Ireland unbeaten, Sri Lanka survive, Bangladesh crash out as Group Stage comes to a close
Bangladesh, the group favourites, lost 3 out of 3 games in Group B to crash out of the tournament early
The First Round Group Stage of the ICC Men's World Twenty20 2018 in South Africa reaches its conclusion, after twelve games played over six days. Ireland, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe & Scotland emerge as the best four teams, thereby qualifying to the next Super 12 round of the tournament.
The major absence from the rest of the tournament will be Bangladesh, who started out with an upset defeat against UAE and went on to lose 3 in 3 games following losses against Ireland & Scotland. As the group favourites, along with Sri Lanka in the other group, high expectations were on them to remain unbeaten; a loss would have made it a substandard campaign, however it was a nightmare run where they ended only without a win.
Bangladesh skipper Shakib says that it has been a terrible few days, the team hasn't applied itself quite so well and let some close games slip away due to their own mistakes in execution that let it get to that level. Says that this will be a massive pill to swallow but also a very important learning point for the future, to ensure that they never go down this path again.
Ireland skipper Gary Wilson, on the other hand, is elated, and is very happy with his team's performance as they remain the sole unbeaten side of the first round. Says that the team has delivered exactly the way they planned to, and their ability to deliver in crunch moments undoubtedly won them games. Credits both the batters and the bowlers, says that the Super 12 stage is now the next challenge and they will hope to continue the form there.
Mathews, Sri Lanka's captain feels that they didn't give their 100%, let a game slip away which put their qualification at a higher risk than it should've been. Says they're still glad they have made it through and will make sure to learn from the errors to do better in the Super 12 stage. Credits Kusal Perera and the other batters for their consistent show through the group stage.
Netherlands, despite winning 2 out of 3 games, crashed out as they were singled out with the inferior NRR among the other 2 teams in the group on the same points. Pieter Seelaar, dutch skipper says that the boys fought well but unfortunately it wasn't quite enough, that the final chase shouldn't have slipped away to end so late and that costed them, and they need to work on their situational batting. Feels that there is a great future for the team with young players stepping up.
The Netherlands, UAE, Hong Kong & Bangladesh will return home after being eliminated in the first round, failing to finish Top Two in their group. The four qualified teams will remain in South Africa to travel for their Super 12 games as they stay alive in the competition. The Super 12 stage will commence on the 19th of August starting with the New Zealand-Australia clash in the morning.
Pitch Report: It's the first game on this Centurion Wicket. The pitch is a bit slow and has a bit of grass. Cracks are prominent, batting won't be so easy.
Toss: Australian skipper Aaron Finch calls heads and it lands on heads. Aaron Finch's Australia have won the toss.
Aaron Finch: We are going to bat first. The wicket looks dead and has a lot of variation. It might worsen as the game goes. We want to get the best out of it that we can in the first innings. It's good to be here on the first day of the Super 12. The boys have done well in the warm-ups and we are confident. The setbacks of the earlier months of the year, hopefully are behind us with this fresh team. We are going with 3 quicks and 1 main spinner. Marsh, Maxi & Stoinis are our fifth bowling options as all-rounders. Everyone were good in the warm-ups but unfortunately NCN, Kane, Agar & McDermott miss out.
Australia: Aaron Finch , D'Arcy Short, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey , Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Billy Stanlake
Kane Williamson: Not ideal to lose the toss in the first game. Australia have historically been key opponents for us and it is good to start off with the trans-tasman clash. The warm-ups could have gone better, but it has definitely help us figure our best combination out. We're going with 2 spinners in Santner & Sodhi and 3 pacers, Adam Milne returns to the team. CDG will be our sixth option over Corey. Seifert will be our keeper over GP as well. Tough for those who missed out but we are confident with our best team and hopefully everyone ends up contributing at some point.
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson , Tim Seifert , Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult
Australia won the toss and opt to bat first.
1st Innings
The Black Caps bowling unit uses the slow wicket to their full advantage, led by the antics of Mitchell Santner who topped the wickets chart with figures of 3/17, as the spin duo of Santner & Sodhi managed to secure half of the total wickets tally for just 35 runs in their combined 8 overs. The pacers too flourished, Milne going relatively expensive at 8 an over but the pair of Boult & Southee returned similar figures to the spinners. Australia's batting could never kick on, with D'Arcy Short's 29 being the top score, and the middle-order basically struggling to get quick runs in the middle-overs and death, finishing at a subpar 103/8 on this sluggish pitch.
New Zealand need 104 runs to win off 20 overs
@ 5.20 RPO
2nd Innings
Martin Guptill delivers for New Zealand in their steady & composed run chase, on a slow wicket that was tougher to bat on than it seemed. Guptill & Munro added 90 runs to the first wicket before the former departed for a well-made 58 off 49 balls at the end of Over 14- having secured the run chase with just 14 runs to get in the last six. Williamson and Munro had little to do, but the skipper finished in style with a maximum to his name in his five balls faced and the Kiwis cruised home by the sixteenth over. The Australian bowlers failed to utilise the wicket as everyone but Zampa ended wicketless.
Pitch Report: The Wanderers pitch is not as flat as usual, and has more grass cover, meaning it might have something for the pacers. Better decision would be to bowl first.
Toss: Virat Kohli, Indian captain calls heads and it lands on heads. India have won the toss.
Virat Kohli: We are going to field first. The wicket looks good, classic South African pitch. We feel chasing might be better suited here as the pitch might be better for the batters as the game goes on. We are going with 3 pacers and 2 spinners with Hardik being our sixth option, it's always safe to have six bowlers to start with. Chahal will be our main spinner, Krunal the all-round option so sadly Kuldeep misses out. Kaul was very good in the warm-up but we have gone with our senior men, at his expense. Obviously, this is a big game for us to start with. India-Pakistan is always a heated and awaited clash in these tournaments. Pakistan are a very strong T20 side and can't be underestimated. But we will give it our best for the people at home to cheer for and hopefully we start off with the win.
Sarfaraz Ahmed: We would have ideally wanted to win the toss. Big game for us. We have had a great run in this format in the past year to rise to the top so this tournament is important for us to start and end on a good note. India are a very tough opponent for us historically and the stakes are very high. We'll be going with 4 main pacers seeing the wicket, Shadab will be the lone spinner and Imad misses out as we have our senior all-rounders who can also chip in with spin. Under 19 youngster Shaheen Afridi will be playing today. Hopeful to start off on a high and continue our good form in this tournament.
Pakistan: Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmed , Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Afridi
India won the toss and opt to bowl first.
1st Innings
India's bowling is on point today with a strong statement from Umesh Yadav, who justifies his selection as the third pacer over warm-up star Siddarth Kaul with a brilliant 3/15 off his 2 overs. Pakistan started off very well in the powerplay courtesy Babar Azam, who's quickfire innings ended prematurely by the end of the phase for 33 off 19 balls. The team's scoring rate collapsed massively thereafter, with Umesh and co wreaking havoc in the middle-overs. With the run rate well below 7, Shadab and Faheem accelerated partially in the last two overs to push Pakistan to 139/6, setting India a 140 target, which may not be as much as they would've wanted.
India need 140 runs to win off 20 overs
@ 7.00 RPO
2nd Innings
A crucial India-Pakistan run chase and what could be a better set-up for a Virat Kohli performance. India's powerplay started shaky as their danger-man Rohit departed for just 9 after scoring 2 fours. Dhawan and Rahul were dismissed on consecutive deliveries in the sixth over adding a hiccup to the chase, but Virat Kohli on the other end ensured India were never going to fall short. His 41 (36) was more than what the numbers may suggest as it provided that strong foundation for the chase to progress as nobody else made substantial scores on the other end. It got tense towards the death but Umesh Yadav, starring with the bat now after a brilliant spell, finished it off with an explosive 9-ball 19 that featured 2 sixes, to blow Pakistan away with just two balls to spare.
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