Zimbabwe stands no chance against Sri Lanka

India showed good composure against lowly placed Afghanistan and finished off the game without allowing any hiccup. It was a clinical finish and Dhoni and his boys knew what they wanted to do and what they were doing. Playing against minnows often draws your mind in to experimentation but the Indian team management did not waste any time on that. Rather they stuck to a plan which they would prefer to follow throughout the tournament.

I would be eager to find out Sri Lankas planning against Zimbabwe. They have lost the first match against New Zealand and are not in a position to take Zimbabwe lightly. A loss in this match will show Sri Lanka the exit door of the tournament. Two teams have lost their warm-up games against Zimbabwe. This will definitely enhance the confidence of this African outfit as they get in to the proper tournament. As it is, they have nothing to loose and the two warm-up wins will make them even more fearless. If we can take on Australia and Pakistan then why not Sri Lanka, this could be the word doing its round in the Zimbabwe camp.

On pen and paper Zimbabwe stands no chance against Sri Lanka. To be precise, the Zimbabwean batsmen will definitely find the going difficult against the likes of Murali, Mendis, Mathews and Sanath. But in a T-20 encounter one cannot predict a result judging a team simply on the basis of its strength and weakness on paper. Sri Lanka is really in a spot of bother because of loss of form of their main batters. Dilshan, Sangakkara, Sanath have to find form very soon if this team wants to put-up around 160-plus on the board. I strongly feel that Sanath should be right-up the order because his game is best suited as an opener rather than someone pushing the scoring rate at six or seven.

T20 World Cup

West Indies and England are not in a spot of bother like the Sri Lankans. The match between these two should only be the group-top decider. With weak Ireland in their group there is every surety of West Indies and England going through. Against Ireland Chris Gayles team tried out all sorts of thing, yet didn't have to bother for a win. I don't think there will be an iota of experimentation when they take-on England. Gayle and the others will be back in their right positions to ensure the number one spot in the group.

Under the leadership of Paul Collingwood England is a potent side. They have some useful T-20 batters like Lumb, Morgan, Bopara, Pieterson and Collingwood himself. The bowling consisting of Anderson, Stuart Broad, Sidebottom, Swann is also no throw-away. In fact on the slow-going tracks of the West Indies it will be no surprise if England turns out to be the dark-horse.

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