The importance of playing T20 League cricket and impact on ICC tournaments

[Usman Chadda]

Australia and West Indies are the last two T20WC champions. Both teams came into their respective tournaments non-fancied, with zero preparations. Both these teams were akin to a bunch of T20 mercenaries, grouped together and they went on to win the WC in conditions which 10 years ago would have been considered quite alien to them.

On the other hand, you have so much talk of team combination, data analysis, mindset, the right team selection, brand of cricket etc etc from India, England, New Zealand and even Pakistan nowadays. All of them got brushed aside from eleven players just coming together at one point of time for a tournament, and going all the way.

You have to wonder whether International T20 cricket deserves any kind of respect? Whether you need to focus so much on winning bilaterals, or getting the right team combinations, or so much data analysis, or care about meaningless rankings? 90% of Australia’s current team doesn’t even play T20s, and when they do, they have been battered to the point where they were the WORST ranked side by a margin among the semi-finalists.

The last two tournaments have given us a blueprint of what T20 should be all about. Let your players play in all leagues, where they get exposure to different conditions and when they come together they can feed off each others’ experiences and do well at the only tournament of value for International T20 cricket.

Thoughts?

 

[street cricketer]

It's a hit and giggle format and should be treated as such. Australia care the least about international T20s among all the major teams, they lost five consecutive bilateral series in T20Is leading up to this tournament and yet they're the champions. Even yesterday, the majority of their fans were laughing at the heist they did because none of their fans expected their team to progress anywhere beyond the semifinal.

The T20 WC is such a random tournament where you could be the best prepared, have the best results leading up to the world cup for two years and still end up with nothing while an another team can have the exact opposite results and can end up the champions. It's the format where the probability of the best side winning is the least and it's why I'm always amused when people are so invested in this tournament just because its name has a "world cup" attached to it. It makes for some great entertainment, some good banter and will obviously have the highest following because of its short and quick paced nature of the game, but on a cricketing level, I can't take it seriously.

 

[Mamoon]

The 2010-2021 generation of Caribbean players are fantastic T20 cricketers. They haven’t been the most tactical and well-prepared sides but they have made up for it with their individual brilliance and brute power.

I don’t have the stats but I’m certain that West Indies have hit the most sixes in T20 cricket in the last 10 years.

They flopped badly this time around because most of the key players are past it now. The likes of Gayle, Pollard, Bravo, Simmons, Russell etc. are not the players they once were, and it remains to be seen if the next generation can live up to their achievements, although the likes of Pooran, Hetmyer and Lewis have immense potential.

Australia do not take bilateral T20Is very seriously, especially against small teams like Asian sides excluding India, and they try new players but they are always well-prepared for ICC tournaments and play their best players.

Australia did not play any T20 mercenaries in this World Cup. They played their best players - Warner, Finch, Smith, Maxwell, Marsh, Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood etc. The pace bowling attack in particular is world class, and then you have Zampa who has been one of the best white ball spinners around.

They are not the best T20 side in the world but they won because this tournament was not a level-playing field. Toss gave a huge advantage and Australia won the crucial tosses in the semifinal and final.

Good preparation always helps. It is true that Pakistan were lucky to win the toss against India and New Zealand, but it is also true that they played a more professional and composed brand of cricket than you would normally associate with a mediocre team like Pakistan.

Misbah pulled off a masterstroke by converting Rizwan into an opener and sacking Sarfraz. The Babar and Rizwan combo has changed the outlook of this Pakistan side.

Had a Arthur or a foreign coach pulled this off, our fans would be creaming themselves. Since it was done by Misbah, we are refusing to give him any credit,

Pakistan also benefited from the fact that pathetic and useless players like Asif and Rauf clicked for a couple of games, although I suspect that normal business has resumed for both players based on their performances in the last match.

The bottom-line is that you need a combination of quality players to luck to win a World Cup.

India had no luck while Pakistan, England and New Zealand were unlucky in critical moments. Australia on the other hand played really good cricket but had all the luck in the world in the knockouts which proved to be the difference in the end.

 

[Mamoon]

It's a hit and giggle format and should be treated as such. Australia care the least about international T20s among all the major teams, they lost five consecutive bilateral series in T20Is leading up to this tournament and yet they're the champions. Even yesterday, the majority of their fans were laughing at the heist they did because none of their fans expected their team to progress anywhere beyond the semifinal.

The T20 WC is such a random tournament where you could be the best prepared, have the best results leading up to the world cup for two years and still end up with nothing while an another team can have the exact opposite results and can end up the champions. It's the format where the probability of the best side winning is the least and it's why I'm always amused when people are so invested in this tournament just because its name has a "world cup" attached to it. It makes for some great entertainment, some good banter and will obviously have the highest following because of its short and quick paced nature of the game, but on a cricketing level, I can't take it seriously.

The reaction of the Australian players after winning the final last night clearly contradicts all that is written above.

You could clearly tell that they were overburdened by the fact that they had never won a World T20 and time was running out for this generation. They appeared to be more elated and emotional than they were after winning the 2015 World Cup on home soil.

I think fans need to understand that there is a lot of personal pride when it comes to playing tournaments. When you are in the heat of the moment in a tournament, you do not care if it is a World T20 or a World Cup or a Champions Trophy; you just want to be declared champions and you want the thrill, the excitement and the pride of winning the final and lifting the trophy.

The Australian players did not put any less effort in this tournament than they would in an Ashes series or a World Cup.

 

[Ab Fan]

It is a joke of the tournament.

You win the toss, you win the match.

If Bavuma had won 7 tosses, South Africa would have been the winners.

For me, the only games that are big and should always remain big are :-

1. ODI World Cup
2. Test series in Australia
3. Test series in India/ England

 

[street cricketer]

The reaction of the Australian players after winning the final last night clearly contradicts all that is written above.

You could clearly tell that they were overburdened by the fact that they had never won a World T20 and time was running out for this generation. They appeared to be more elated and emotional than they were after winning the 2015 World Cup on home soil.

I think fans need to understand that there is a lot of personal pride when it comes to playing tournaments. When you are in the heat of the moment in a tournament, you do not care if it is a World T20 or a World Cup or a Champions Trophy; you just want to be declared champions and you want the thrill, the excitement and the pride of winning the final and lifting the trophy.

The Australian players did not put any less effort in this tournament than they would in an Ashes series or a World Cup.

They would of course be elated. You go into any tournament and play to win that tournament, even if it's a domestic league like the IPL or BBL. And at international level, it definitely means much more than domestic trophies. But I'm not sure if Australia values the T20 WC win over the ODI WC won in 2015, the ODI WC will always rank very much higher than the T20 WC or any other tournament for that matter. Only the Ashes compares to to the stature of the ODI WC for the Aussies. You would know that the Australians were chuffed to bits when they won the Champions trophy in 2009 too, doesn't mean they rate it higher than the ODI WC. I'm damn sure that the Australians wouldn't put a T20 WC anywhere near the Ashes, maybe some players might do, but certainly not the fans.

 

[Artaxerxes]

It is a joke of the tournament.

You win the toss, you win the match.

If Bavuma had won 7 tosses, South Africa would have been the winners.

For me, the only games that are big and should always remain big are :-

1. ODI World Cup
2. Test series in Australia
3. Test series in India/ England

Test series on doctored pitches is a joke.England has the best pitches for tests except when tests are played in early May/June which favours the home team due to seem and swing.