T20 World Cup (Local Time) - Schedule

T20 World Cup (Local Time) - Schedule

Now I am giving theTwenty20 cricket tournament Schedule according the countries of Indian sub-continent Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. The Twenty20 cricket tournaments take place in South Africa from September 11 to September 24, 2007. Twenty20 World Championship is the inaugural tournament. In the ten-day tournament twelve teams are going to take part. I gave the time schedule below. Here Sri Lanka Standard time is similar to Bangladesh Standard time.

Group A

Date	Match	Local	GMT	PST	IST	BST
Tue 11	South Africa vs West Indies at Johannesburg	18:00	16:00	21:00	21:30	22:00
Thu 13	West Indies vs Bangladesh at Johannesburg	10:00	08:00	13:00	13:30	14:00
Sat 15	South Africa vs Bangladesh at Cape Town	18:00	16:00	21:00	21:30	22:00

Group B

Date	Match	Local	GMT	PST	IST	BST
Wed 12	Australia vs Zimbabwe at Cape Town	18:00	16:00	21:00	21:30	22:00
Thu 13	Zimbabwe vs England at Cape Town	14:00	12:00	17:00	17:30	18:00
Fri 14	Australia vs England at Cape Town	14:00	12:00	17:00	17:30	18:00

Group C

Date	Match	Local	GMT	PST	IST	BST
Wed 12	New Zealand vs Kenya at Durban	10:00	08:00	13:00	13:30	14:00
Fri 14	Sri Lanka vs Kenya at Johannesburg	10:00	08:00	13:00	13:30	14:00
Sat 15	Sri Lanka vs New Zealand at Johannesburg	14:00	12:00	17:00	17:30	18:00

Group D

Date	Match	Local	GMT	PST	IST	BST
Wed 12	Pakistan vs Scotland at Durban	14:00	12:00	17:00	17:30	18:00
Thu 13	India vs Scotland at Durban	18:00	16:00	21:00	21:30	22:00
Fri 14	India vs Pakistan at Durban	18:00	16:00	21:00	21:30	22:00

Super Eight

Date	Match	Local	GMT	PST	IST	BST
Sun 16	C1 vs D2 at Johannesburg	10:00	08:00	13:00	13:30	14:00
Sun 16	B1 vs A2 at Cape Town	14:00	12:00	17:00	17:30	18:00
Sun 16	A1 vs B2 at Cape Town	18:00	16:00	21:00	21:30	22:00
Mon 17	D1 vs C2 at Johannesburg	18:00	16:00	21:00	21:30	22:00
Tue 18	C1 vs B2 at Durban	10:00	08:00	13:00	13:30	14:00
Tue 18	B1 vs D1 at Johannesburg	14:00	12:00	17:00	17:30	18:00
Tue 18	A2 vs C2 at Johannesburg	18:00	16:00	21:00	21:30	22:00
Wed 19	A1 vs C1 at Durban	14:00	12:00	17:00	17:30	18:00
Wed 19	B2 vs D2 at Durban	18:00	16:00	21:00	21:30	22:00
Thu 20	B1 vs C2 at Cape Town	10:00	08:00	13:00	13:30	14:00
Thu 20	A2 vs D1 at Cape Town	14:00	12:00	17:00	17:30	18:00
Thu 20	A1 vs D2 at Durban	18:00	16:00	21:00	21:30	22:00

Semi Finals

Date	Match	Local	GMT	PST	IST	BST
Sat 22	First Semi Final (E2 vs F1) at Cape Town	13:00	11:00	16:00	16:30	17:00
Sat 22	Second Semi Final (E1 vs F2) at Durban	18:00	16:00	21:00	21:30	22:00

Final

Date	Match	Local	GMT	PST	IST	BST
Mon 24	Final at Johannesburg	14:00	12:00	17:00	17:30	18:00

India edge into Super Eight phase after Pakistan thriller

India won a bowl-out 3-0 after a dramatic run out on the final ball of the game left the scores tied in their Twenty20 World Cup match.

India's first three bowlers - Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Uthappa - all hit the stumps while Pakistan's top three all missed in the sudden death decider. India had looked set on victory after seamers Irfan Pathan, RP Singh and Agit Agarkar had left Pakistan struggling to reach the 142 target.

But a late flurish from Misbah ul-Haq (53) and Yasir Arafat (12) left the scores tied with one ball left, only for Sri Sreesanth to run out Misbah at the last.

The result ensures that both sides qualify for the next stage of the Twenty20 World Cup at the expense of Scotland.

Pathan took the key wicket of Younis Khan - who played onto his stumps in a rare wicket-maiden in Twenty20 - while Agarkar dismissed Salman Butt with Mahendrah Singh Dhoni holding onto an outside edge.

Once Pathan had dismissed captain Shoaib Malik in the 17th over, Harbhajan took a deserved wicket - dismissing the danger man Shahid Afridi for just seven.

Yuvraj Singh - who looked very active in the field - managed a superb run-out of Kamran Akmal to leave Pakistan on the brink.

Earlier Singh dismissed pitch hitter Imran Nazir for just seven - clean bowled - but Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal have built a useful platform for Pakistan.

Mohammad Asif had been the hero for Pakistan with four early wickets that helped restrict India to 141 for nine.

Robin Uthappa (50) and Dhoni (33) led the rearguard action for India before both men were dismissed looking to increase the run-rate.

In a blistering spell of fast bowling, Mohammad Asif took four wickets in the opening seven overs - the second best spell in international Twenty20 history - to leave India rocking at 36 for four at one stage.

Asif took the wicket of Gambhir with his third delivery after he held on to the openers mistimed drive for a caught and bowled.

In his next over he forced Virender Sehwag - only just back in the side - to play onto his stumps and matters got worse for Dhoni's men when Asif found a leading from Yuraj Singh, the ball looping up to Shoaib Malik at mid-on for an easy catch.

Dinesh Karthik looked in good nick early on in his innings before he suffered the same fate as Sehwag, playing-on to give Asif his fourth wicket.

That brought Dhoni to the crease and India began a rearguard action before Uthappa finally fell to debutant Sohail Tanvir, edging behind to Akmal.

Spinner Shahid Afridi got in on the action in the 16th over to remove the dangerous Pathan, who had hit a quick fire 20 before being clean bowled.

After the teams had come back out after a rain break, Afridi then took his second wicket with his first ball, clean bowling Harbhajan Singh.

Dhoni decided not to hang around, hitting the ball to all parts of the ground, before he skied one to Yousef Kahn at mid-on to end his innings.

In the end a draw seemed a fair result but India will certainly be the happier of the two sides.

India: Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, Sreesanth.

Pakistan: Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Sohail Tanvir, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif.

T20 World Cup (Preview) - South Africa

In Group A along with the West Indies and Bangladesh.

South Africa - The hosts will favour themselves to go far in this World Cup, and in so doing hope to win the countries first major cricket honours.(The have won the ICC championships, but not a World Cup) The will have to guard against the burden of expectation by both themselves and their country, a burden that has proved to strong in each of the last 4 World Cups, where they were amongst the favourites to win. In 2003, the last time South Africa hosted a World Cup, they failed to progress past the group stage in a tournament they were fancied to win, both as hosts and on form. Along with England, South Africa has the most experienced T20 domestic league and thus have more experienced players in the shortened version of the game. They have dipped into this pool of talent for their squad with the inclusion of Gulam Bodi, Albie Morkel, and Johan van der Wath.

Players to watch

Graeme Smith - The South African captain is the leading batsman in international T20 cricket, with 259 runs in 5 matches and a strike rate of 138, including 3 fifties. His best score of 89 not out came against the Australians and took just 59 balls.

Shaun Pollock - the senior bowler in the attack, his batting will be as important in this format as his bowling. While economy is used loosely in T20, when anything under 8 is good, Pollock will have to lead from the front and take the pressure off the less experienced bowlers in the SA attack, like Albie and Morne Morkel. His free hitting stroke play may be South Africa’s secret weapon, both as a finisher of an innings in the lower order, or has an injection of aggression higher up.

Albie Morkel - The Titans all rounder has had the label of potential hanging on his shoulders for a few seasons now and it may be time for him to cash that in and prove his ability to be a big player in the current squad. Like Pollock, Morkel can be expected to float anywhere in the batting order, and while his bowling will be relied upon to restrict and take wickets, it’s his ability to hit any attack far and wide that will have all South Africans hoping for an on form Albie Morkel. Scored 97 batting at number 3 in the last ODI South Africa played, against Zimbabwe, and it will be that form that he will hope to carry through to the T20 World Cup. The scene may be set for Albie to come of age.

Morne Morkel - The younger brother of Albie, Morne has shown a great deal of promise in his young career, both as a future Test and ODI star. More then the pace he is able to bowl at it will be the bounce he gets from any wicket that will cause batsman problems. A strike bowler who is also economical is a rarity, and in Morne SA have this scarce resource that they will hope to get the best out of. Has shown capability with the bat that wont see he bat higher than 9 but will ensure depth that is needed in this form.

While T20 can be a lottery, more about luck then anything else, there is a fair amount of skill and tactical know how needed to best utilise the talent at your disposal. A South African team packed with all rounders, and Twenty Twenty experience, backed by home ground experience, may finally be able to make the impact on the world stage that their talent warrants.