ICC World Twenty20 Super Eights - Pakistan v Sri Lanka, India v West Indies @ Lord's (Fri)

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http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/6695/wt20eng.png
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/5719/pak.png vs http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/21/srl.png
Lord's, London
10:30pm AEST Friday June 12

A couple of unpredictable sides in game 1 of day 2 of the Super Eights, as you'd expect from sides with Afridi and Jayasuriya in them. Afridi has only 18 runs and a strike rate under 100, with Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq providing the bulk of the runs. Abdul Razzaq has joined the squad as a replacement for Yasir Arafat and with Aamer their fifth most economical bowler at 9.40 they may be tempted to play him a fortnight after quitting the ICL, not that economy's ever been Razzaq's strong point. Another replacement with a Twenty20 ton.

Sri Lanka's Mr Unpredictable whacked 81 the other night helping to take their top 3's tally for the tournament to 270, which means the rest have scored just 42. Unfortunately for Silva and Jayawardene they've both been dismissed twice in there. They also have some problems stopping runs - Mendis and Murali are doing it but Malinga, Udana and Jayasuriya all have tournament economy rates in excess of 20. Malinga has 5 wickets to make up for it but Udana and Jayasuriya have only 2 between them. Froggy Mathews is the only other bowler they've used, with 1/22 from 3. They have 3 spare quicks in their squad so maybe it's time to use one of them.

Pakistan XV:
+Kamran Akmal
Salman Butt
Ahmed Shehza
Shoaib Malik
*Younis Khan
Misbah-ul-Haq
Shahid Afridi
Fawad Alam
Shahzaib Hasan (international debut)
Abdul Razzaq
Umar Gul
Sohail Tanvir
Saeed Ajmal
Mohammed Aamer
Iftikhar Anjum
In:
Ahmed Shehzad
Shahzaib Hasan
Abdul Razzaq
Iftikhar Anjum

Sri Lanka XV:
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Sanath Jayasuriya
*+Kumar Sangakkara
Mahela Jayawardene
Jehan Mubarak
Chamara Silva
Indika de Saram
Angelo Mathews
Farveez Maharoof
Thilan Thushara
Nuwan Kulasekara
Isuru Udana
Ajantha Mendis
Lasith Malinga
Muttiah Muralitharan
In:
Indika de Saram
Farveez Maharoof
Thilan Thushara
Nuwan Kulasekara

Umpires:
Mark Benson (England)
Rudi Koertzen (South Africa)
Rod Tucker (3rd, Australia)

Weather:
Increasing cloud, 17-18 degrees

Coverage:
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/2118/fs3xa4.png live from 10:20pm AEST

History:
2007 World Twenty20 Super Eights @ Johannesburg
Pakistan won by 33 runs
Pakistan 6/189 (20)
Malik 57 (31)
Malinga 3/43 (4)
Sri Lanka 9/156 (20)
Silva 38 (27)
Afridi 3/18 (4)
Al Barakah T20 Canada 2008 Preliminary Games @ Ontario
Pakistan won by 1 ball
Sri Lanka 9/137 (20)
Mubarak 39 (29)
Gul 4/13 (3)
Pakistan 7/141 (19.5)
Malik 42* (37)
Weeratne 4/19 (4)
Al Barakah T20 Canada 2008 Final @ Ontario
Sri Lanka won by 6 balls
Pakistan 7/132 (20)
Salman 44 (41)
Mendis 3/23 (4)
Sri Lanka 5/133 (19)
Jayasuriya 40 (34)
Malik 2/17 (4)

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/5779/indv.png vs http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/6072/winb.png
Lord's, London
2:30am AEST Saturday June 13

Game 2 is the 2 Inds, both making their first appearances at Lord's for the tournament. Indian opener Virender Sehwag has gone home injured but West Indian opener Chris Gayle is expected to return to lead his side. Dinesh Karthik is the replacement for India but it seems unlikely they'll make any changes. Important game for India as rain is forecast for both their remaining games and they're reigning Twenty20 champs, not Five5.

The West Indies play their first night game, while India have already played two and won't play an early game throughout the tournament thanks to television. They'll have to find room for Gayle and Lendl Simmons' runs and wickets against Sri Lanka have put the pressure on number 3 Xavier Marshall and all rounder Kieron Pollard. Simmons can play either of those roles so that doesn't help, Marshall has 22 off 23 for the tournament, Pollard 19 off 11 in his only innings, but conceding 45 from 3 overs with the ball against Sri Lanka may hurt him

India XV:
Gautam Gambhir
Rohit Sharma
*+MS Dhoni
Yuvraj Singh
Suresh Raina
Yusuf Pathan
Dinesh Karthik
Ravi Jadeja
Irfan Pathan
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Praveen Kumar
RP Singh
Ishant Sharma
Pragyan Ojha
In:
Dinesh Karthik
Ravi Jadeja
Praveen Kumar
RP Singh

West Indies XV:
*Chris Gayle
Andre Fletcher
Lendl Simmons
Xavier Marshall
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Dwayne Bravo
Dave Bernard (T20I debut)
Kieron Pollard
+Denesh Ramdin
Darren Sammy
Jerome Taylor
Suliemann Benn
Fidel Edwards
Lionel Baker
In:
Chris Gayle
Dave Bernard
Darren Sammy
Lionel Baker

Umpires:
Aleem Dar (Pakistan)
Rudi Koertzen (South Africa)
Mark Benson (3rd, England)

Weather:
Increasing cloud, 17-18 degrees

Coverage:
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/2118/fs3xa4.png live from 2:20am AEST
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/9092/99na.gif live from 2:25am AEST

History:
None

[DonMania#5]

Great comeback by the Pakis.
Sri Lanka were 80/0 after the 8th over and only finished up on 150.

Afridi is a gun :thumbsu:

[Cooldude]

Lol India, that was pathetic

Their batting was an absolute shambles in the first 10 overs. They only bowled well to Chris Gayle and the fielding was a joke

[Bond,ShaneBond]

Sri Lanka keep impressing me. They have so many match winners, and their important players are in form.

India losing is surprising, but they should still get through. I would back Sri Lanka against any team except India, I think their spin twins would have South Africa's measure. Mendis has never played South Africa, New Zealand or England. I wouldn't want to be playing him for the first time in a semi or a final!

This word cup has been enjoyable, early days of T20 I predicted that it would replace 50 over cricket completely and I haven't seen anything that would change that opinion.