Sri Lanka v West Indies 2nd Semi Final of ICC World Twenty20 at Oval

2^nd Semi Final of World Twenty20 will be played at Oval between Sri Lanka and West Indies. The winner of this game will join Pakistan for the Final to be played on 21^st June at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

We already witnessed some shocking results in the tournament so far with India, Australia and last night tournament firm favourites South Africa lost to Pakistan by 7 runs, so no body can tell who is going to win this World Cup. One bad day of good team can cost them badly and one brilliant performance from individuals can lift their team. beaten by underdogs

So far West Indies love the Oval wicket on which second semi final will take place. They have played two games in this tournament at same venue and on both occasions arguably produced their two best results, thrashing Australia by seven wickets in the group stage and defeating England by five wickets.

Sri Lanka reached the semifinal with the unbeaten tag and now they are the favourites to lift the twenty20 title after South African exit from twenty20 world cup. Sri Lanka will be hoping to continue their winning form.

Sri Lanka who played some brilliant cricket in the tournament won their most of their matches’ because of their bowling units. From Malinga to Mendis all came good when it matter most. South Africa's unbeaten record is the one that has caught the eye for its efficiency but Sri Lanka are also unbeaten in five games out of five, with their only minor scare coming in a spirited display from the Irish.

Watch out for

Chris Gayle: West Indies team relied heavily on individuals performance to reach semifinal of world twenty20 and against Sri Lanka also they need their captain to fire with his bat and ball. We have already seen in the game against Australia how dangerous he can be at top of the order. West Indies team would be expecting something similar from him in today's game also.

Dilshan and Jayasurya: Sri Lankan openers are in great form with Dilshan and Jayasurya firing all cylinders in most of the game. Dilshan has developed a shot which is really interesting to watch (a scoop over keeper head).

Pitch & Condition

The pitch to be use for 2^nd Semi Final at Oval looks a pretty even track with good bounce. In this crunch game any team winning the toss would love to bat first and our run on the board. Any score between 160 and 170 will be good total on this wicket.

Teams

Sri Lanka is likely to go in this crunch game with same XI that beaten New Zealand comprehensively. On the other hand West Indies has some problem with their fast bowler F.Edwards who is suffering from back injury and if he will not fit till the game then Darren Sammy is likely to take his place.

Pakistan enter the Final of twenty20 World Cup beating South Africa

Shahid Afridi brilliant show with bat and ball halt the South African journey of World Twenty20 to help Pakistan enter the Final of twenty20 World Cup. Now they will face (Sri Lanka or West Indies) in the Final at Lord’s on June 21^st.

Shahid Afridi who was promoted at number three did what exactly his team required from him with bat. He went on to score 51 runs of just 34 balls and then turned the game in his team favour by taking two crucial wickets of H.Gibbs and AB Devilliers in his quota of four overs.

Before playing this game South Africa was considered as firm favorite to lift the World twenty20 title after early exit of India and Australia from the tournament but South Africa CHOKE again as they were not able to chase down 150 runs target on good batting wicket.

South Africa started their run chase in style in first three overs picking up as many as 29 runs. However Pakistani bowlers came back strongly to tighten the scoring areas of Protease and from that point the panic start in South African batting lineup. Graeme Smith who was dropped earlier in the inning by Umar Gul tried similar shot to sky an easy catch to 17 years old Md. Aamer for 10 rusn of 14 deliveries.

The Shahid Afridi removed dangerous Gibbs and Devilliers in his two successive overs to peg back South African run chase. They were suffocated by Afridi and Saeed Ajmal and their inability to score enough runs during the initial and middle overs left them with far too much to do against the pinpoint accuracy of Umar Gul's yorkers.

Earlier Pakistanis captain Younis Khan won the toss and elected to bat first in knockout game. Opener Kamran Akmal gave Pakistan flying start by scoring quick 23 runs of 12 balls. However two quick wickets from Parnell and Styen bring back South Africa back into the game.

But Shahid Afridi played his natural game regardless of math situation to kept Pakistanis scoring rate in excess of 7 runs per over. But once Afridi dismissed in the 13^th over, Pakistan unable to score freely and from 120/3 in the 15^th over they reach 149/4 at the end o 20 overs. South African bowlers bowled exceptionally well in last five overs and conceded just 29 runs.

Shahid Afridi was declared Player-of-the-Match for his all-round show both with bat and ball.

World Twenty20 2009: Semi Finals + Finals Schedule

South Africa Beat India To March Into Semi-Finals Unbeaten

On a pitch which provided lots of help to the spinners South Africa bounce back after scoring 130/5 in their 20 overs to still beat India by 12 runs. This was India third successive defeat in World Twenty20 2009.

Chasing the target of 131 for victory, Indian openers Gambhir (21 runs of 19 balls) and Rohit Sharma (29 runs of 28 balls) gave perfect start to the team by putting on 48 runs in 6 overs but as soon as Graeme Smith introduced the spinners into the attack Indian inning started to collapse. From 48/0 they were suddenly reduced to 69/5 in the 14^th over including the run out of M.S.Dhoni.

Now it was up to Yuvraj Singh (25 runs of 25 balls) and Harbhajan Singh (14 runs of 15 balls) to guide their team home but J.Botha removed H.Singh in his 4^th over and then D.Styen removed dangerous Yuvraj to move South Africa closer to their eighth successive win. In the end India fell short by 12 runs.

Earlier South African Captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat on a sharp turning track. But India's slow bowlers strangulated South Africa's impressive batting line-up after a frenetic start, and but for a wonderful hand of 63 from AB de Villiers, the already-eliminated Indians would have been left to chase a miniscule target.

Now South Africa will take on Pakistan in the 1^st Semi Final of ICC World Twenty20 on June 18^th at Trent Bridge and Sri Lanka will take on West Indies at Oval in 2nd Semi Final on 19th of June.

AB Devilliers was declared Player-of-the-Match for his inning of 63 runs of 51 balls.

Match Summary (South Africa won by 12 Runs)

South Africa – 130/5 in 20 Overs

AB Devilliers- 63 G.Smith– 26

R.Jadeja– 3-0-9-1 S.Raina- 1-0-6-1

India– 118/8 in 20 Overs

R.Sharma- 29 Yuvraj Singh– 25

J.Botha– 4-0-16-3 D.Styen- 3-0-25-2

Sri Lanka keep clean slate, reach semis

Man of the Match Ajantha Mendis' three-wicket spell of 3-0-9-3 took the wind out of New Zealand’s run chase, as the Black Caps collapsed 48 runs behind the victory target of 159, earning Sri Lanka a place in the semi-final with their third straight victory in the Super Eights group stages. They topped Group F.

Kiwis, the pre-tournament favorites, only beat Scotland and Ireland and lost to semi-finalists South Africa and West Indies, to exit before the semis. Captian Vettori said a South Africa v Sri Lanka final at Lord's on Sunday looked to be on the cards.

Top 5 players in batting and bowling in twenty20 2009 World Cup

Player Name	M	I	Runs	HS	Avg.	S/R	100’s	50’s	4’s	6’s
T.Dilshan (Sri Lanka)	5	5	221	74	44.20	140.76	0	2	34	1
AB Devilliers (South Africa)	5	5	185	79*	46.25	160.86	0	2	16	6
J.Kallis (South Africa)	4	4	174	57*	58.00	129.85	0	1	21	3
D.Bravo (West Indies)	5	4	154	66*	51.33	148.07	0	2	12	6
K.Pietersen (England)	4	4	154	58	38.50	152.47	0	1	19	4
Yuvraj Singh (India)	5	5	153	67	38.25	154.54	0	1	10	9
M. Jayawardne (Sri Lanka)	5	5	151	78	37.75	126.89	0	1	17	2

Here is the updated list of top 5 players who have taken most number of wickets in twenty20 2009 World Cup.

Player Name	M	WKTS	BBI	Avg.	Econ	4wkt	5wkt
Umar Gul (Pakistan)	5	12	5/6	9.16	6.28	0	1
S.Ajmal (Pakistan)	5	11	4/19	10.18	5.60	1	0
L.Malinga (Sri Lanka)	5	11	3/17	13.00	7.52	0	0
A.Mendis (Sri Lanka)	5	10	3/9	10.00	5.55	0	0
RE van der Merwe (South Africa)	5	9	2/14	11.77	5.30	0	0
W.Parnell (South Africa)	5	8	4/13	11.62	5.52	1	0
Shahid Afridi (Pakistan)	5	8	4/11	14.12	5.65	1	0

West Indies v England- Srawan and Chanderpaul star in a thrilling battle

West Indies experienced player Ramnaresh Shrawan (19 runs of 9 balls) and S.Chanderpaul (17 runs of 10 balls) hold their nerves in the thrilling encounter against England to guide their team home by 5 Wickets. In a rain reduced target West Indies needed 80 runs in 9 overs.

But West Indies started their run chase in dramatic fashion as they lost three top order batsman for just 16 runs on the board in the third over. D.Bravo (18 runs of 13 balls) and big hitter K.Polard (9 runs of 6 balls) did tried hard to steady the West Indian innings but both batsman dismissed in quick succession to leave West Indies in critical situation. Needing 39 runs of 26 balls with two new batsman at the crease.

However S.Chanderpaul and R.Srawan used their all experience and didn’t panic as West Indies achieved the target with four balls to spare.

Earlier after winning the toss Paul Collingwoood decided to bat first and his team posted a decent total of 161/6 on the boards with help of Ravi Bopara (55 runs of 47 balls), K.Pietersen (31 runs of 19 balls) and S.Broad (10 runs of 2 balls). But 162 runs target on Oval wicket was always tough task to defend.

As the England inning ended rain started to came down heavily and West Indies was presented with revised target of 80 runs in 9 overs which was very simple equation for them.

Ramnaresh Shrawan was declared Player-of-the-Match for his inning of 19 runs of 9 balls