Category: Cricket

Table gives the listing based on Most Runs –

Jason Holder leads the all rounders

Shivam Dube Will Jacks and Jason Holder – True All Rounders

Dasun Shanaka (15 Sixes) .. The Most Sixes all Rounder

Glenn Phillips (11 Catches)- The Best Fielding all rounder spot

Rachin Ravindra – Most Wickets – All Rounder – 12 Wickets

Will Jacks – All Rounder with Most Player of the Match

Sikandar Raza the All Rounder Captain of Zimbabwe is the only one to have won the Player of the Match inspite of his team loosing the game..

Player of The Tournament Contenders

New Zealand – Tim Seifert, Finn Allen, Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra

India – Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube

Top All Rounders

The much awaited T20 World Cup of Cricket is finally here. The Tournament starts with three games featuring Pakistan and Netherlands in the first game, West Indies and Scotland in the next and finally the third game between India and USA.

Follow the games at Star Sports, HotStar or any other TV channel in your respective countries who have bought the rights to broadcast the tournament.

First Day First Show – 11 AM IST – PAK v NED – Group A – Colombo, SSC Ground

News – Pakistan Won the Toss – Elected to Bowl First – Pakistan Pulled up victory from Jaws of defeat. Pakistan were struggling at 114 for 7 when Shadab Khan got out on the first delivery of 17th over .. still needing 34 runs .. and were needing 29 runs from 12 balls after 18 .. However 19 runs were scored in the penultimate over of the innings from Logan van Beek 24 runs scored by Faheem Ashraf who moved from 1 to 25 .. included 3 sixes. a four and a couple .. and a dot ball .. Pakistan had miraculously escaped an upset at the very start of the tournament..

Netherlands – 147 Lost to Pakistan – 148 for 7

Colombo SCC – Pakistan have put themselves in some kind of doldrums by announcing that they would not play their match against India on February 15, any loss to them could speak danger signal to the team. Netherlands would be knowing this, and any team that beats Pakistan in one of their remaining three games would start as a favourite to replace them if Pakistan fails to qualify. Though less likely given the fact that Pakistan have been champions in the 2009 and reached finals on two other occasions in 2007 and 2022.. STARS – Shaheen Shah Afridi and Michael Levitt

Matinee Show – 3 PM – WI v SCO – Group C – Eden Gardens – West Indies won by 35 Runs

News – Scotland Won The Toss and Elected to Bowl First .. Romario Shepherd of West Indies took the first hat-trick of the tournament consuming Matthew Cross, Michael Leask and Oliver Davidson on second third and fourth delivery of his third over and 17th of the Scotland Innings.

West Indies – 182/5 Beat Scotland – 147

West Indies on the other hand face Scotland who is playing instead of initial fixture with Bangladesh. Bangladesh spurred by its politicians and Cricket Board were adamant on not playing their matches in India, ICC excluded them and brought in Scotland, who were the next in the waiting list. West Indies have lifted T20 trophy twice like India and England. They won T20 WC in 2012 and 2016 when Chris Gayle was in devastating form of his life. STARS – Shai Hope and George Munsey

Night Show – 7 PM – IND v USA – Wankhede – India won by 29 Runs

News – USA won the Toss and elected to Bowl First

India 161/9 – Beat USA – 132/8

India meet USA in the third fixture of the opening day of the World Cup 2026 at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. No team can be taken lightly and as such USA has faired quite well in both ts warm up Matches. India is likely to put up their best team possible, they are the defending champions and currently top ranked team in T20 format STARS – Abhishek Sharma and Saurabh Netravalkar

India XI – Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj and Varun Chakravarthy

NB It is also time for Pakistan to decide their stand on playing against India especially if the two teams were to be engaged in a knock-out semifinal or the finals .. It is believed that Pakistan the way they escaped against Netherlands may or may not reach the super eight and from there to top two teams in Super Eight group.. yet the ICC must enquire their decision regarding such a scenario and they must play the finals in India, if both India and Pakistan make it to the Finals..

Morning Show – Match #4 – AFG v NZ – Chennai Afghanistan Won the Toss and elected to bat first

AFG – 182/6 Lost to NZ – 183/5

Matinee Show – Match #5 – ENG v NEP – Wankhede England Won the Toss and Chose to bat First Nepal Came sol close to create the first upset missed the mark by 4 runs

ENG – 184/7 Beat NEP – 180

Night Show – Match #6 – SL v IRE – Colombo (RPS) Ireland Won the Toss

SL – 163/6 Beat IRE – 143

Morning Show – ITA v SCO – Eden Gardens Italy Won The Toss and elected to Bowl First suffer a heavy defeat as Scotland become the first team to go past 200 ..

SCO – 207/6 Beat ITA 134

Matinee Show – OMA v ZIM – Colombo Zim won The Toss and elected to Bowl First Oman barely managed to touch three figure mark .. Three Zimbabwe bowlers scalped three wickets each ..

OMA – 103 Lost to ZIM – 106/2

Night Show – CAN v SA – Ahmedabad Canada won the toss and sent in the South Africa to set a target..

SA – 213/4 Beat CAN 156/8

Morning Show – #10 Match NAM v NED at Delhi Netherlands Won the Toss and Chose to Bowl First

NAM -156/3 NED 159/3

Matinee Show – #11 Match NZ v UAE UAE won the Toss and elected to Bat First

UAE – 173/6 NZ – 175/0

Night Show – #12 Match PAK v USA USA won the Toss and elected to Bowl first

PAK – 190/9 USA – 158/8

SA 187/ 6 AFG 187 SA win in the Second Super Over

AUS 182/6 Beat IRE – 115

WI 196/6 defeat ENG 166

SL 225/5 Beat OMA 120/9

NEP 123 Lost to ITA 124/0

IND 209/9 Beat NAM 116

Night – USA 196/6 defeat NED – 103

Matinee – CAN -150/7 lost to UAE – 151/5

Morning – ZIM -169/2 Beat v AUS – 146

IRE 235/5 Beat Oman 139

SCO 152 Lost to ENG 155/5

NZ 175/7 Lost to SA 178/3

Morning – NEP 133/8 Lost to WI 134/1

Matinee – USA – 199/4 Beat NAM – 168/6

Night – IND v PAK

News from Colombo – Pakistan have won the toss and put India in to Bat .. India Qualifies as second team for Super Eight after West Indies

IND 175/7 Beat Pakistan – 114

15 February – The Big Day in ICC Men’s T20 WC – India v Pakistan game at Colombo .. if weather or rather rains allow Cricket to take place at 7 PM IST ..

A Big Thank To PM Shehbaz Sharif for changing his decision regarding the historically and financially significant match ..

India Likely XI – Abhishek Sharma Ishan Kishan Tilak Varma Suryakumar Yadav Shivam Dubey Hardik Pandya Axar Patel Kuldeep Yadav Jasprit Bumrah Varun Chakravarthy and Arshdeep Singh Reserve – Rinku Singh Good Team Selection Suryakumar Yadav .. I was little skeptic of dropping Rinku .. the most reliable fielder .. All The Best ..

Pakistan is likely to field an unchanged XI from their game against USA or might bring in Salman Mirza in place of one of Nawaz or Shadab or Abrar .. They are most likely to retain Usman Tariq .. The waiting arm in the air before delivery ..

UAE – 160/9 Lost to AFG – 162/5

ENG – 202/7 Beat ITA – 178

AUS – 181 Lost to SL (184/2) Australia are almost out of further contest

CAN -173/4 Lost to NZ 176/2 ;

IRE v ZIM Match Abandoned

SCO – 170/7 Lost to NEP 171/3

Morning – UAE – 122/6 Lost to SA – 123/4

Matinee – PAK – 199/3 Beat NAM- 97

Night – IND 193/6 Beat NED – 176/7

Morning – WI – 165/6 Beat ITA -123

Matinee – SL 178/7 Lost to ZIM – 182/4

Night – AFG – 39/0 (5) v CAN

PAK v NZ – Abandoned after the Toss

Stars to Watch – Team Winning the Toss might like to put Runs on the Board and try to contain the opposition, Pakistan appears more balanced even if the NZ has a definite edge in Batting, I would put 60-40 in favour of Pakistan. Expected First Innings Score – NZ – 180 Plus (PAK 160 or less)

England -146/9 Beat Sri Lanka 95

ENG – Jos Buttler, Sam Curran Adil Rashid Jacob Bethell Will Jacks and Harry Brook, Phil Salt, Tom Banton, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer

SL –Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Teekshana and Dasun Shanaka and Kamil Mishara, Pavan Rathnayake, Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madhushanka

Earlier, Sri Lanka Won the Toss and elected to Bowl First.. lost to England by 51 runs .. South Africa won the Toss and elected to bat first .. South Africa might put up a target of 200 Plus and put pressure sp on Abhishek Sharma (with 3 consecutive ducks). Even if they put up 180 it should be enough for bowlers to contain India or so it appears .. as of now..

It is difficult to agree with team India to continue with Washington Sundar .. I think if not Axar at least Kuldeep should have been brought in his place.. it could prove a costly error..

South Africa 187/7 Beat India – 111 ( An Uphill Target of 188 Runs)

IND- Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya and sadly Unchanged XI (with Washington Sundar, Tilak Varma, Arshdeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Abhishek Sharma and Varun Chakravarthy)

SA – Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Keshav Maharaj and Marco Jansen ( With Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Kagiso Rabada, David Miller, Quinton de Kock and Corbin Bosch)

WI -254/6 Beat ZIM -147

PAK – 164/9 Lost to ENG – 166-8

NZ – 168/7 Beat Sri Lanka 107/8

The outcome of this result is that one of the Host country – Sri Lanka has been ruled out of the semifinals and the chances of New Zealand have brightened up a bit unless Pakistan beats Sri Lanka decisively huge margin and New Zealand themselves loose to England rather poorly.. in a few words increasingly it is going to be New Zealand who is joining England from group 2 .. it is highly likely that the semifinals could be devoid of any Asian team for first time ..

WI – 176/8 Lost to SA-177/1

IND -256/4 Beat ZIM – 184/6

I can not underestimate the two games today .. the first would seal the berth of semifinal for the winner and looser may still be not out of contention in this death pool, India on the other hand has to not only win today’s encounter against Zimbabwe they should win it with some margin to cover up the net run rate too .. Zimbabwe are no chicken heads.. time and again they have surprised India including the 1983 World Cup where it was only Kapil Dev who denied them a victory .. but we are in T20 format of WC and Zimbabwe has produced better results than maybe say India in this current edition ..

I have no intention of highlighting XI players for India as alternatives ar not far too better .. I think Indians must continue to enjoy the entertainment format without caring for results and national glory ..

Stars to watch today .. henceforth only three stars would be mentioned from the possible XI, one does not know if the stars picked here might actually be picked in the playing XI .. even if India misses the bus here .. Indians would cling on to IPL immediately after the WC .. after all money can buy top players to play in the league.. and Indian players would shine like moons and stars .. Maine Chand Aur Sitaron ki Tamanna Kee Thi .. Hum History Repeat bhi Karenge.. Hum History Defeat bhi Karenge .. or maybe agar kuchh nahi hua to hum History delete bhi Karenge ..

Hum Logo ko Samajh Sako to samjho dilbar jani .. jaisa bhi hum Cricket khelen rahenge Hindustani ..

South Africa – Lungi Ngidi Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock (Aiden Markram adjudged Player of the Match )

West Indies – Sherfane Rutherford, Shimron Hetmyer and Gudakesh Motie

India – Kuldeep Yadav, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel Kuldeep was not Played)

Zimbabwe – Sikandar Raza, Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans (Brian Bennett was Player of the Match indeed a mistake not to mention him)

England has topped the Group 2 of Super 8 .. Therefore it would now have advantage of meeting the second team of group 1 … New Zealand with favorable net run rate have advnatage over Pakistan which have to cover up the net run rate bbesides mandatory winning their last group encounter agianst Sri Lanka ..

New Zealand 159/7 Lost to England 161/6

The picture of other Semi-Finalist from Group 2 and the likely topper would be decided by this game .. England would love to play to their full potential to possibly top the pool and not encounter South Africa who are apparently the top team in the tournament ..

New Zealand know if they win they would have pipped Pakistan out of race, should they loose the margin should be reasonably such that they do not suffer on net run rate in case Pakistan beats Sri Lanka ..

Starrs to Watch –

England – Will Jacks, Sam Curran and Phil Salt

New Zealand – Mitchell Santner, Glenn Phillips and Tim Seifert

New Zealand joins England as the semifinalist from Pakistan

Pakistan – 212/8 Beat Sri Lanka – 207/6

CONGRATULATIONS NEW ZEALAND .. THOUGH NOT DIRECTLY PLAYING HERE BUT WITH 148 ON BOARD FOR SRILANKA HAS PAV ED THE WAY FOR THEIR SEMIFINAL BERTH

PAKISTAN ARE THEMSELVES TO BE BLAMED A WONDERFUL START WAS NULLIFIED BY THEIR OVERCONFIDENCE.. SOMETHING EVERY TEAM MUST LEARN TO TREAT THE BOWLERS WITH SOME RESPECT WHEN THEY DESERVE IT

Pakistan Necessarily has to win the match tonight besides they also have to be aware of the Net Run Rate to cover up the deficit with New Zealand .. Pundits say that Pakistan must win by around 64 runs or chase Sri Lanka target in about 13.1 Overs.. both of which are quite a task .. in fact the host .. though eliminated from further reckoning in the tournament may like to win atleast one Super 8 game for their fans back home .. in 9 out of 10 chances New Zealand is expected to make it to the semifinal along with England ..

Matinee – Zimbabwe 153/7 LOST TO South Africa -154/5

Night – West Indies – 195/4 LOST TO India- 199/5 (4)

Target 196 .. Looks like India is going to end up like other Asian Tigers .. Sanju Samson the Saviour has taken India into Semi-Finals .. Now it is upto the rest of them to make the most out of it in the two games that follow.. England is the first hurdle on their way and then the winner of the other semifinal between South Africa and New Zealand ..

India did well to surpass the difficult target of 196 posed by West Indies.. A marvellous knock from Sanju Samson would go down the history of the game as one of the greatest run chase.. I believe highest successful chase in the history of T20 World Cup .. WELL DONE INDIA .. KEEP IT UP ..

Varun is demystified completely .. Arshdeep exploited in his 3rd over for 24 runs the only good news is last two overs .. one could see 200 ++ target Bumrah controlled the run flow .. But India must do thins differently than going all out during chase.. Very very difficult target to cross .. the semifinal berth is almost slipped as of now ..

The first game is of academic interest alone, as South Africa have qualified for Semi-Final .. and Zimbabwe can not make it to Semis even with a Win.. However, South Africa – the unbeaten team so far has made several changes to their playing XI .. Though their substitutes are equally competent .. esp Anrich Nortje is equally tough customer to deal with.. Maybe they do not want to injure their key players .. Zimbabwe on the other hand has been most impressive with spirited fight they put up against India even if they lost to a huge target chase..

The key battle however is the 52nd match of T20 WC.. as only winner of this game can make it to Semi-final slot.. India seem to have advantage but having won their games batting first .. they may not know how much total is a requisite to contain the powerful West Indies.. if I were Suryakumar Yadav .. I would not hesitate in putting the Windies IN and try to contain them to 175-180 and hope their batsman come true to their strength .. It is possible that both teams may play unchanged and West Indies would also love to bat first if they win the Toss.. so the first innings is more likely to be West Indies trying to set a target for India..

Again if I were SKY I would necessarily bring in Kuldeep Yadav in place of Arshdeep and rely on the services of Shivam Dube .. though he had been a bit too expensive.. bringing in additional batsman like Rinku Singh could also be on the mind of Skipper instead of Kuldeep Yadav, though the only man who could be left out is sadly wicket taking Arshdeep Singh .. and packing the team with batsman has not delivered good results for any team.. If six batsman can not do much of a miracle a seventh or eighth may not be able to do so .. yet the game of Cricket always sends opportunities for funny decisions and funnier results at times.. West Indies could bring in Akeal Hosein for Roston Chase to contain Abhishek Ishan and Tilak ..