20-20 World Cup: Fast and Furious, Yet another thrill in a year

Sep 10: After the adventures ending of World Cup, there is another opportunity to make thrill the people of the world as 20-20 World Cup is going to kick off from Sep 11, 2007. There is another chance for all the 12 nations include the present World Cup champion of the limited over one day international, Australia to bring the International Cricket Council, ICC 20-20 World Cup to home.

This is the first time in the cricket history to organise two world cups in a year especially in just 05 months duration. All the participating nations especially the top eight test playing countries are expecting to capture the cup, which became disappointed in the 50-50 world cup. On the other hand Australia is eyeing to grab all the top honors to prove its superiority to others. It is no wonder that it may win the 20-20 world cup to make the history of being the world champion of being all form of cricket.

Though Cricket Pandits are betting on South Africa and West Indies most followed by Australia, Sri Lanka and England. But it would be dangerous to pronounce earlier ‘who might be the next winner?’ Let’s see the some salient feature of World Cup 20-20.

About 20-20 Cricket

The sitting members of ICC along with some cricket experts were feeling that the charm of limited over had been decaying by various reasons. So they became serious begin a new format of cricket that can entertain the audience and the interest of the public can be regain. There is also some other reasons behind it; one of them was to made popular cricket in the non-playing nations that argues ‘the wastage of time in playing and watching cricket’ and also to make money. Thus the concept of 20-20 cricket emerged. In this format of cricket each team bats for a maximum of only 20 overs a side, with each innings lasting for 75 minutes.

20-20 cricket was first introduced at county level by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2003. It became very popular and spread around the world very quickly. The first men’s full Twenty20 international held in February 2005 between New Zealand and Australia and the first 20-20 World Cup International Cricket is going to kick off from Sep 11, 2007 on Tuesday.

20-20 World Cup Rules

• A Bowler may bowl a maximum of only 4 overs per innings.
• Umpires may award 5-run penalty runs at their discretion if they believe either team is wasting time.

• The following fielding restrictions apply:

1. No more than 5 fielders can be on the leg side at any time.
2. During the first 6 overs, a maximum of 2 fielders can be outside the 30-yard circle.
3. After the first 6 overs, a maximum of 5 fielders can be outside the fielding circle.
4. Should a bowler deliver a no ball by overstepping the popping crease, it costs 2 runs and his next delivery is designated a free-hit, from which the batsman can only be dismissed through a run out.

• If the fielding team do not start to bowl their 20th over within 75 minutes, the batting side is credited an extra 6 runs for every whole over bowled after the 75 minute mark; the umpire may add more time to this, if he considers the batting team is wasting time.

• If the match ends with the scores tied and there must be a winner, the tie is broken with a bowl-out (similar to a penalty shoot-out in football); with 5 bowlers from each side delivering 2 balls each at an unguarded wicket. If the number of wickets is equal after the first 10 balls per side, the bowling continues and is decided by sudden death.

All TWENTY20 Match Results (17 Feb 2005 to till date)

20-20 Top 10 Batsmen in 2007 

20-20 Top 10 Bowlers in 2007  

20-20 Highest 6s in a match in 2007  

20-20 Highest 4s in a match in 2007  

20-20 World Cup Squad

Australia 20-20 squad: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait, Shane Watson.

Bangladesh 20-20 squad: Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed, Tamim Iqbal, Saqibul Hasan, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Farhad Reza, Alok Kapali, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mushfiqur Rahim, Abdur Razzaq, Junaid Siddique, Nazimuddin, Nadif Chowdhury, Syed Rasel, Ziaur Rahman.

England 20-20 squad: Paul Collingwood (captain), Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Andrew Flintoff, James Kirtley, Darren Maddy, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior (wk), Chris Schofield, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Jeremy Snape, Vikram Solanki, Chris Tremlett, Luke Wright.

India 20-20 squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Joginder Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, RP Singh, Rohit Sharma.

Kenya 20-20 squad: Steve Tikolo (capt), Rajesh Bhudiya, Jimmy Kamande, Tanmay Mishra, Alex Obanda, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Collins Obuya, David Obuya, Thomas Odoyo, Peter Ongondo, Lameck Onyango, Elijah Otieno, Maurice Ouma (wk), Tony Suji, Hiren Varaiya.

Pakistan 20-20 squad: Shoaib Malik (captain), Salman Butt , Imran Nazir , Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi , Misbah-ul-Haq, Fawad Alam, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Asif , Shoaib Akhtar , Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Yasir Arafat, Abdul Rehman.

New Zealand 20-20 squad: Daniel Vettori (captain), Shane Bond, Peter Fulton, Mark Gillespie, Gareth Hopkins, Chris Martin, Craig McMillan, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel,Bradley Scott, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Lou Vincent.

Scotland 20-20 squad: Ryan Watson (captain), John Blain, Dougie Brown, Navdeep Poonia, Gordon Drummond, Gavin Hamilton, Majid Haq, Ross Lyons, Qasim Sheikh, Neil McCallum, Gregor Maiden, Dewald Nel, Colin Smith, Fraser Watts, Craig Wright.

South Africa 20-20 squad: Graeme Smith (captain), Gulam Bodi, Loots Bosman, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Justin Kemp, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Vernon Philander, Shaun Pollock, Thandi Tshabalala, Johan van der Wath.

Sri Lanka 20-20 squad: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Hasantha Fernando, Gayan Wijekoon, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Jehan Mubarak.

West Indies Twenty20 squad: Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Devon Smith, Marlon Samuels, Runako Morton, Denesh Ramdin, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy, Dwayne Smith, Ravi Rampaul, Daren Powell, Fidel Edwards, Narsingh Deonarine, Pedro Collins.

Zimbabwe Twenty20 squad: Prosper Utseya (captain), Gary Brent, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura, Keith Dabengwa, Tymicen Maruma, Hamilton Masakadza, Stuart Matsikinyeri, Johnson Marumisa, Christopher Mpofu, Tawanda Mupariwa, Vusimusi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu, Brendon Taylor, Shaun Williams.

(Sources: www.cricinfotwenty20.com)