Match #4 Preview: India vs Bangladesh

Ground Reality and Pitch:
The Trent Bridge cricket ground is home to the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. The stadium is considered to be one of the best grounds in the world to watch a cricket match due to the excellent facilities available here. Trent Bridge also features in Indian history with the cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar passing the 11,000 mark in test cricket at this ground. The pitch at Trent Bridge is tilted more in favour of the batsmen with an even bounce on offer.
Temperatures: Min - 8 C Max - 14 C Conditions: Showers expected

Team Updates:
India: A close knit unit led by an intelligent captain MS Dhoni, the men in blue are a formidable bunch of boys setting new standards for India in world cricket. With Gambhir and Sehwag at the top and the Pathan brothers in the lower middle order, batting has always remained the strength for the sub-continent team. The likes of Raina, Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh along with the 'Mr Cool' captain MS Dhoni, lend a steady hand in the middle order. To add to that, the bowling department has the likes of RP Singh, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan and Ojha, whose traits with the ball can trouble the best of batsmen. Over all, India seems to have the most balanced line-up coming into the T20 World Cup.

Bangladesh: The main strength of the team lies in their ability to surprise the opposition. Always the under-dogs, Bangladesh are known to upset the major teams. Led by a young captain Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladesh has a unit of young players like Shakib Al Hasan, Junaid Siddique and Raqibul Hasan, who have the ability to post big scores on their own. The bowling department has the likes of Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain and Abdur Razzak who have the ability to put the opposition batsmen in a spot of bother.

X Factor:
Raina, Rohit Sharma: Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma have been good form during their stint with their respective franchisees in the IPL. Apart from their batting, the duo have shown their ability to perform tricks with the ball. Constantly knocking on the doors of test cricket, the pair have the ideal opportunity to showcase their talent during the World T20 Championships.

Numbers game:
0: India and Bangladesh have never faced each other in a T20 encounter.
194.73: Yuvraj Singh's strike rate during the 2007 edition of the World T20.
7: The number of wickets taken by Abdur Razzak during the World T20 2007.

Sound Bytes:
As we prepare for the World Twenty20, we are a superbly unified team. The team spirit is good as it has ever been, with each individual supporting each other, both on and off the field. Recent reports in the Indian media of a rift between myself and Sehwag amount to nothing but false and irresponsible media: MS Dhoni reading out a press statement after there were reports of a rift between him and Sehwag.

Teams:
India (From): Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(w/c), Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ishant Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag
Bangladesh (From): Tamim Iqbal, Naeem Islam, Mohammad Ashraful(c), Junaid Siddique, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Mohammad Mahmudullah, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Rubel Hossain, Raqibul Hasan, Mithun Ali, Shamsur Rahman

Match #3 Preview: West Indies vs Australia

Officially known as the Kennington Oval, the stadium is home to the Surrey County Cricket Club. The Oval was the first ground in Britain and the second in the world after MCG to host a test match. The pitch at the Oval has traditionally assisted the seamers during the initial phase. However, diligent batting has seen teams post good totals on this ground.
Temperatures: Min - 11 C Max - 15 C Conditions: Showers expected
Team Updates:

Australia: In the T20 format, where the line between the genius and the merely talented often gets blurred, Australia form a formidable opposition for any team. With a batting order comprising Ponting, Clarke, Haddin, the Husseys and Warner - they have a potential match-turner at every position from 1 to 7. Also, Brett Lee has made a successful return, while Nathan Bracken is amongst the most miserly bowlers around. Australia have the necessary fire power to leave out the likes of Symonds.

West Indies: They have the power hitting of Chris Gayle, the smoothness of Sarwan and the reliability of Chanderpaul while batting, and the raw pace and aggression of Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor while bowling. They will also be carrying a lesser weight of expectation than the other major teams, and thus be under comparatively lesser pressure. The Twenty20 format also plays to their strengths, since of late, they have been better in short bursts than for sustained durations of play.

Players to watch:
David Warner: The explosive Australian made his mark with the Delhi side during the IPL 2009. With the ability to explode with the bat and clear boundaries at will as well as produce a moment of genius on the field and manufacture a wicket with his fielding ability alone, David Warner would play a key role for the Austrailan side.

NZ scrape home after a scare

A rather easy victory in the end for New Zealand as they cantered home by 7 wickets. It was a good batting display by Scotland when they were sent in by McCullum, as they posted a good total of 89 in this truncated match. New Zealand started the chase well and with Ryder and the skipper in full flow and a late onslaught by Taylor they achieve the target with an over to spare.

Butler: We were just trying to restrict the boundaries. The next game is a massive one for us.
McCullum: At half time we were obviously pretty nervous. Full credit to the way they batted. When you're chasing a total that big, you haven't got anytime to get yourselves in. Jesse hit the ball incredibly well. We saw how dangerous our batting can be.
Gavin Hamilton: We weren't upto it in the field. We had a plan in terms of coming out in the second half but we didn't put it together. I'm not going to criticize our bowlers.
Ian Butler is the Man of the Match

Minnows Netherlands upset the hosts

It was a breathtaking display by Netherlands to notch up one of the biggest upsets in the tournament. England have only themselves to blame for their loss as atleast 6 lives were given to ten Doeschate alone. ten Doeschate survived them all and took Netherlands to a famous win.

Broad had 3 clear chances to hit the stumps in the final over, amazingly he fluffed them all. If you field as England did today, then you are bound to lose and that is what has happened.

What a magnificent start to the World cup, the rank minnows Netherlands winning against a sloppy England. It was a match to remember for the ages as the fortunes fluctuated from one side to the other. Reekers blazed away at the start and Tom de Grooth notched up a cameo to keep the Dutch in the hunt. Then Schiferli and ten Doeschate finished it off in a heartbreaking last over.

Tom de Grooth: You just play your game and luckily it came off. We set out a few months ago to achieve a few things..we wanted to beat a big nation and we did that.

Jeroen Smits: This is something special. I think I can sleep well tonight. I think after the first 10 overs we fought back quite well. We played with our heart, we had some luck and we deserved to win. We were always ahead of the D/L score and we were in control. Those two last overs...it was difficult... we did well. We're looking forward to the final, it's on the 21st of June, my birthday, I"m looking forward to it.

Collingwood: I give a lot of credit to Holland, they played exceptionally well. We were expected to win today, Holland came out and put in a major performance. We struggled to hit the big shots, Holland played with no fear and they were better than us today. We have to pick ourselves off the floor and be ready for the game against Pakistan.

Tom de Grooth is the Man of the Match for his innings of 49