Eight out of twelve have boarded a flight back home. Few expected and few not as much have made an exit at the super eight stage. And so, as we enter the final leg of the tournament we let ourself free fall, because anyways, anticipating what shall happen from here on is just not possible…let’s sit back and enjoy it.
Aahh, the knockouts, the sudden death and a hell lot of excitement that they promise. We did see some twists and turns all through the tournaments but one can argue that the best four sides have reached the semi-finals. So here is what we looking at – hosts Sri Lanka play a very unpredictable Pakistan in the first semi-final on Thursday and on Friday flamboyant West Indies take on a little shaken Australia. Sri Lankans look the best of these four, better balanced, carrying good momentum and they look like winning this one more than the others; of course they are playing at home so that would be added advantage, make no mistake – crowd will be behind them, absolutely, and do watch out for the numerous brass bands.
Their opponent in the semis, Pakistan, is the only team to make it to the last four in all the editions of ICC World T20 and that to an extent tells that their game is well suited for this format. Last time in St. Lucia, at the same stage in the tournament, they were shocked by a flurry from Mr. Cricket – Mike Hussey. This time they would want to turn it around.
West Indies seem to be going great and are in with a very strong chance. They face the Aussies for the second time in this tournament and would want to finish this one with the beautiful Gangnam dance. They have some big match winners in that side who are quite capable of destroying any attack on their day.
Lastly, let’s talk about the Australians. Well, this is the only championship that they are yet to champion and they would so want to win it. In fact, this time around they look like winning it too, a side that is quite balanced with a good mix of some very big hitter and T20 specialists. They were on a roll with the two Ws, Watson and Warner, blazing all guns but that Pakistan match has disturbed their rhythm a bit. That said, Australia is a very professional side and should be able to put that defeat out of their system when they take field against the Windies on Friday.
Fasten your seat belts folks, because from here, its gonna really launch!!!