After the host South Africa’s lost to Sri Lanka in the opening match of Champions Trophy, India has moved from second place to the top of the ICC’s ODI rankings. India is yet to open their innings in the ongoing Champions Trophy. They are scheduled to take on Pakistan on September 26. Currently after South Africa’s defeat, India stands on top of the table with 126 points while South Africa has crashed to the third.

With South Africa dropping down, Australia has moved up to the second. Fourth place is held by Sri Lanka and following them is Pakistan at number 5. This ICC ranking are said to change more in the next few days as the Champions Trophy continues.

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India’s warm-up match causes concern over the team’s performance as they are placed among the toughest teams in Group A with Australia, Pakistan and West Indies. Though Champions Trophy has kicked off today, India have their first match on September 26 against Pakistan in Centurion. India lost their only warm-up match to New Zealand and there seems to be uncertainity over opener Gautm Gambhir’s fitness.

India after staying on top of the ICC rankings and clinching the triangular series in Sri Lanka recently, Indians were humbled by 103 runs by a side that had lost to a local team in its previous match.

It is still not sure if Gambhir, who missed warm-up match, has really recovered from his groin strain. Also the other concern is about the bowling attack of Ishant Sharma and R P Singh from whom the side would expect some timely breakthrough during the tournament.

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Flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi who guided Pakistan to glory in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in England may soon receive an offer to play in Sheffield Shield for the Australian domestic side New South Wales.

The 29-year-old cricketer helped Pakistan win their first major title in 17 years by beating Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the final at Lord’s on Sunday.

Afridi put up an excellent all-round performance during the tournament, scoring 176 runs in seven matches which included two half-centuries and also scalped 11 wickets with an economy rate of 5.32.

If the deal materialises, Afridi would become one of the high-profile players to join an Australian side, after NSW’s selection of Kiwi Brendon McCullum for last season’s Big Bash final against Victoria, the report said.

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Pakistan Monday announced their 15-man squad for the tour of Sri Lanka starting next week.

Pakistan, who won the second edition of the World Twenty20 in London on Sunday, will play three Tests, five one-day internationals and a one twenty20 match on the tour starting next week.

Team: Younus Khan (captain), Misbah-ul-Haq (vice-captain), Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamir, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rauf, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam.

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Indian cricketers have failed to find a place in the World Twenty20 squad released by ICC in London on Monday. The squad consists of four Pakistan, three Sri Lanka, three South Africa and two West Indies players.

Member of Team India, who failed miserably in the T20 world championship, could not find a place in the ICC’s World T20 XI.

Younus Khan, who bids adieu to the shortest version of the game, has been made the skipper of the team alongwith his Pakistan team-mates all-rounder Shahid Afridi, wicket-keeper batsman Kamran Akmal and paceman Umar Gul.

Sri Lanka’s Tillakratne Dilshan, player of the tournament, named as an opener alongwith the West Indies Chris Gayle while South Africa Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers included for the middle-order.

West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, teenage South Africa paceman Wayne Parnell and Sri Lanka spinner Ajantha Mendis complete the line-up, with Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga as the 12th man.

ICC’s World Twenty20 squad:

Jacques Kallis (SA), AB de Villiers (SA), Shahid Afridi (Pak), Kamran Akmal (Pak), Chris Gayle (WI), Tilakratne Dilshan (SL), Mohammed Younus Khan (Pak, Skipper), Dwayne Bravo (WI), Wayne Parnell (SA), Umar Gul (Pak), Ajantha Mendis (SL), Lasith Malinga (SL)

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Umar Gul became the first man to take five wickets in a Twenty20 international as Pakistan thrashed New Zealand in the Super Eights.

Right-arm seamer Gul returned 5-6 to help bowl the Kiwis out for 99, the lowest total of the tournament so far.

Shahzaib Hasan marked his international debut with 35 off 28 balls before Pakistan, who had fallen to 71-4, posted 100-4 in 13.1 overs at The Oval.

Their six-wicket victory puts them in the hunt for a semi-final place.

Pakistan are now level on points with New Zealand and Sri Lanka at the top of Group F and, depending on other results, they could seal a last-four spot if they beat Ireland at The Oval on Monday.

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Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has described India’s warm up clash against Pakistan ahead of T20 World Cup as one of the best matches they have played but reckons that doing an encore in future would be difficult.

He said it was one of the best games but difficult to replicate it in future. The Team India thrashed Pakistan by nine-wickets at the Oval on Wednesday night.

Openers Rohit Sharma (80) and Gautam Gambhir (52 not out) nearly knocked off the required 159 runs between them alone, a performance which would send shudders down the spine of other teams.

Dhoni was not willing to confirm if Sharma has booked his place in the squad even if Sehwag recovers from his shoulder injury in coming days.

Dhoni also said the left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan is definitely out of the opening game against Bangladesh on Friday and could also be out of the final league game against Ireland on June 10.

Dhoni is keen to use the tall pacer Ishant Sharma in the middle overs.

On a brilliant day for them, Dhoni still found fault with his team’s performance in the field.

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The Last Season of T20 World Cup was won by India. In the upcoming season of ICC T20 World Cup 2009, 12 teams are going to participate in the tournament and all the teams are divided in to four groups as given Below :
Group A : India, Bangladesh, Ireland
Group B : Pakistan, England, Netherland
Group C : Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies
Group D : South Africa, New Zealand, Scotland

The ICC T20 World Cup 2009 will be starting from Friday, June 5, 2009.

The tournament ends on Sunday, June 21, 2009 with the Final match at London.

Match No     Match                                         Day         Time     Venue
1                England v Netherlands         5-Jun-09     17:30     Lord’s
2                New Zealand v Scotland      6-Jun-09     10:00     The Oval
3               Australia v West Indies        6-Jun-09     13:30     The Oval
4               India v Bangladesh                 6-Jun-09     17:30     Trent Bridge
5               South Africa v Scotland        7-Jun-09     13;30     The Oval
6               England v Pakistan                  7-Jun-09     17:30     The Oval
7               Bangladesh v Ireland             8-Jun-09     13:30     Trent Bridge
8               Australia v Sri Lanka              8-Jun-09     17:30     Trent Bridge
9               Pakistan v Netherlands         9-Jun-09     13:30     Lord’s
10            New Zealand v South Africa 9-Jun-09     17:30     Lord’s
11            Sri Lanka v West Indies       10-Jun-09     13:30     Trent Bridge
12           India v Ireland                        10-Jun-09     17:30     Trent Bridge
13           D1 v A2                                       11-Jun-09     13:30     Trent Bridge
14           B2 v D2                                       11-Jun-09     17:30     Trent Bridge
15           B1 v C2                                       12-Jun-09     13:30     Lord’s
16          A1 v C1                                        12-Jun-09     17:30     Lord’s
17          C1 v D2                                        13-Jun-09     13:30     The Oval
18          D1 v B1                                         13-Jun-09     17:30     The Oval
19          A2 v C2                                        14-Jun-09     13:30     Lord’s
20         A1 v B2                                         14-Jun-09     17:30     Lord’s
21          B1 v A2                                         15-Jun-09     13:30     The Oval
22          B2 v C1                                         15-Jun-09     17:30     The Oval
23         D1 v C2                                         16-Jun-09     13:30     Trent Bridge
24         D2 v A1                                        16-Jun-09     17:30     Trent Bridge
25      1st Semi-Final                              18-Jun-09     17:30     Trent Bridge
26     2nd Semi-Final                             19-Jun-09     17:30     The Oval
27         Final                                             21-Jun-09     15:00     Lord’s

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Thirteen venues in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been allotted 49 matches of the ICC World Cup 2011. Eight venues will be in India, three in Sri Lanka and two in Bangladesh.

Haroon Lorgat, Chief Executive officer (CEO), ICC said after a meeting of the ICC World Cup 2011 Central organising Committee (COC) here at the Cricket Centre on Tuesday that the venues are being finalised. “The opening ceremony and the opening match will be held at Bangladesh on February 18 and February 19, 2011 and the final in Mumbai in March,” said Mr. Lorgat.

The COC decided to allot two quarterfinals to Bangladesh and one each to India and Sri Lanka, one semifinal to Sri Lanka and India. “The final will be held in the last week of March,” said Prof. Ratnakar Shetty, who has been appointed Event Managing Director of the ICC World Cup 2011.

Mr. Lorgat said the special advisor to the ICC, Mr. Inderjit Singh Bindra will play a key role in the management of the ICC’s top signature event and also that the BCCI office in Mumbai will be the central Secretariat of the World Cup.

At a meeting of the Central Organising Committee of the World Cup 2011 a few months ago, BCCI had nominated Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mohali, Ahmedabad and Nagpur as the venues. Sri Lanka Cricket had nominated Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) and Premadasa Stadium at Colombo and Bangladesh had named the Banghabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka as the venues in their respective countries.

With Pakistan not anymore associated with the 49-match competition in 2011 as a host country, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have identified one additional venue each, while the BCCI has retained the same eight venues to host 29 matches including the final at the completely redeveloped Wankhede Stadium at an estimated cost of Rs. 150 crore.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was to host the 14 matches including semifinal at Lahore, with Karachi, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi being the other venues. But the decision of the ICC Development International (IDI) to remove Pakistan as a co-host country has given an opportunity for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh Cricket Boards to add one more venue each.

Shashank Manohar (President, BCCI) will head the security committee. “We recognise that instilling confidence in the security arrangements has to be in place and important. We have no doubt that we would be able to put in place security systems for a safe and successful conduct of the World Cup. The security planning will be an ongoing exercise from now,” said Mr. Lorgat.

He also said he has no information officially from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that its players would not take part in the World Cup. “It’s all being speculated, I don’t they will actually do that. We will cross the bridge when such a matter arises. There’s also no proposal from the PCB that it can host the matches in Dubai. It’s all very speculative. The IDO Board has made a decision and we are moving forward.”

The three host countries will have to appoint an Event Operations Director heading the local organising committee (LOC) and they would report to the Event Managing Director.

Operational Planning: Mahbubul Anam (Bangladesh, Convenor), N. Srinivasan (India), Duleep Mendis (Sri Lanka), Prof. Ratnakar Shetty (Event Managing Director) and Haroon Lorgat (CEO, ICC).

Venue Inspection Committee: N. Srinivasan (Convenor) and one member each from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

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International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday said Pakistan would not host 2011 World Cup matches because of security concerns.

After ICC’s announcement Pakistan’s future as an international cricket destination hits a dead end just two years before the World Cup is to be played in the sub-continent.

The decision to strip Pakistan of World Cup hosting rights has been taken 44 days after the attack on Sri Lanka’s cricketers outside the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore by a group of heavily armed terrorists.

“It is a regrettable decision but our number one priority is to create certainty and deliver a safe, secure and successful event. However, the uncertainty created by events within Pakistan created a huge question mark over our ability to do just that. By making this decision now we hope we can put a great deal of any uncertainty to one side and press on with our preparations which, given this is cricket’s biggest and most high profile event within our range of tournaments, are substantial,” said ICC President David Morgan.

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