournament with world's top T 20 bowler Saeed Ajmal leading the way along with Umar Gul,Sohail Tanvir and Shahid Afridi completing a world class attack. Most of the Kiwi and Pakistani players featured in the SLPL 2012 and will have a fair idea on how the wickets behave. The Bangla boys will rely a lot on their spin bowlers to curtail teams down.