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AND THE SEMIFINALISTS WILL BE...



What a master class Virat Kohli served-up; the poise in character, the mental toughness and the sheer willingness to fight. That an emotional Virat himself acknowledged and placed the inning, as his top right now. The significant word here is emotional; as he very well knows that the real tournament starts now. As with New Zealand, England and West Indies we have three very dangerous sides very much capable of winning the trophy. 

Let’s start with the second semi final between hosts India and West Indies taking place at Mumbai on 31st March 2016, India can ill afford to take their opponents lightly as the shortest format of cricket suits their player’s six hitting capabilities, couple that with the technical know-how of countering Indian slow and low spin friendly pitches which they learned by plying their trade in the IPL (Indian Premier League.) With Chris Gayle’s powerful hitting, Dwayne Bravo’s cutters, Samuel Badree and Sulieman Benn’s guile and Andre Russell’s all round talent  West Indies make a formidable opponent. India been lucky this far in the tournament that they have not being made to pay despite Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and to an extent Dhoni’s regular failures, had it not been for Virat’s brilliance India wouldn’t have been able to reach the semis. A question needs to be raised here, whether the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma along with the above mentioned names raise their hands and to be counted or will they hide behind the one man army? All is not doom and gloom in the India camp as they can take heart from the professional performance of their bowlers; India’s perpetual Achilles’ heel. With the emergence of Bumrah and the reintroduction of Ashish Nehra along with the artistry of Ravi Ashwin and the usefulness of Ravindra Jadeja they have a potent attack which can hold their own again severe of on slots.  Mumbai has been a high scoring ground, who can forget Chris Gayle century against England in the group stages. One can expect more of the same with batsmen of both the sides profiting or will the pitch be doctored to suit Indian strength, spin, keeping in mind West Indies traditional frailties against it which were once again exposed by the Afghanistan team in their last group match thereby handing them their only loss of the tournament so far.  

Coming to the other games which kick start with the semi-finals, we have on the one side New Zealand, the perpetual underachievers and the 2010 world T-20 champions England. The former world champion tag does not make English favourites as New Zealand has not only been the undisputed team of the tournament, but also the one who have negotiated the conditions best. Looks like New Zealand have finally made the transition from, being a competitive team to being the team to beat. One question needs to asked, New Zealand who have been lucky with the tosses and made best use of wickets by batting first, can they be equally efficient in chasing totals? Kotla, New Delhi hosts 30th March game between England and New Zealand gives Joe Root and Kane Williamson two of the games up and coming superstars the world stage to showcase their talent. The plethora of all round talent on display is mouth-watering, while England have players like Ben Stokes, Rashid, Jordan and Willey in their ranks, New Zealand can call up for the services of Anderson, Elliot and Williamson. Their respective batting orders is also not shabby, with Martin Guptill, Munro and Taylor New Zealand have powerful strikes who can merge their game with the finesse of Kane Williamson and fight any condition whereas England possess Morgan, Buttler who along with their linchpin Joe Root form a formidable and dangerous batting order. 

Mark the dates 30th and 31st of March 2016 where four great crickets nations will fight it out for the honour of entering the world T-20 final going to be held on the 3rd of April. Watch 44 modern day gladiators fight it out for a game of cricket, which will be a war no less when they step on the field.


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