T20 World Cup and rise of the ‘No-hopers’ - EDITORIAL

When the Sri Lankan team left for the T20 World Cup series in Dubai earlier this month, the team left without much fanfare or high expectations from the normally cricket-mad public of the country. The public had to an extent lost all hope that the team could rise to the occasion of a major tournament like the T20 World Cup.

Adding to the loss of moral, was the fact team members had been forced to accept demeaning conditions and contracts from the local cricketing authorities. The public too had begun to disrespect the team especially after three senior members were sent back to the island for breach of discipline during the most recent tour of England. Subsequently the team was well and truly thrashed by the hosts.   

Dasun Shanaka and his team were all but written off by local cricket fans. To add insult to injury, the captain of the Netherlands team – the minnows in the cricketing world - said something to the effect that they had no worries regarding the Sri Lanka team. 

However, a day or so before the T20 match against the ‘no-hope’ Sri Lanka team, Seelar, the captain of the Netherlands team claimed he had been misquoted. As it was the captain of the team denying the truth of the report, we would like to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Suffice to say the Dutch team was well and truly defeated and its captain left to eat his words as the Lankan Lions first bundled out the Dutch for a paltry 44 runs in ten overs… the sixth lowest total in T20 history, and then cantered to the target in just 7.1 overs.
The match itself was inconsequential in that it was Lanka’s third win in as many matches and they topped Group A with six points.

On Sunday, the Lankans comprehensively beat Bangladesh in their first Super 12 match.
The biggest upset however was the rout of ‘invincible’ India at the hands of Pakistan in their opening match. Coming into the Super 12 on the back of winning the warm-up matches against England and Australia, India were the clear favourites; not only to beat Pakistan, but to win the World Cup itself.

Pakistan on the other hand, like Sri Lanka in an earlier era, has been starved of international cricket. Just recently England and New Zealand suddenly cancelled their fixtures in that country (Pakistan) on spurious grounds. With former West Indian greats having addressed that issue, we do not need to go further into that aspect of the matter.
Pakistan’s woes are even more compounded, in that Indian cricketing authorities do not permit high class Pakistani players to compete in the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament on purely political grounds. Principles of political interference in cricket do not apply apparently, when big money is at stake. 

Starved of international cricketing challenges, Pakistan came into the game as definite underdogs, despite having batsmen of the calibre of Babar Azam, Mohammed Rizwan and top class bowlers like Shaheen Shah Afridi – all starved of international experience.

In addition Pakistan came into the tournament not having won a single T20 match against India for 12 years… a huge mental block they overcame with aplomb. The Indian team, or -Team India - on the other hand have been on a winning streak. 
India’s weakness if any, has been their long-term dependence on Captain Virat Kholi’s batting prowess and stalwarts such as, Rohit Sharma, Rahul and Rishab Pant. 

A few new batsmen, despite the plethora of players thrown up through the IPL have been properly blooded, and the old workhorses are apparently suffering from cricketing fatigue, as was on display against Pakistan. 
It reminds one of the state of Sri Lanka cricket when cricketing greats Mahela Jayawardena, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas, departed the scene. Can India manage in the face of dropping contributions from its leading players?

With the ‘so-called’ underdogs standing up and to be counted, the T20 World Cup is once more alight. It does not look like a walk in the park for favourites India. On a more somber note, Scotland will be making its debut having beaten the more fancied Bangladesh and Ireland.
Having watched Sri Lanka rise from the depths of disillusionment, with no senior players or big names in the side, the country will be keeping its fingers crossed, praying the players can keep up the momentum and bring a ray of happiness to our land plagued by rising prices and falling wages.