Twenty20 cricket
The third ICC World Twenty20 tournament began on 30/04/10 in the West Indies. Every cricket fan around the world was looking forward to this tournament after the exciting events which unfolded through the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, which was one of the watershed moments in international cricket, and the second edition which took place last year in England where Pakistan was crowned Champions. They took the title off bitter rivals India. The spotlight was on the Caribbean islands as to how well they could host this international sporting event after the debacle of the ICC (ODI) World Cup in 2007 which was heavily criticised for being over-commercialised (lacklustre atmosphere due to smaller crowds as a result of exorbitant ticket price) and poor organisation throughout the tournament, which culminated in the farcical ending of the tournament where the final match between eventual champions Australia and Sri Lanka was suspended due to “bad light”. The onus is on the West Indies to put up a better show as it was a brave move by the ICC to give them another crack at the whip in hosting this World Cup. India are the favourites to win the World Cup despite their disappointing performance in England last year in which they were knocked out by the hosts at the Super 8s stage of the competition. They will again be led by the impressive Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who led the Chennai Super Kings in becoming Champions at this year's scandal-ridden Indian Premier League (IPL), and have arguably the best batting line-up in the competition with the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and inspirational skipper Dhoni in their ranks. The major worry for India is the huge expectations that they carry from their cricket-mad nation where the sport is followed like a religion. The defending champions Pakistan are currently in a mess after captain Younus Khan and Mohammad Yousuf were indefinitely banned and several other key players suspended. They are now led by the controversial Shahid Afridi, who is undoubtedly one of the best all-rounders in T20 cricket, but unlike Younus, who led the team to the triumph last year, is hardly a role-model leader.
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