The Unpredictable Winner

Salman Rob

After such a bad start to the T20 World Cup, Bangladesh made a comeback, hitting hard at Pakistan in their last match in the group stages. The Tigers were surely wounded after the big 59-run defeat against New Zealand or better known as the Kiwis. But all in all, it was a tournament worth remembering, thanks to Brendon McCullum's record 123 runs in a T20 match, which he, sadly, pulled off against the Tigers. With a score close to 200 runs, chasing is not easy in the T20 format, especially when you find someone from the opposition team settling in too well on the day of the match. But our boys did give it a try, losing with 59 runs left was still better than being all out under 100 runs. At a press conference after the match, Mushfiqur Rahim, Captain of the Bangladesh National Cricket Team, spoke about all the minor mistakes they made in the game and were willing to do whatever it took to reach the quarter-finals. Maybe they have not reached the quarters, but Bangladesh surely did leave the tournament on a high note.

Brendon McCullum's brilliant inning against Bangladesh. Photo: Internet

Apart from that, the World Cup, at the moment, seems as unpredictable as ever. There are no specific powerhouse teams which are not performing well. Teams like South Africa, Australia, India, Sri Lanka and the rest have shown how much this trophy means to them. And Brendon McCullum's blistering 123 runs may have been a record, but it is not unlikely that someone might just break the new record before the tournament ends -- with the likes of Chris Gayle, David Warner, Shane Watson, Virat Kohli, Luke Wright and the new youngster from Pakistan, Nasir Jamshed. All these hard hitting merciless batsmen have the capability to pull of a big score on their own.

From a baller's perspective, the 2012 T20 World Cup has given an idea that 20-20 cricket is not all about high scoring runs. When you have a player like Ajanta Mendis in your team taking 6 wickets and giving away only 8 runs in 4 overs with 2 maidens, it just does not sound like a 20-20 match! This year's World Cup has given an insight to all the bowlers that, even with a limitation of 4 overs, a lot can be done to break a team apart. Players like Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh got to make tremendous come backs as well, both with bat and ball.

With just a few games left on the fixture, the World Cup is getting exciting day by day. And with the new Fantasy league that 'ESPN' is trying to promote, an online game that has taken over the minds of all the Asian cricket fanatics is a major boost for ICC (International Cricket Council) and the world of cricket itself.