Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka - Highlights of T20 World Cup final 2009

Pakistan are the new T20 Champions as they defeated Sri Lanka in the final of ICC World Twenty20 2009 by 8 wickets. Pakistan showed brilliance in each form of the game to defeat Sri Lanka in the final. Razzaq took 3 early wickets and finally Afridi made another fifty for Pakistan.

Sri Lanka - 138 / 6 in 20 overs. (Sangakkara 64, Matthews 35)
Pakistan - 139/2 in 18.4 overs (Afridi 54, Akmal 37)
Man of the match - Shahid Afridi
Man of the Series - TM Dilshan

Highlights Video of Pak Vs SL in T20 World cup final 2009:

1) Get short videos of highlights, wickets and main parts of match on Yahoo. click here

2) Watch the highlights for free on espnstar. Click here

Pakistan in Semi-final of T20 World Cup 2009

Schedule of Pakistan semi-finals:
Match#1: Pakistan Vs South Afrrica on June 18, Thur at Nottingham

Pakistan has qualified for the semi-final stage of T20 World Cup 2009. After the win of Pakistan against the Ireland on Monday confirmed their ticket for the further stage. This is the second time in second edition of T20 World Cup. Last time Pakistan had qualified to the finals and lost against the India. But this year India is already out the tournament. Pakistan play the semi-final match against the South Africa in the semi-finals of ICC World T20 2009.

On Monday, Pakistan beat Ireland by the margin of 39 runs. After the win Pakistan are spotted in the 1st position of the Group F with 4 points. In the other hand, Sri Lanka also have four points but their net run rate is less compared to Pakistan. New Zealand have 2-points which means that they have to win Sri Lanka to qualify for the semis with some greater margin.

Pakistan tam had loose its both warm-ups against the SA and IND before the tournament. It became more criticised after they lost against the England in the first match of the tournament. Lots of pressure on the team in the match against one of the low-ranked Netherlands. But they came well enough to beat Netherlands and had a journey to the Super 8s of ICC T20 World Cup 2009.

Some amount of pressure was released as they were on Super 8s. But here also they had to face defeat against the Sri Lanka in the first match. Now Pakistan needed both the matches on their hand to qualify for further. They did that against both the New Zealand and Ireland and spotted themselves i the semi-final of ICC World Twenty20 2009.

Pakistan bowling attack seemed to be doing excellent throughout the series whereas some little bit of up-downs in the Batting is also seen. Spinners are doing more better job in the middle order whereas pacer are providing fine start to the team's bowling attack. Umer Gul and Saeed Ajmal are two top-listed wicket-taker in ICC World Twenty20 2009. Whereas in batting captain Younis Khan and Kamran Akmal are at the top level from the Pakistan team.

Pakistan had to loose some of its fine player like Shoaib Akhtar and Sohail Tanvir before and during the tournament. But after the Tanvir's return, former ICL player Abdul Razzaq is back on the side and provided good all-round support till now in two matches played by him.

After its confirmation ticket to the semis, it is still undecided with whom they will play. Definitely it will be either South Africa, England or West Indies in the semi-final. Best of LUCK for the Pakistani team and Congratulations for what they achieved.

South Africa Vs West Indies in T20 World cup - Super 8

After a dominating win against India, West Indies will battle against South Africa, regarded as tournament favorites by many. Both of them, grouped in group E have won 1-each match in super eights. West Indies have shown a solid display in the World T20 with win against he mighty Aussies and then against defending champions. South Africa who are undefeated look like cruising for the title though they had few close encounters.

South Africa v West Indies - Group E of Super 8
Date: 13th June, 2009 Match time: 12:30 GMT | 13:30 Local
Venue: The Oval

Match Preview: West Indies are certainly unpredictable. Players like Gayle, Bravo, Chanderpaul can win the game for the team single-handily. Their recent form seems great as they cruised to victory in two matches very easily. Not only this but if its their bad day, they seem miserable. South Africa are more consistent and predictable. We can predict some great bowling from Steyn and Morkel. AB de Villers is in superb form. Though West Indies are looking inspiring,I will go with South Africa.

Players to watch: Bravo, Gayle and Steyn.

Problems with getting live broadcasters of match? You get help from here to watch the match live:

On TV: Star cricket will broadcast the match live in India. It will not be shown in Doordarsan. For other countries and further details, click here.

On Internet : Some sites including willow.tv, tvnsports.com and espnstar,com broadcast it on internet for which they charge some amount. If you want to watch only matches on this day, you can watch it on espnstar.com with $3 and for whole series it costs $20. Click here for further details.

Missed the match, Watch highlights of West Indies VS South Africa in T20 World cup : On intenet, ESPNstar.com will broadcast the highlights of match for free over here. In some countries including India, video highlights of South Africa Vs West Indies can be watched on ESPNstar's youtube channel - youtube.com/espnstar. Click here for further details.

England Vs South Africa - Live in Super Eight of T20 World Cup 2009

The host nation will start its super eight journey against the match against South Africa in ICC World T20. England recovered with a win against Pakistan after having a disastrous start with a loss against Netherlands. South Africa on the other hand were superb with over 100 runs win over Scotland but couldn't display good batting against New Zealand though they eventually won the match. The match is from group E of super 8 which also includes India and West Indies.

England VS South Africa - ICC World T20 2009
Thu Jun 11, Day and Night
Time: 17:30 local | 16:30 GMT | 22:00 in India
Venue: Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Preview: Seeing current forms, South Africa seems to be superior in both batting and bowling. AB de Villers has been the focus of the tournament and Roelof van der Merwe has shown good bowling. England has found a solid opening with Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara. Pietersen showed some good batting against Pakistan and he has been always superb against South Africa.

Hope for : A close competition with the last ball being the decider. Super over would make it more exciting. The weather forecast shows chances of rain which would be the worst thing ruining all the excitement.

Players to Watch out: AB de Villers and Luke Wright

Watch Live South Africa Vs England in Super 8s of T20 World Cup 2009

On TV: Star cricket will broadcast the match live in India. It will not be shown in Doordarsan. For other countries and further details, click here.

On Internet : Some sites including willow.tv, tvnsports.com and espnstar,com broadcast it on internet for which they charge some amount. If you want to watch only matches on this day, you can watch it on espnstar.com with $3 and for whole series it costs $20. Click here for further details.

Highlights of England VS South Africa in T20 World cup : On intenet, ESPNstar.com will broadcast the highlights of match for free over here. In some countries including India, video highlights of South Africa Vs England can be watched on ESPNstar's youtube channel - youtube.com/espnstar. Click here for further details.

Sri Lanka Vs West Indies in T20 World Cup 2009

June 10 2009 - Sri Lanka Vs West Indies
At Nottingham , Group C - World Twenty20 2009
Live from : 13:30 Local, 12:30 GMT

The veterans against the Australia, Sri Lanka and West Indies will play for the group top spot here in Nottingham. Both the teams have defeated Australia in their initial matches. SL an WI have already qualified for the 2nd round of ICC World Twenty20 2009. The match will be played for the prestige and will want the win in order to build up the confidence in the series.

West Indies defeated Australia by a huge margin. Thanks to the great batting from the Captain Chris Gayle. Gayle seemed to be unstoppable throughout the match. Unlike other matches, there was somebody giving the support to the aggressive Gayle. Fletcher scored a half century giving the opening stand of 130 runs between Gayle and himself. Bowling attack was equally great. Two early wickets in the first over from Taylor and brilliant pace-attack till the end. Something that needs to improve is the spin-attack. Benn and Gayle didn't have great time with the ball in the hand.

Sri Lanka was always in the top in the match against Australia. Talking about their bowling attack, the restriction of Australia to 159 was very much meant bowlers did great job in that ground. Ajantha Mendis showed his talent yet another time and picked three wickets for 20 runs. It seemed no-one was able to pick Mendis and his accuracy stopped the flow of runs. Jayasuriya was looking in bad touch with both ball and bat. As his duty is to take the team into very good start but could not establish well. Dilshan seemed unstoppable as he batted beautifully giving continuity to the form he got in IPL. Captain Sangakkara who is great in every form of cricket made got the victory for the Lankans.

The first thing to be watched will always be the Chris Gayle and Sanath Jayasuriya. Then, Mendis and Suleman Benn, Malingha and Edwards, Dilshan and Fletcher and others too.

Interesting to see will be that the team will be unchanged from both sides or they will give chance to the other players in the dressing room as they are already ahead in the series.

Watch Live streaming Sri Lanka Vs West Indies in T20 World Cup 2009:
On TV: Star cricket will broadcast the match live in India. It will not be shown in Doordarsan. For other countries and further details, click here.

On Internet : Click here for further details.

Highlights of Sri Lanka Vs West Indies in T20 World cup 2009 Click here for further details.

Pakistan Vs Netherlands in T20 World cup 2009

After a loss against England, Pakistan are in the danger of early exit from ICC World T20 2009. Now only a win by more than 25 runs or before 18 overs(if batting second) can qualify Pakistan for the second stage of the tournament. Though Netherlands are considered very weak in cricket, their recent win against England, Pakistan's poor show in England and the fact that only a win is insufficient has brought Pakistani team under a lot of pressure.

Netherlands v Pakistan at Lord's
Jun 9, 2009
Match time: 13:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 18:00 India

The system of Net Run rate has brought a lot of probabilities in the game. Here are what can happen after Pakistan Vs Netherlands?

Netherlands win - They qualify for the second stage and Pakistan are out of T20 World cup 2009
Pakistan win by less than 25 runs (batting first)- Pakistan are out and Netherlands qualify
Pakistan win after 18 overs (batting second )- Pakistan are out and Netherlands qualify
Pakistan win by more than 25 runs - Pakistan qualifies for the super 8 of T20 World cup
Pakistan win before 18 overs - Pakistan into next stage and Netherlands out
Rain and no play which is very possible - Pakistan are out and Netherlands reach another stage.

Out of 6, only 2 possibilities point towards taking Pakistan to next stage. Still I feel Pakistan has more chances. Umar Gul is in good touch from Pakistan and he will be key bowler. Sohail Tanvir is having bad time these days. On batting, I hope one of the openers deliver and Younis Khan, Misbah or Malik must lead the innings.

Watch Pakistan Vs Netherlands Live:
On TV: Star cricket will broadcast the match live in India. It will not be shown in Doordarsan. For other countries and further details, click here.

On Internet : Click here for further details.

Highlights of Pakistan Vs Netherlands in T20 World cup 2009 Click here for further details.

T20 World cup 2009- Points table

The T20 World cup 2009 at first has 4 groups containing 3 teams each. 2 top team from each will advance to the super 8 where they will play in two groups. The points table of ICC World Twenty20 has points as well as Net Run Rate which are deciding factors.

So, after two stages of league in T20 its now the time for knock-out phases, the semi-finals and the finals. South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka are the teams which qualified for the finals of ICC World Twenty20 2009.

Here is the completely updated T20 World cup points table / standings

Super Eight:(Final Updated)

Group E

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
South Africa	3	3	0	0	0	6	+0.787	427/58.2	392/60.0
West Indies	3	2	1	0	0	4	+0.063	401/47.0	415/49.0
England	3	1	2	0	0	2	-0.414	343/49.0	346/46.4
India	3	0	3	0	0	0	-0.466	421/60.0	439/58.4

Group F:

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Sri Lanka(q)	3	3	0	0	0	6	+1.267	452/60.0	376/60.0
Pakistan (q)	3	2	1	0	0	4	+1.185	390/53.1	369/60.0
New Zealand	3	1	2	0	0	2	-0.232	407/60.0	373/53.1
Ireland	3	0	3	0	0	0	-2.183	370/60.0	501/60.0

League Stage:

Group A

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
India (q)	2	2	0	0	0	4	+1.22750	293/35.5	267/38.0
Ireland (q)	2	1	1	0	0	2	+0.162	250/36.2	250/35.3
Bangladesh	2	0	2	0	0	0	-0.996	292/40.0	318/38.2

Group B

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
England (q)	2	1	1	0	0	2	+1.175	347/40.0	300/40.0
Pakistan (q)	2	1	1	0	0	2	+0.850	312/40.0	278/40.0
Netherlands	2	1	1	0	0	2	-2.025	256/40.0	337/40.0

Group C

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Sri Lanka(q)	2	2	0	0	0	4	+0.626	352/39.0	336/40.0
West Indies(q)	2	1	1	0	0	2	+0.719	349/35.5	361/39.0
Australia	2	0	2	0	0	0	-1.331	328/40.0	332/34.5

Group D

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
South Africa(q)	2	2	0	0	0	4	+3.275	339/40.0	208/40.0
New Zealand(q)	2	1	1	0	0	2	+0.309	217/26.0	217/27.0
Scotland	2	0	2	0	0	0	-5.281	170/27.0	301/26.0

Mat= Matches, NR= No result, PTS- Points, NRR- Net Run Rate

This is the final table of Group stage/1st Round of T20 World Cup 2009.

Australia out of T20 World cup 2009

The 50-over champions and the team which has ruled the test cricket for more than a decade has theoretically become the worst team in ICC World Twenty20 2009. Loosing two out of two matches in group stage, Australia has become the second team after Bangladesh to be out of T20 World cup. Its performance is lot poorer than teams like Ireland and Netherlands apart from other top nations.

Reasons why Australia got out of T20 World cup 2009 so early:

i)Poor fixture and group division of ICC World Twenty20: The division of group is just based on the performance of teams in T20 format of the game which has a very short history. In one of the group you find India, Bangladesh and Ireland and in other West Indies, Sri Lanka and Australia. One of the team in Australia's group was sure to be out from first stage. The performance in T20 should not have been the basis of group division.

ii) The magic of Gayle and Mendis : Chris Gayle and Ajantha Mendis are two players in world cricket today when in touch are completely uncontrollable. Chris Gayle, the West Indies' captain played an unbelievable inning showing ruthless hitting against bowlers like Brett Lee. On the other hand, Ajantha Mendis whom Australia faced for the first time was superb with the ball. No batsman including Ricky Ponting, Watson, Hussey couldn't read him. I think Australia were unlucky to face Mendis for the first time in such an important match. Click here to know in detail about Mendis' bowling.

iii) Selection of Australian team: Austalia didn't have much difference between their T20 and ODI or test team. Loosing player like Symonds was a big disadvantage. The selection was not great. Players like Dirk Nannes and Brad Haddin who played well in IPL were not selected. Selected T20 specialists like Nathan Hauritz and Cameron White were not used.

I think the first reason is the main and the fixtures should be made carefully. I hope ICC would not make such mistakes in near future.

Pakistan Vs England in T20 World Cup 2009

5th Match - Pak V Eng
Group B Match at Oval
7th June, Sunday
At 17:30 Local, 16:30 GMT
In Pakistan : 21:15 , In India : 21:45, In UAE: 20:30

Must win match for England to remain in the T20 World Cup hosted on their nation. England lost against the Netherlands in an unexpected way in the opener of the series. Pakistan are facing first time in the tournament. They want a win here and if they have it then they are directly on to the second stage without playing another match with Netherlands. England defeat will make the English out of cup and Netherlands will have a success to go through further.

England team is leaded by their new captain Andrew Strauss. Lots of name in the paper who were best at this format of the game. But great performance by the Dutch made everyone shock. Definitely, the home team should have the advantage bt it seems that they are now in tremendous pressure at this situation.
England Squad:
PD Collingwood*, JM Anderson, RS Bopara, SCJ Broad, JS Foster†, RWT Key, AD Mascarenhas, EJG Morgan, GR Napier, KP Pietersen, AU Rashid, OA Shah, RJ Sidebottom, GP Swann, LJ Wright

Pakistan are the finalist and runner-up of the ICC World T20 last season in SA. They had a narrow lost against the Indians in the final. But plenty of new members along with the new captain in the side. Younis Khan is leading the team with great names in the squad. Pakistan didn't had good warm-ups where the lost against both India and South Africa. Pakistan will want a victory in order to get the second stage without playing another match.
Pakistan Squad:
Younis Khan*, Ahmed Shehzad, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Anjum, Kamran Akmal†, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Aamer, Saeed Ajmal, Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Shahzaib Hasan, Shoaib Malik, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Yasir Arafat

Watch Live:
On TV: Star cricket will broadcast the match live in India. It will not be shown in Doordarsan. For other countries and further details, click here.

On Internet : Some sites including willow.tv, tvnsports.com and espnstar,com broadcast it on internet for which they charge some amount. If you want to watch only matches on this day, you can watch it on espnstar.com with $3 and for whole series it costs $20. Click here for further details.

Highlights of Pakistan Vs England in T20 World cup : On intenet, ESPNstar.com will broadcast the highlights of match for free over here. In some countries including India, video highlights of Pakistan vs England can be watched on ESPNstar's youtube channel - youtube.com/espnstar. Click here for further details.

India Vs Bangladesh in T20 World Cup 2009

India will be playing against the neighboring Bangladesh Today in the ICC World Twenty20. The Group A match is schedule to be in Trent Bridge. Ireland is the third team in this group. The match is Day/Night match and is the third among the three matches in the day. Australia vWest Indies and New Zealand V Scotland are the other matches on the same day.

4th Match of T20 World cup 2009, Group A - Bangladesh v India
Sat Jun 6, 2009
Match time: 18:00 local | 17:00 GMT | 22:30 (10:30 PM)- India
Trent Bridge, Nottingham
High probability of rain.

No doubt that India looks far ahead than the Bangladesh in this situation. India is the defending champion of the inaugural T20 Cup in 2007. Indian teams seems to be in the great touch with less pressure. India had victory against Pakistan in the warm-ups but lost against New Zealand.However, Bangladesh's win against India in 2007 World cup in West Indies reminds everyone that Bangladesh should not be underestimated. In last T20 world cup also, Bangladesh entered the second stage defeating West Indies. Bangladesh are comparatively in less pressure as their loss is expected and an win will be called as a great success.

Watch India Vs Bangladesh in T20 World cup live:

On TV: Star cricket will broadcast the match live in India. It will also be shown in Doordarsan. For other countries and further details, click here.

On Internet : Some sites including willow.tv, tvnsports.com and espnstar,com broadcast it on internet for which they charge some amount. If you want to watch only matches on this day, you can watch it on espnstar.com with $3 and for whole series it costs $20. Click here for further details.

Highlights of India vs Bangladesh in T20 World cup : On intenet, paid sites which show live matches also broadcast highlights. I think ESPNstar.com will broadcast the highlights of match for free over here. In some countries including India, video highlights of India vs Bangladesh can be watched on ESPNstar's youtube channel. Click here for further details.

T20 World cup Highlights

For cricket lovers, ICC World Twenty20 or T20 World cup is probably the most awaited cricket tournament of 2009. Watching the matches live is the best way to enjoy the cricketing action. But for those who cannot access the live matches due to busy schedule, you may watch highlights of matches on TV or computer.



T20 World cup highlights on Internet: Some sites are broadcasting match highlights on the internet. Videos showing the highlights can be watched on following sites:

ESPN Star: (Best method)ESPN Star's official website shows the video highlights of different T20 World cup matches for free. Although the T20 World cup has not started yet, there are highlights from the warm-up matches of India against New Zealand and Pakistan. The videos contain about 10 minutes of highlights for each innings. Click here to watch the highlights on ESPNSTAR.com

Also, there is the youtube channel of ESPN Star which shows highlights of some matches. Its http://www.youtube.com/espnstar but is available only in some countries. Its available in India but I don't know about other places.

Cricket.yahoo.com is also showing very short videos. It shows more than 30 videos for a match each of length about 30 seconds.

Apart from this when you can watch the highlights from willow.tv and tvnsports.com if you buy package for watching live matches. Apart from watching match live you can get on-demand highlights of matches of on these sites.

Who will win ICC T20 World Cup 2009?

ICC World Twenty20 starts this June 5 at England. 12 countries will participate in this event. India, Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Scotland, Ireland and Netherlands will be participatng on this event.

India are the defending Champions of the Cup which was played 2 years ago in South Africa. Every team looks better and better this time as they have collected more experience in this form of the game recently. Pakistan were the runner-up of the inaugural. Australia have recently lost their world's no.1 spot in ODI but still are very strong team.

England, being the host country, would give their best for the T20 cup. South Africa is the no.1 spotted in ODI ranking and their team looks in great form for the T20 World Cup in England. South African players have great season international cricket and recently played IPL in SA.

Sri Lanka have the new captain this time and they would really like to forget the Pakistan event. This team is line-up as the mixture of both greatly experienced one and youngsters. New Zealand team lead by Vettori would like grab the cup first international ICC event. West Indies team seemed worse on the England last month as they had to give up against England in both test an ODIs but this format is different and they love to remember the ICC Champions trophy win some years back in the same country. But the problem is that they may not reach the semis as they are in the group with Australia and Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh is placed with India and Ireland so this seems that they have great chance to qualify for the semis but would definitely go further and prove themselves. The non-test playing nations Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands cannot be underestimated.

Tough Competition this year in England. Now, you have the chance make your predictions.

Vote for your team and Please post your comments on why the team you chose can win.

T20 World Cup 2009 | Warm-up matches LIVE

ICC World Twenty20 or T20 World Cup 2009 starts from June 5 in England. The warm-up matches begins from June 1. Here is the Schedule of warm-up matches from June 1 - June 4:

Monday June 1
Ireland v Holland (1.30-4.30pm), Lord's
Australia v Bangladesh (1.30-4.30pm), Trent Bridge
New Zealand v India (5.30-8.30pm), Lord's
Pakistan v South (5.30-8.30pm), Trent Bridge

Tuesday June 2
Ireland v West Indies (1.30-4.30pm), Oval
England v Scotland (5.30-8.30pm), Trent Bridge
Australia v New Zealand (5.30-8.30pm), Oval

Wednesday June 3
Sri Lanka v South Africa (1.30-4.30pm), Lord's
Holland v Scotland (1.30-4.30pm), Oval
England v West Indies (5.30-8.30pm), Lord's
India v Pakistan (5.30-8.30pm), Oval

Thursday June 4
Bangladesh v Sri Lanka (5.30-8.30pm), Trent Bridge

Watch Live warm-up matches of ICC World Twenty20 2009:
On TV : The matches of ICC World Twenty20 will be shown in Star Cricket in India so some of the warm-ups will be shown in STAR CRICKET in India and some other countries. For other countries CLICK HERE. (The link is provided on the basis of their broadcasting right for the tournament, make sure they will broadcast warm-ups or not.

On Internet : Watch the Live streaming action of warm-up matches of ICC World Twenty20 in Willow.tv and Tvnsports.com. (Note: They only show few matches, important ones.)

T20 World Cup 2009 to be shown on Star Cricket and Doordarshan

Along with ESPN Star's Star cricket, Doordarshan will also telecast the T20 World Cup 2009 in England.Star cricket will be broadcasting every matches of the series while Doordarshan which is accessible to more people in India will be broadcasting the matches played by India in group stage along with the final and semi-final of the tournament. Along with it, DD will be providing its own commentary in Hindi. Along with these two channels in India, this event will be shown live in more than 200 countries worldwide. Click here for TV channels in different countries.


ESPN Star has also confirmed that it will broadcast 10 warm-up matches before the T20 World cup which also includes two matches played by India. It has a big group of commentators including Wasim Akram, Sanjay Manjrekar, Alan Wilkins, Harsha Bhogle, Nasser Hussain, David Lloyd, Ian Chappell, Simon Doull, Kepler Wessels, Ian Bishop, Ranil Abeynayake, Athar Ali Khan and Jeremy Coney. It will be showing a pre and post-match show "Cricket Extra" hosted by Manjrekar and Bhogle.

Doordarshan on the other hand will telecast the Indian matches and the two semi-finals and one final. Sunil Vaidya, will be doing commentary in Hindi for Dooordarshan.

India Vs Pakistan in T20 World cup warm-up match 2009

India VS Pakistan - T20 World Cup 2009 - warm up t20 match
Date:Wednesday, June 3 2009 Time: 5.30-8.30pm(local) Venue:Oval

The ICC World twenty20 or the T20 World cup 2009 is will begin from 5th June but before it we have some of the exciting warm-up matches. After a long interval we will be seeing the great cricket rivals- India and Pakistan head to head in an warm up Twenty20 match on June 3. India and Pakistan are expected to make a great show in ICC World t20 2009 as they were the finalists of previous edition which India won in an exciting manner.

Preview: In my view, both the teams are at great heights. With Sohail Tanvir and Umar Gul along with Shahid Afridi Pakistan seems to be one of the best bowling sides today. Though batting is relatively weaker Misbah-ul-Haq, Younus Khan and Shoaib Malik are always great. India on other hand has superb batting side with some of the players best suited for T20 format. Gambhir, Raina, Rohit Sharma have emerged has specialist T20 players. Bowling is relatively weaker but RP Singh and Ishant Sharma are really emerging these days.

Watch out for:

i) Shahid Afridi: Afridi was superb in recent series against Australia. His style of cricket is best suited for t20 matches. He was the man of the series of ICC World Twenty20 2008. And remember he has special liking towards Indian bowlers.

ii) Gautam Gambhir: The opening batsman is one of the best T20 players. He can open in a very destructive manner and continue his innings. He was one of the best players in the ICC World T20 2007, specially the final.

Watch India Vs Pakistan Warm-up match live: Star Cricket is broadcasting the series live in India. It will broadcast this warm-up match along with 9 other warm-up matches.. Though this list shows the broadcasters of T20 World cup in different countries, it is not clear on weather the TV Channels will broadcast the warm-up matches.

Australia in ICC World Twenty20 2009

Australia would really like to forget the recent past and the last or first version of ICC T20 World Cup in South Africa. Lots of expectation from the team last time but they could not go through the expectation. Ricky Ponting and his team will forget the past and show that they still have the supremacy in Cricket. The Group C of the tournament is not less than the 'Group of Death'. Sri Lanka, West Indies along with the Australia are placed in the same group. Difficulties for every team.

Here is the squad of Australia for T20 World Cup 2009 :
Ricky Ponting (c), Michael Clarke (vc), Nathan Bracken, Brad Haddin (wk), Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Andrew Symonds, David Warner, Shane Watson

Players to Watch:
Lots of player missed the IPL season for this year but the one who played had brilliant time over there. Symonds is now back on the team and would love to perform. His form in the recent IPL season was the also important for the Deccan Chargers. Symonds was out of the team since some months and played against Pakistan in UAE. His game in UAE was not at the top but he performed very well in IPL.

Another comeback is for the pace-bowler Brett Lee. Lee had the comeback since IPL and got some pride in it in spite of his team being out from group phages. Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey had plenty of rest since they avoided both Pakistan series and IPL for this year. And the rest was for the ICC World Twenty20 so they must perform well.

Some new faces like Peter Siddle (fast bowler), Nathan Hauritz(off spinner) and David Warner will be watchful for the team. Opener Warner had great IPL season opening for Delhi Daredevils in SA. He should keep his for for the same format of game in England.

Shane Watson, all-rounder is always lovely to watch in both bowling and batting. He had good series in UAE against Pak but missed the IPL season for his team Rajasthan. David Hussey, Brad Haddin are amongst the player made for this format. Bracken and Johnson will be bowling with LEE.

Interestingly, some names seemed to be missing in the squad. Its Brad Hodge who had great IPL season for their respective teams. But never than less the team is really full of talent and love to get the Cup in their lap.

Australia's Group stage matches:
Sat, June 6
14:00 local, 13:00 GMT
3rd Match
Group C - Australia v West Indies
Kennington Oval, London

Mon, June 8 Floodlit Match
17:30 local, 16:30 GMT
8th Match,
Group C - Australia v Sri Lanka
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Pakistan In ICC World Twenty20 2009

Pakistan are the runner-up in the T20 World Cup 2007 held on South Africa. No one can forget the final between India and Pakistan where Pakistan had to come second by 5 runs. This year, the second World Twenty20 is going to be held on England. Pakistan are all set for the tournament that starts 5th June. The new captain Younus Khan will be leading his team with plenty of young legs and new appearances with useful experience.

Pakistan Squad for T20 World Cup 2009:
Younis Khan (c), Misbah-ul-haq, Kamran Akmal (wk), Shoaib Mallik, Shahid Afridi, Salman Butt, Ahmed Shehzad, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Iftikar Anzum, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Aamir, Shahzaib Hasan, Saeed Ajmal

New Faces:
Brilliant looking team in the paper. Shaoib Akhtar was on the 1st squad but he was withdrawn due to Injury and Rao Iftikar has got chance. Some new young legs on the team like Ahmed Sehzad, Mohammad Aamir and Shahzaib Hasan has been included on the squad. Shehzad got the chance in the last series against the Australia in UAE. Young ma had shown his capabilities on UAE and has to perform well this time also for his great future in Pakistan team. Shehzad act as the opening batsman on the team and seemed to be perfect for this sort of short verson games.

Shahzaib Hasan, 19 years is another young attacking wicketkeeper batsman for the Pakistan team. He has just debut his first class career in late 2008 and played on 4 Twenty20 matches. Interesting to see how this young rookie perform in the big platform as he is yet to debut in International level. Another 17 years old Mohammad Aamir is placed as the Fast Medium bowler in the squad. Young in age has debut the 1st class in last Nov and already taken 57 wickets from 10 matches. The young fellow has briliant averages in 5 T20s played with 8 wickets.

Fawad Alam, the name might have been in Pakistan squad since more than few years but hasn't got the consistent place in the playing 11 for Pakistan. The 23 years all-rounder is superb in every expect of the field from batting to bowling and fielding.

Players to watch:
Those young and new faces are always in the list for players to watch. Apart from this the team looks very good. Captain of the team is the one who is always watched at the the first. Younis Khan is captaining the side from few months only and hadn't had many matches. Captaining the team in such a big event is very hard.

Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir were the bowlers who performed exceptional in the South Africa in 2007. Shahid Afridi was the ma of the series for his great all-round performance to make his team runner-up in that event.

T20 World Cup 2009 - Live

After IPL 2009, a bigger cricket event i.e. the ICC World twenty20 2009 will start from June 5, 2009 in England. Apart from the 9 test playing nations, countries like Scotland, Ireland and Holland are taking part in the event. This is the second edition of T20 World cup and I am sure it will be a superb success. Coming in track, here is how to watch the series live:

Watch T20 World Cup live on TV: As this is an ICC event, ESPNStar has broadcasting rights in India. The matches will be shown live on ESPN and Star Sports. For countries like USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand you can click here to find the TV Channels showing T20 World cup live.

Watch T20 World Cup live in Internet: For Internet viewers, some sites are broadcasting the matches live streaming on internet asking some money. I find TVNSPORTS.com which is quite cheap and provides live video streaming and highlights. Another site is WILLOW.TV which is a bit higher in case of money. I don't think it is going to be shown on Internet for free unlike IPL 2009 which was for free.

ESPN Star, the official broadcaster of T20 World cup also provides live action of T20 World cup on their site. It costs about $3 to watch matches on a particular day or $20 to watch the whole tournament live. Click here to see the live page.

Live cricket scores and commentary: One of the best ways of enjoying cricket on internet. Cricinfo.com is the best. Other sites which show live cricket scores of T20 World Cup 2009 includes cricketnext.com,scores.sify.com and cricbuzz.com.

Cricinfo's 3d cricket animation: Cricinfo provides T20 World cup matches live with 3d animations. click here

Desktop cricket scorecard: You can get T20 World cup's live scorecard on your computer's desktop with espnstar.Just download from the site and get scorecards from espnstar on your computer.

Cricket widgets : Install cricket widgets on your facebook, myspace, orkut, blogs or any other place and get cricket live cricket scores of T20 World cup 2009. Some sites with cricket widgets are : cricinfo, vcricket.com, cricketnews.com

India in ICC World twenty20 2009

India is the defending champion of ICC World twenty20 popularly known as T20 world cup. It won the T20 World cup 2007 in South Africa defeating Pakistan in the final by 5 runs. The second T20 world cup is set to begin from 5th June, 2009 in England. India has announced its squad for this time lead by MS Dhoni and full of youngsters. It has a great batting lineup but bowling may be a weak part of India.

Indian Team for T20 world cup 2009:
Batsmen: MS Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir,Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja

Bowlers: Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Irfan Pathan.

Like the previous T20 world cup, most senior players like Sachin are out. But this young team is a strong team like that in 2007 which finally won the series. India are in group A and will be playing its first match against Bangladesh in June 6, 2009. The recent IPL has provided the Indians a great practise in Twenty20 cricket and the experiece in IPL 2009 will be a great benefit for Indians in World twenty20. India have a great batting lineup but I don't think the bowling lineup is brilliant.

Players to watch out from India in t20 world cup 2009:

a)Rohit Sharma: Rohit Sharma has been in excellent form in cricket these days. Along with international cricket, Sharma was one of the best batsmen of IPL 2009 from Deccan Chargers which finally won the tournament. Rohit Sharma had played a vital role in winning the ICC World twenty20 2007 from where he emerged in world cricket. Can he continue with his great IPL form?

b)Gautam Gambhir: Gambhir was the leading runs scorer of ICC World twenty20 2007 in South Africa. He has proved himself to be a great opener in ODI as well as test cricket. In twenty20 he is one of the best openers in the world. He is also a great player of spin. He played the most important role in final of t20 world cup 2009. But his recent form in IPL was not good. Can he get back to his form in the T20 world cup?

Apart from these two, IPL 2009's best bowler RP Singh has also been included in Indian team in the last moment. Eyes will be in him too. Dhoni, Yuvraj and Sehwag are always great players.

Can India win ICC world twenty20 2009? Please post your comment.

TV Channels showing ICC World Twenty20 2009 Live in USA, UK, India and other countries

ESPNStar has the broadcasting rights of ICC World twenty20 2009 popularly t20 world cup in England. ESPN and Star cricket will broadcast the series live in India starting from 5th June, 2009.Sky Sports will be broadcasting it live in UK.

In India,ESPN Star has the broadcasting rights in India and the each matches of the series will be shown on STAR CRICKET and ESPN (Schedule). Doordarshan will also broadcast matches played by India as well as the semi-finals and final of the tournament.

In USA, Directv has broadcasting rights. It will charge $125 for the whole ICC t20 world cup 2009. You can view he schedule and more about it here

In Canada, Asian Television Network (ATN) will broadcast the series live. TV channels are still undecided but you may find schedule here.


Here are a list to TV channels broadcasting t20 world cup 2009 live:
* Australia — Fox Sports (Live)
* Australia — Nine Network
* Bangladesh - BTV (Live)
* Canada — Asian Television Network -ATN (Live)
* Europe — Eurosport2 (Live)(including France, Denmark, Algeria, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Monaco, Cyprus and Russia)
* India — STAR Cricket and ESPN (Live), Doordarshan (selected matches only)
* Japan - Hum Tum TV (Live)
* Middle East —Arab Digital Distribution (Live)
* New Zealand — SKY Network Television (Live)
* Pacific Islands — Fiji TV
* Pakistan — Pakistan Television Corporation - PTV (Live)
* South Africa — Supersport (Live)
* Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (Live)
* United Kingdom — Sky Sports (Live), BBC - Highlights
* United States — DirecTV (Live)
* West Indies - Caribbean Media Corporation (Live)