ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2009 Super8 Fixtures

ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2009 ournament is progressing and now its time for the Super 8 matches.

Check out the fixtures/schedules for the Super 8 stage. Check out which team is playiing with whom.

Click on the image to enlarge if you can't see it properly.

Enjoy the ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2009.

Zaheer leads India to easy win

India Vs Ireland ( ICC World Twenty20 2009 ) - Indian seamer Zaheer Khan took four for 19 to set up a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Ireland in the final group match of the Twenty20 World Cup on Wednesday.

Both teams had already qualified for the second round of the tournament.

Left-arm swing bowler Zaheer helped restrict Ireland to just 112 for eight after the match was was reduced to 18-overs a side following a rain delay.

Man-of-the-match Zaheer was well supported by spinner Pragyan Ojha, who completed figures of two for 18 from four overs.

Rohit Sharma (52 not out) and Gautam Gambhir (37) put on 77 for the first wicket for defending champions India who reached 113 for two with 15 deliveries remaining under the Trent Bridge floodlights.

Jayasuriya Back in Form

Sri Lanka Vs West Indies ( ICC World Twenty20 2009 ) - Sanath Jayasuriya's47-ball 81 and his century stand for the first wicket with Tillakaratne Dilshan propelled Sri Lanka to a 15-run win over the West Indies in an inconsequential Twenty20 World Cup Group C match here today.

With both the sides making it to the Super Eight stage, the match had no bearing on their future in the tournament but Sri Lanka still began in the right earnest.

Put into bat, the Lankans got off to a solid start as openers Jayasuriya and Dilshan (74 off 47 balls) laid the foundation for a huge total before medium-pacer Lendl Simmons (4-19) managed to pull things back a little for the West Indies.

Chasing 193 for victory, West Indies managed 177 for five with Dwayne Bravo (51), Ramnaresh Sarwan (28 not out) and Lendl Simmons (27) shining with the bat even though it was not enough in the end.

West Indies started in a whirlwind fashion as openers Andre Fletcher (13) and Simmons put on 38 runs inside four overs before the former's leg stump was uprooted by a slower full toss from Lasith Malinga.

Undeterred, Simmons carried on, hitting back-to-back fours off Muttiah Muralitharan but his all-round show was brought to an end by the wily off-spinner as the batsman perished at first slip.

Sehwag offered to play with painkillers

While confusion has reigned in England over the last five days over the status and exact nature of the shoulder injury suffered by Virender Sehwag, who was on Tuesday, ruled out of the World 20 championships, some clarity was provided on Wednesday by some of the his Delhi and Team India colleagues.

Sehwag's team mates in the IPL confirmed that the opener had suffered the injury during the tournament's semi-final match against Deccan Chargers in Centurion on May 22. "He dived to stop a shot from Adam Gilchrist off Ashish Nehra's bowling when he strained his shoulder," a Daredevils team mate, who did not wish to be identified, told The Indian Express on Wednesday.

Sehwag, he added, bowled an over after that but experienced slight pain once his body had cooled down after the match.

Another player close to Sehwag said he was advised rest so that his shoulder could heal in the two weeks leading up to the World T20 championships. Sehwag then proceeded to England with the Indian team, still in slight pain, and it was only after an MRI scan in England that a Grade I tear was revealed, the player said.

An Indian team source added: "Viru could still bat with pain-killer injections but there was a problem while throwing and bowling. He offered to get through this tournament if the team needed. But because he would've been a liability in the field, the management decided to ask for a replacement."

Zaheer Khan went through a similar injury in the days leading up to the World T20. He was initially ruled out until he Super 8s but recovered quicker than expected, in time for India's first match against Bangladesh.

Sehwag will now consult Dr Andrew Wallace, who had treated Sachin Tendulkar in the past, in London to decide his next course of treatment.

Dinesh Karthik, named as replacement for Virender Sehwag, will have to wait a little longer before officially joining his team in England.

Bad Time But Not Affect Ashes confidence: Ponting

Sri Lanka became the second team to beat Australia in three days with a six-wicket triumph at Trent Bridge and Ponting's side have now lost 13 of their 23 Twenty20 clashes.

They must now start preparing for a five-Test series against England starting in Cardiff on July 8.

"It's my job to make sure we get over this pretty quickly and start focusing on the red balls and white clothing over the next couple of months," Ponting told reporters.

"I certainly won't be focusing on the negative stuff that has happened over the last couple of days.

"It's about looking at the positives we have created with our test team over the last few months. I like to think that none of this will linger around.

"Being in England there is no better place to be as the excitement and atmosphere at the start of an Ashes is going to be tremendous and if we can get caught up in that there won't be any negatives hanging around from the last few days."

UNEXPECTED PRACTICE

The Australians' next match is on June 24 against Sussex, so they have 15 days, based mainly in Leicester, to prepare and Ponting said the practice time may yet be an advantage.

"I guess it can't hinder us to have more time with the red balls out and preparing for the longer form of the game, while England play Twenty20 for at least another week so maybe that is one thing we can take from our time at Leicester," Ponting said.

"I've never been a big believer in taking one series to another, particularly when it's different forms of the game. We have a vast changeover of players coming over for the Ashes and when they get here we will build on from the very good stuff we did in South Africa."

Despite his attempts to put a positive spin on Australia's elimination from cricket's premier 20-over event, Ponting did not try to hide from his team's vulnerabilities in that format of the game.

"I would love to be able to tell you what's going wrong as that's five international Twenty20 games we have lost in a row and that's a worrying trend for our team," he added. "We've got some thinking to do there's no doubt about that.

"We will have a chat about where our Twenty20 cricket is at tonight and then we have got to move on from it pretty quickly because we've got some test matches just around the corner and our test team has been our shining light recently."

Australia knocked out of ICC WT20

Sri Lanka Vs Australia ( ICC World Twenty20 2009 ) - Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakara and T.Dilshan played an important role in run chase against Australia to achieve the target of 160 runs with one over to spare and beat them by six wickets. For the first time Australia faces so much early exit from the tournament in a decade.

The win for Sri Lanka confirm their and West Indies berth in the Super Eight Stage.

Chasing the target of 160 runs for victory Sri Lanka got off to flying start with the help of in-form T.Dilshan (53 runs of 32 balls) despite loosing opener Sanath Jayasurya (2 runs of 7 balls) in the third over of an inning. Dilshan and K.Sangakara (55 runs of 42 balls) put on a valuable partnership 62 runs of just 42 deliveries to make the run chase comfortable for other batsman to follow.

However once Dilshan got out Australia did manage to get the match closer to the end overs but in the end it was captain cool Sangakara and Jehan Mubarak (21 runs of 12 balls) achieved the target with an over remaining.

Earlier Australian after put into bat got off to disastrous start loosing opener David Warner in the very first over. However R. Ponting (25 runs of 15 balls) and Shane Watson (22 runs of 21 balls) tried hard to put Australian inning back on track but once spinner introduced into attack they were struggled and kept loosing wickets at regular intervals.

At one stage they were struggling to get pass 150 run mark but thank to M.Johnson (28 runs of 13 balls) and David Hussey (28 runs of 22 balls) innings as they both collected 65 runs in the last five overs of Australian inning.

Kumara Sangakar was declared Man-of-the-Match for his superb unbeaten knock of 55 runs of 42 balls.

England Keep Hopes alive in World Cup T20 By beating Pakistan

England Vs Pakistan ( ICC World Twenty20 2009 ) - England kept its World Twenty20 hopes alive after beating Pakistan by 48 runs at The Oval on Sunday. Kevin Pietersen struck 58 and Stuart Broad took 3-17 as England qualified for the Super 8 stage thanks to its superior run rate.

Chasing 186 to win, Pakistan lost early wickets and fell well behind the required run rate.

England struck an early blow when Ahmed Shehzad was caught for four by a tumbling England captain Paul Collingwood off Dimitri Mascarenhas in the third over.

Pakistan must beat Netherlands convincingly at Lord's, on Tuesday, to avoid elimination.

Ireland Into Super Eight By beating Bangladesh

Ireland Vs Bangladesh ( ICC World Twenty20 2009 ) – Ireland beat Bangladesh by 6 wickets to enter Super Eight.

Ireland played an exceptional cricket on a day when require to make it to the Super Eight of ICC world twenty20. They have beaten test playing nation Bangladesh quite convincingly by 6 wickets.

The hungrier side was always going to come up tops and Ireland took a massive stride by keeping a reckless Bangladesh to 137. Bangladesh batted with the freedom of a team that believed they were already in the next stage and paid the price, stumbling after a shaky start.

Thanks to M.Mortza quick fire 33 runs of 16 balls that gave some respectability to Bangladesh.
Ireland didn’t got-off to good start but the O’Brien brothers make it possible for their team by playing some good cricket with bat. First it was N. O’Brien who smashed 40 runs of 25 balls and then K. O’Brien finished the game with blistering 39 runs of just 17 balls.

N. O’Brien was declared Man-of-the-Match for his quick fire 40 runs of 25 balls.

Ireland plays India at Trent Bridge on Wednesday in a Group A match but both teams have now advanced.

Captain MS Dhoni Vice Captain Sehwag and Media

Nottingham (ICC T20 WC, 2009): Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Friday dismissed media reports about the reported rift between him and Virender Sehwag.

Dhoni, who was slated to address a press conference on the eve of their opening match against Bangladesh in the World Twenty20 Championship, only read out a statement on the entire team's behalf which spoke about the harmony and unity among the team members.

His brief statement primarily dealt with media reports in India about the alleged rift between Sehwag and him and he firmly squashed it. However, he did not take any questions.

Dhoni's comments on Thursday on Sehwag's injuries and a reply "May be you should ask his physio to issue a press release" lent itself to media speculation of a rift between the two.

"This message is for the people of India and for Indian cricket fans worldwide and comes from the whole team," the statement read out by Dhoni on Friday said.

"Recent reports in the Indian media of a rift between myself and Sehwag amounts to nothing but false and irresponsible media reporting," it said.

Collingwood graceful in defeat

LONDON (ICC T20 WC, 2009): The Netherlands stole England’s thunder with a four-wicket win in the opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 at Lord’s on Friday.

England’s captain Paul Collingwood gave the Netherlands credit for the sensational win, saying that they chased down a total England thought was defendabel. "They played exceptionally well. We could have defended the total. Whenever we got a wicket we assumed that we could stop them but every Dutch batsman just came out and hit boundaries. They played better than us today,” he said.

Collingwood said that that they were looking at a total between 170 and 180 but the Netherlands put up a fine performance. Asked if it was tough for his players to control the ball when it got wet because of the rain, the skipper was candid, “We didn’t perform in pressure situations; there are no excuses for this loss. We have to pick up our chins and get ready for a better performance against Pakistan,” he said.

The Netherlands captain, Jeroen Smith was a pleased man, calling the win ‘unbelievable’. The minnows took a victory lap at Lord’s after the game, thanking supporters who came to the ground to cheer for them. “It is something very special. We believed that we could win after the first 10 overs. We knew we were right in the game”, he said.

The 36-year-old admitted that they had their share of luck as England missed a lot of run out chances but said they deserved to win. Smith said his team wanted to show what they were capable of. “We were total control of the match right from the beginning,” he said, dismissing that he was worried when two tailenders were at the crease in the last two overs.

Tom de Grooth, man of the match for his knock of 49 runs off 30 balls, said that the event was big for the players but he knew that they had to play to the best of their abilities and not let themselves crumble under pressure.

Having hit six fours in his match winning knock, he said, “Nothing was playing on my mind. I was taking up the challenge at each moment. A few months back we planned to upset a major (cricket-playing) nation and we have done just that,” he said.

Netherlands shock England with last-ball victory

LONDON (ICC T20 WC, 2009): The Netherlands simply refused to go Dutch and defeated England by four wickets in a dramatic last ball finish to give the second ICC World Twenty20 competition a memorable start at Lord’s on Friday. Chasing 163 to win, the Netherlands got home thanks to a Stuart Broad overthrow off the final ball.

It is not as if the Dutch rode on good fortune alone. It must be said they worked hard to deserve every bit of luck that went their way on the inaugural day of the tournament. England openers Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright put on a century stand in 11 overs but the team was made to lose their way in the remaining nine overs of their innings.

From 102 without loss, England finished with 162 for five, striking just one four in that inexplicable spell of sluggish scoring – and wishing that Kevin Pietersen had not pulled out of the game with an injury. The century stand was the only time that England had something going for them. In fact, a one-sided match looked on the cards.

The Netherlands kept faith and clawed their way back into the game with disciplined bowling and enthusiastic fielding. And when their turn came to bat, the Dutch continued the show of self-belief that characterised the team on Friday. Even though paceman James Anderson claimed three for 23 in his four overs, the Netherlands were always in the frame.

Tom de Grooth made 49 off 30 balls (six fours, one six) and Peter Borren made 30 off 25 balls to lead the way but opener Darren Reekers and Ryan ten Doeschate had small but significant contributions too.

Stuart Broad’s final over was eventful – he missed three run out opportunities and was unable to latch on to a catch off ten Doeschate. Edgar Schiferli had to secure a single off the final delivery to tie the match and had Broad not attempted to run him out and conceded an overthrow, the game would have gone into the Super Over.

Confident Team India set off to retain T20 crown

Despite concerns about pace spearhead Zaheer Khan's fitness and about the players' fatigue factor looming large, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Friday optimistic about India's chances of retaining the T20 World Cup in England.

"We have a very balanced side, very strong in batting. We bat right down to 8 or 9. This is not to say we lack in bowling. We have a strong bowling attack too," he told a press conference in Mumbai before departing with teammates for London by a Friday noon flight.

"We have some outstanding talents in our team and we need to focus on playing to our potential without worrying about the result. We have to give 100 per cent and hopefully we can defend the title," he said about the team's prospects in the tournament starting June 5.

ICC T20 Cricket World cup will be broadcast on ESPN

While all cricket fans anger to enjoy ICC T20 World Cup 2009, The next ICC T20 cricket world cup live match will be aired on Star Cricket Channel a power of ESPN in England.

While DD(Doordarshan) will be shown only India’s match including semi-final and final match of T20 World cup. DD has its own clarification panel. They will present commentary in Hindi both on Star Cricket and Doordarshan. Hindi commentary will be given by Sunil Vaidya on Doordarshan.

ESPN also broadcast the warm matched which have already started. They will broadcast live all Ten warm-up matches.

It has a big group of commentators including Nasser Hussain , Wasim Akram, Alan Wilkins, Harsha Bhogle, Sanjay Manjrekar, Ian Chappell, Simon Doull, David Lloyd, Kepler Wessels, Ranil Abeynayake, Athar Ali Khan , Ian Bishop and Jeremy Coney.

While Manjrekar and Bhogle are hosted of Star Cricket TV for ‘Cricket Extra’ and will be showing before and after match show.

Here are a list to TV channels broadcasting T20 world cup 2009 live:
* India — ESPN (Live) - English

* India — STAR Cricket (Live) - Hindi

* Canada — Asian Television Network -ATN (Live)

* South Africa — Supersport (Live)

* United States — DirecTV (Live)

* Australia — Fox Sports (Live)

* Australia — Nine Network

* Europe — Eurosport2 (Live)

* Middle East —Arab Digital Distribution (Live)

* New Zealand — SKY Network Television (Live)

* Pacific Islands — Fiji TV

* Pakistan — Pakistan Television Corporation - PTV (Live)

* Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (Live)

* United Kingdom — Sky Sports (Live)

Dhoni In Presentation Ceremony ICC World Cup Twenty20 Final

Dhoni In Presentation Ceremony ICC World Cup Twenty20 Final Talking about the expereince of ICC WORLD CUP T20

How he and his boys make the history

Dhoni And His Boys ready to handle the pressure

With the cream of IPL in his side, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said his men are more equipped than their counterparts to handle pressure situations associated with the shortest format of the game when they defend their Twenty20 title.

Dhoni said although other teams have players who featured in the IPL, his side has an upper hand in the biennial event starting here on June 5 as all the 15 members of the Indian squad have featured in the just-concluded IPL in South Africa.

"The best thing is that we will know more how to handle pressure, when in the last over you need 10 or 15 runs, everyone in our side has faced that situation. There are quite a few players from other countries but most of our players were in the Indian Premier League," Dhoni told reporters at the official press conference here.

"In IPL you have limited talent in your side, but here we have plenty of options. We have the cream of the IPL so there is less pressure on each and every individual," he added.Dhoni, however, warned his team-mates against complacency and said the defending champions cannot afford to take any side lightly.

"In Twenty20, there is no such thing as a weak side, any individual can take the game away from you. We also can't live on or relish the memories, we have to turn up and do everything from scratch again, it's not about the past," Dhoni said pointing to their triumph in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa two years back.

India-Pakistan Game The Big Draw For Fan: ICC WT20

Vs

As England gears up to host the second ever ICC World Twenty20, Seatwave, Europe’s leading fan-to-fan ticket exchange, is seeing explosive demand for tickets. In the past seven days the Twenty20 tournament has even out sold U2 by almost 3-1.

Pakistan is the team that fans most want to see with 29% of all tickets sold for days when they are playing. Moreover, the most popular match looks set to be Pakistan’s clash with India in the warm-up stage, before the tournament proper even gets underway.

Those two sides played out a thrilling final in 2007, India winning by five runs and fans are no doubt keen to avoid missing out should a clash between the two nations not materialise when the tournament gets underway.

The tournament is proving popular with fans across the world. Seatwave has sold tickets to fans in 17 different countries, excluding the UK. The majority of these sales have been in India but Seatwave has also sold tickets to fans from far-flung destinations such as Hong Kong, Australia and Saudi Arabia. In fact, 6% of all tickets sold have been to fans based abroad, and of those, 20% have bought tickets to more than one game – great news for the UK economy.

Joe Cohen, CEO and Founder of Seatwave said: “The Twenty20 England World Cup is set to be one of the sporting highlights of 2009 and fans are keen to watch their cricketing heroes in action. We expect sales to continue to rise until throughout the tournament as fans follow their team’s progress. The secondary market provides increased flexibility and access for fans which is why an increasing number of buyers are taking advantage of Seatwave.”

ICC World Twenty20 2009 - Match Schedule

ICC World Twenty20 2009 - Match Schedule

Based on groupings as follows:

Group Matches:

Super Eight - Groups

GROUP E	GROUP F
A1	B1
B2	A2
C1	C2
D2	D1

The top two ranked teams in each group are seeded 1 and 2. They will retain this seeding for the Super Eights stage, irrespective of whether they finish first or second in their group, unless they are knocked out by team 3 in their group. In this instance, team 3 replaces the position of the team they knock out.

For example, if Bangladesh wins Group A and India comes second, for the purposes of the Super Eights, India will still be A1 and Bangladesh will be A2. If for example, Ireland qualifies instead of India, Ireland will become A1.

This formula provides spectators with certainty as to the location of team matches.

Semi Finals & Final