India, West Indies & New Zealand started their twenty20 world cup campaign on winning note by beating Bangladesh, Australia and Scotland respectively.
India v Bangladesh – Yuvraj and Ojha magic handed India an easy win
Yuvraj Singh blistering knock of 41 runs of just 18 balls and P.Ojha magical spell of 4 for 21 gave India a comfortable win in their first game at TrentBridge against Bangladesh.
Electing to bat first once again India got off to flying start with their new opening pair Rohit Sharma (33 runs of 26 balls) and Gautam Gambhir (50 runs of 46 balls). Both put on 59 runs in just 44 balls for the first wicket before Rohit got out trying to play big shots. However Gautam Gambhir continued his good form, he was little slow but he kept one end till the very end.
In the middle overs when Dhoni (26 runs of 21 balls) and Gambhir was bogged down by brilliant slow spin bowling by Bangladeshi bowlers. At the end of 15th over they were struggling and looking like they will have difficulty in reaching a score of 160. But thanks to Yuvraj Singh brilliance who smashed 41 runs of just 18-ball to get pass India score to 180 run mark. His inning included 4 huge sixes and three crisp boundaries.
Irfan Pathan also showed good hand with bat hitting 11 runs of last three deliveries of Indian innings.
Bangladesh started their run chase in great fashion with Z.Siddique (41 runs of 22 balls) and Tamim Iqbal (15 runs of 10 balls) both went on to take 20 runs in the first two overs. That causes Dhoni to change the bowling and bring Yusuf Pathan in the 3rd over and it really worked as he removed dangerous looking T.Iqbal in his very first over.
Junaid Siddique continued his brilliance to get pass Bangladesh score to 50 run mark in first five overs. However as soon as spinner came on to bowl, Bangladesh loss their way and they finally fell short by 25 runs.
P.Ojha was named Man-of-the-Match for his superb bowling figures of 4/21.
Match Summary (India Won by 25 Runs)
India – 180/5 in 20 Overs
Gautam Gambhir- 50Yuvraj Singh –41
Naeem Islam– 3-0-32-2Shakib Al Hassan– 4-0-24-1
Bangladesh – 155/8 in 20 Overs
Zunaid Siddique- 41Naeem Islam –28
P.Ojha – 4-0-21-4I.Sharma- 4-0-34-2
India Vs Bangladesh twenty20 World Cup Highlights
New Zealand v Scotland – Taylor and Ryder blistering knock get New Zealand home
Chasing a mammoth total of 90 runs for victory in rain reduced 7 over game, New Zealand achieve the target quite comfortably in 6 overs with loss of just three wickets.Jessy Ryde played a big role in New Zealand run chase with his blistering knock of 31 runs of just 12 deliveries.
Ross Taylor (21 runs of 10 balls) and B.McCullum (18 runs of 7 balls) also contributed well in New Zealand run chase.
Earlier New Zealand acting captain B.McCullum won the toss and put Scotland into bat in a rain reduced game. Scotland responded well and made 89/4 in their seven overs. Scotland top three batsmen played well to get the team total close to 90 runs mark in 7 overs. R.Watson (27 runs of 10 balls), N.Poonia (27 runs of 15 balls) and K.Coetzer (33 runs of 15 balls) were major contributer for Scotland.
Ian Butler was named Man-of-the-Match for his superb bowling figures of 3/19.
Match Summary (New Zealand Won by 7 Wickets)
Scotland – 89/4 in 7 Overs
K.Coetzar- 33R.Watson –27
Ian Butler– 2-0-19-3J.Franklin– 1-0-12-0
New Zealand – 90/3 in 6 Overs
J.ryder- 31Ross Taylor –21
R.Watson – 1-0-4-1C.Wright- 1-0-20-1
West Indies v Australia – Chris Gayle and Fletcher hammered Australia
Australia once again look short of an idea in the new format of the game when they clobbered all-around the park by two dynamic West Indian batsman (Gayle and Fletcher). West Indies thrashed them by seven wickets with 25 balls to spare at the Oval to take the first step to a place in the Super Eights.
Australians are totally outplayed by West Indies and one man who eventually did that was West Indies captain Chris Gayle himself. He simply stood at hi crease and smashed all Australia bowlers all-around the park. You can imagine the Australian bowlers getting hammered by looking at the bowling figures of one of their supreme bowler Brett Lee, who end up with match figure of 1/56 in his four overs.
Australia are placed in the group with West Indies and Sri Lanka which is already declared as ‘group of death’ and mighty Australians dream of winning the ICC world twenty20 Trophy is just one step away before it get shattered.
Now they must win against Sri Lanka by big margin to stay alive in the tournament and hope that West Indies will beat them. Surely, the Lankan lions will be sharpening their teeth for the kill when they take on the Kangaroos on Monday.
Ricky Ponting after winning the toss decided to bat first but their team is reduce to 2/3 in the very first over. From their on rest of the batsman started the repair work and in the end they only reach 169 runs in their 20 overs.Thanks to David Warner inning of 63 runs of 53 balls and good support from D.Hussey (27 runs of 16 balls), M.Hussey (28 runs of 16 balls) and B.Haddin (24 runs of 19 balls).
Chris Gayle was declared Man-of-the-Match for his brutal knock of 88 runs of 50 balls.
