Asian teams can learn alot from England!

Victorious Team England with ICC World T20 2010 Trophy

Dileep Premachandran writes in the Guardian that the Asian sides in general and India in particular can learn a lot from the selection calls England made for their successful World Twenty20 campaign.

England’s last World Cup campaign in the Caribbean is best remembered for pre-dawn pedalos and Battle of the Bottle headlines. This time, the Red Stripes and the El Dorados went hand-in-hand with terrific team spirit. With 2011 looming, the first thing to do is follow Andy Flower’s example and be ruthless in squad selection. Yesterday’s six-hitters are of no use tomorrow.

Picking players on reputation is always tempting, but it seldom works. Misbah-ul-Haq, for example, got Pakistan to within a big hit of winning the 2007 World Twenty20 final. But what has been his output over the past 12 months? Is it worth persisting with him when an exciting talent such as Hammad Azam waits backstage?

For India, the decisions to be made are harder still. Yuvraj Singh is hardly in the same age bracket as Misbah or Jayasuriya, yet the feeling persists that we may already have seen the best of him. His waistline and lethargic movement in the field tell you exactly why Gary Kirsten felt compelled to have a rant and now is perhaps the best time for him to address the injuries that have plagued him in recent seasons.

While English cricket taps its feet to Bruce Springsteen’s Better Days and looks forward with optimism to an Ashes series and a 50-over World Cup, nearly half of the India squad that returned from the Caribbean with no tickertape parades to welcome them must contemplate show-cause notices for their part in a pub fracas.

For more than a decade, we’ve heard how English cricket could learn by looking east, to wristy strokeplay, wily spin and mastery of reverse swing. Times have changed. India and Pakistan, and maybe even Sri Lanka, could look at this English Twenty20 side to realise where they have gone wrong

Between them, the subcontinent’s cricket powers won only seven of 17 matches in the West Indies. All three were hammered by Australia, though Pakistan came within an over of exacting revenge at the second time of asking. On no account could it be called a successful tournament, with the same old frailties popping up to haunt each side.

With the World Cup only nine months away, which way will each of the teams go? Pakistan have not reached the latter stages since 1999, while India did not survive the first round in 2007, leaving Sri Lanka to fly the Asian flag all the way to the final.

Pakistan have done something right by getting rid of some of the egos, including the “termite” called Shoaib Malik.

England’s last World Cup campaign in the Caribbean is best remembered for pre-dawn pedalos and Battle of the Bottle headlines. This time, the Red Stripes and the El Dorados went hand-in-hand with terrific team spirit. With 2011 looming, the first thing to do is follow Andy Flower’s example and be ruthless in squad selection. Yesterday’s six-hitters are of no use tomorrow.

Picking players on reputation is always tempting, but it seldom works. Misbah-ul-Haq, for example, got Pakistan to within a big hit of winning the 2007 World Twenty20 final. But what has been his output over the past 12 months? Is it worth persisting with him when an exciting talent such as Hammad Azam waits backstage?

Isn’t it time Sri Lankan cricket drew a line under the Sanath Jayasuriya era? The man’s 40 and now has a political career to think of as well. He’s still capable of the odd cameo, but when was his last innings of substance? Thank him for yeoman service and send him on his way.

For India, the decisions to be made are harder still. Yuvraj Singh is hardly in the same age bracket as Misbah or Jayasuriya, yet the feeling persists that we may already have seen the best of him. His waistline and lethargic movement in the field tell you exactly why Gary Kirsten felt compelled to have a rant and now is perhaps the best time for him to address the injuries that have plagued him in recent seasons.

England’s Twenty20 campaign was notable for the manner in which they kept faith with what they saw as a winning combination. Paul Collingwood and Luke Wright bowled an over each, but, otherwise, there was implicit trust in the five men chosen to do the job.

Pakistan operated on similar lines, though their weak links, such as Mohammad Hafeez, were too easily targeted by eagle-eyed batsmen.

For India, the problem lies in finding five wicket-taking bowlers. You know there is a problem when an opening bowler, Praveen Kumar, bowls at a pace that’s slower-ball speed for such as Dirk Nannes and Stuart Broad. Praveen is a clever swing bowler who knows Indian conditions well, but he’ll never be better than first or second change.

If this tournament showed anything, it was the value of pacy new-ball operators. Where are India’s? And who do Sri Lanka have, apart from Lasith Malinga? How do India’s selectors explain their scattergun policy to pace selection? Dhawal Kulkarni was part of the squad that toured New Zealand last year. Dropped without playing a game. Abhimanyu Mithun, who enjoyed a wonderful Ranji Trophy season, was chosen for the home series against South Africa. Dropped after one game. So much for nurture.

On the batting side, the theme is misplaced expectation and a lack of patience. In some ways, Sachin Tendulkar was the worst thing to happen to Indian cricket. These days, every 17-year-old with a little talent is expected to emulate him. It nearly destroyed Ambati Rayudu’s career. Only now, at the age of 24, is he finding his way again. Indian cricket should just accept there will never be another Tendulkar.

Had Ian Bell been Indian, he would have been on the scrap heap instead of playing an Ashes-winning innings at The Oval last summer. That a player takes time to find his feet has been forgotten. Suresh Raina still has issues against the short ball, but he’s only 23. The way people talk about him and Rohit Sharma, you’d think they were Misbah’s age and beyond redemption.

Rahul Dravid spent four seasons in domestic cricket before breaking into the national side. It took him another five years to establish himself as a world-class batsman. Now, we expect batsman of that quality to emerge in the time it takes to make a Pot Noodle.

England won the World Twenty20 because they were brave – they picked Michael Lumb and Craig Kieswetter ahead of more recognized names such as Matt Prior, and gave Eoin Morgan licence to express himself.

India could have backed the exuberant strokeplay of Manish Pandey or the uber-confidence of Virat Kohli. Instead, they went with the same options that had fallen so short in England a year earlier.

Most of all though, Collingwood’s team showed there’s just no substitute for sprightliness in the field. Broad may have dropped David Hussey in the final, but the catches he and Collingwood took epitomised a team at the top of their fielding game. India were similarly brilliant in 2007 and questions must be asked as to why so many of the same players have become such laggards in the field now.

Nothing, though, would have been as galling as the sight of Graeme Swann teasing and tormenting Australia’s batsmen in the final.

Till that final-over meltdown in the semi-final, Saeed Ajmal bowled beautifully for Pakistan. Suraj Randiv showed glimpses of promise for a Murali-less Sri Lanka, while Harbhajan Singh was tidy [and wicketless] for India. But Swann was a class apart, flighting the ball, turning his quicker one and generally befuddling every batsman he came across.

For decades, a blond Australian apart, the subcontinent had a monopoly on spin talent. No longer. Asian batsmen will thrive on home surfaces, but unless the bowlers improve and are backed up by fielding that’s not Laurel-and-Hardy quality, the 2011 World Cup could be a rerun of the 2006 Champions Trophy, when all three sides watched the foreign mob battle for glory.

Conclusion ICC World T20 2010

If you ask my opinion, it was not as happening and interesting tournament as it was in the England edition, not because it wasn’t won by Pakistan but because the manner this tournament was played and the amount of crowd came into the stadiums to watch the matches, secondly being a cricket watcher I didn’t had that suspense element in any of this tournament matches like we had in England where there were many upsets (like Netherlands beating England etc), in this tournament the only nail biting match played was between Australia v Pakistan Semi Final 2 played on 14 May 2010 which was a nail biting one, you can also call New Zealand v Sri Lanka opening match played 30 April 2010, which you can say was filled with suspense and increased television ratings.

Secondly was the timing of the tournament, all the matches were played in West Indian day timings, which didn’t generate that much of interest as we’re accustomed to watch majority of T20 matches under artificial lightings, just look at the difference during the Semi Final played between England – Sri Lanka and Australia – Pakistan and followed by the female version of T20 Semi Finals which were played under artificial lights and resulted in more crowd in the evening games compared to the day games played.

Today too, while I am writing this Australia – England grand final game is being played at Kensington Oval Barbados, which ofcourse is a day game and on the other hand Kiwis – Australia Female T20 final is going to be played in the evenings, and which will generate more crowd to the stadiums compared to the day game played between Australian English men.

Compared to the last tournament, England – New Zealand Female T20 final was played earlier and Pakistan – Sri Lanka Male T20 final was played in prime time which increased the overall television ratings.

Apart from the timings issue, it was overall a good tournament compared to the last one in 50 over games played here, which was too much lengthy and stretched like a plasticine and it ended in one and the half months time, having too much traveling and too much gaps in between the matches and irony of fact, the expected Pakistan – India Match was played between Ireland and Bangladesh respectively, which decreased the interest in the crowds, plus mismanagement was seen during the final when it was concluded in darkness and led Australia being the winner and I remember it was the last CWC tournament which was played by Hayden, Gilchrist, McGrath, Langer etc for Australia and like many players wanted they end their career on high by winning another official ICC trophy to be decorated in Cricket Australia shelves, 3rd 50 over CWC trophy and 2nd consecutive i.e. winning 2003 and 2007 CWC.

So hope the better team wins, and as far as Pakistan concern 2012 T20 World Cup which is to be played in Sri Lanka I suppose, Pakistan is again in a tough group with South Africa and an associate nation is lined up with them in group D (if seeding system is followed), lets hope by that time Pakistan team plays some good cricket as by the time I am writing this, more action is seen in appellate tribunal courts compared to action on cricket grounds. Just keeping my fingers crossed and hope for the best for 2012 ICC World T20 and yeah, who can forget the ICC CWC 2011.

What is next!

After a fight shown against the Aussies in 2nd semi final of World T20 2010 edition, Pakistan cemented their position in 2012 edition of ICC World T20, being the leader of group D, if seeding system is taken underway.

Pakistan’s group D would consist of Pakistan, South Africa and an associate nation. Don’t wanna say that we lost because of the following reasons, but some of them are really logical enough to be overlooked!

Pakistan’s team combination!
Pakistan’s team comnination was in complete disarray, and induction of players was continuous and it wasn’t allowed to be settled, unlike the last time when Younis Khan and co. were glued and had a combination which later fired in favour of Pakistan. This time it wasn’t the similar case.

Undertainity aspects!
There were many undertainity aspects in the team, like announcement of the team before announcement of skipper, just imgine, you are announcing the team without the person who’ll be leading them in the tournament to get understanding in the team.

Ill Management
Ill management was observed, just like the traditional days management we’re still following the same old management standards where one man is responsible for all the chores of the team, including the media side, which is an important one and which wasn’t the domain of the person assigned manager, still he was given that job too, and he did the job so well that 12 hours before any Pakistani match, Pakistani team was allowed to be announced in front of media personnel.

Injuries and No Backup plans
Injuries in current cricket is nothing new, and every player whether he’s a batsmen, bowler or just a fielder or an all-rounder, he’s affected with it, but literally injuries and players have close relations with it each other, so in order to tackle with it, backup is created so that burden is not only on the particular player but even if he (the main player) gets injured, the reserve player is almost the equivalent to the player whom he’s replacing, but nothing of such thing was seen when Umar Gul and Yasir Arafat were replaced with Muhammad Sami and Abdul Rehman from out of the gray. We’re lucky, Abdul Rehman did justify his inclusion but not the similar case with Muhammad Sami.

Now Pakistan is supposed to play the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in June and later off-shore home series against the Aussies and then against England in England, which should be a tough series and most probably Pakistan is going to be the second team in the series instead of being 1st (means not very optimistic with Pakistan) as Pakistan would be without their backbones, i.e. Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan, although hearing Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul may/can return, so bowling dept. would be looking powerful but batting looks on the grayer side.

Lets hope for the best but not very optimistic.

Peace!

Praises to Salman Butt

Yesterday Salman Butt played innings of his life and I’d call it bad luck for Pakistan and good luck for New Zealand that at the crucial moment Salman Butt had to change the ends and Rookie Abdul Rehman had to face the music from Ian Butler, which in resulted in 7th wicket on the last ball of the 20th over.

I was reading some of the blogs, where there were criticism on Butt regarding “useless long stay at the pitch”, I say just like the test cricket and ODIs, this cricket requires to stay on the pitch aswell, similarly the game Javed Miandad and Asif Iqbal used to play during their time, i.e. keeping the score board tickling and hitting odd boundary or a sixer on a particular delivery, the only difference is that in test match we have 90 overs a day, in an ODI we have 300 legal deliveries and compared to T20 module, we have 120 balls to have major score!

Those who’re criticizing him, should remember that he wasn’t responsible for any run outs unlike previous occasions, wickets were falling around him still he kept his cools and took the match to the last delivery, so whatever the pitfalls of Butt, but we should acknowledge what he did for the country and almost from the winning position to runners up in a match after a brave fighting isn’t to be criticize that much!

Peace!

Atlast! Last nail on the Coffin

I am writing this blog just after an hour and 30 minutes after Pakistan lost to Kiwis by just 1 runs. Yes you read that right, 1 run. Don’t wanna say similar sorta things just like a passionate Pakistani Cricket Fan might say (sorry fellows but don’t wanna hurt you guys but I am somewhat straight forward and fluent in my statements so no offense if my comments really hurts any one of you) but those who’ve been on my Facebook Profile, were arguing with me, just before the tournament started (between the dates 25 – 29 of April, 2010) that Pakistan will certainly defend their title etc, whereas I was always replaying in negative, (although I am also a patriotic Pakistani like others are, and it hurts me too when Pakistani team looses the match) but even though behind my negative answer were several logics behind, result of which I was not that much hopeful with Pakistan’s result, but my this thing was most of the time taken in un-patriotic manner(this also shows the intensity of passion and interest of Cricket in Pakistan in commoners) so I don’t mind them at all, because I know how much I am patriotic and I need not to explain it.

For me, being patriotic and being emotional are two different things and like two different sides of the same magnet bar, so that both sides can’t meet each other and I don’t believe in patriotism with blind emotions, but that’s the problem with us! In patriotism we forget the norms of logics, understanding, current actions and its consequences etcetera, that’s why we majority of times get spanked because of it.

This being a cricket blog, I must write about cricket, Indians will remember this because it was against Pakistan at Durban 2007 ICC World T20, bowl-out which India won. At post match presentation that time Pakistani skipper Shoaib Malik clearly stated on record that he didn’t know there was anything like that, on the other hand Indian skipper MS Dhoni mentioned that they were tuned-up for anything like that. We lack in long-term planning and want the result of long-term planning in short-term period.

Similarly the case was today, the team’s composition (whatever the team it is) is created in matter of atleast in months to get tuned-up with other team members and this current Pakistani team had a rather new team with new composition of players in it. Take example of Mohammad Hafeez, although on his last World T20 outing in South Africa, he was one the successful players in Pakistani team, but before entering the tournament he was constantly in and was following the team continuously, whereas this time when he was selected in the Pakistani T20 squad, he was out the team and his inclusion was thanks to ban on some of the players that’s why team composition was already in dismay, than Mohammad Sami, similar the case like Muhammad Hafeez, he made his T20I debut against Bangladesh in this 2010 edition of World T20, and he was also out of Pakistani team since long. If I started calculating +s and –s than this blog will stretch longer.

In short it was a clear case of mismanagement because mismanagement paves the way for players to have say and at times their irrelevant wishes too, every player started to think he’s the boss and no one plays better cricket than him, at that time if the management had act accordingly, this thing might not have happened, or if even it had happened, it’d be on a limited scale (I do not live in utopia to say that if management would have done strict actions at the right time, this MIGHT NOT HAVE HAPPENED AT ALL) and not as devastating as its now associated with Pakistani Cricket.Right now, Pakistani team is out of 2010 edition of world T20.

Similarly being a die hard Pakistani Cricket Fan, I wish Pakistan do well in the upcoming Pakistan’s home series in England against Australia and later England but I didn’t have hopes of Pakistan doing well in England as when they couldn’t play at somewhat Pakistan similar pitches (slow and batting friendly) in the West Indies, so how can they tackle the swinging deliveries of Brett Lee, Doug Bollinger, Stuart Clark, Dirk Nannes, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Ryan Sidebottom, Luke Wright, James Anderson, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad in England’s summer where it swings in matter of not centimeters, not even inches but in measurements of feets.

Peace!

Lets accept it!

Lets accept it, Pakistan isn’t deserve to be playing in the super 8s after such a disastrous performance in fielding department and right now when I writing this blog Pakistan has dropped two catches, thats why I am not watching this game and instead having a bed rest after having eye infection problem, and that too I think is a wise decision.

Unlike other Pakistanis I am not hopeful for Pakistan to commence to semis, final berth and winning a final is another thing, even if they win it, they doesn’t deserve to be, after playing an overall episode of Star Plus dramas in the team, with their director Mr. Yawar Saeed directing the show, I don’t think it is going to happen that Pakistan produces the same performance like it showed in England Edition.

Lets accept it Pakistanis that this year its not our turn to win this tournament. Like one of the Pakistani editor of a Cricket website, what about the punishers, players got their piece of punishments but why they punishers were spared?

A question to be asked!

By the way best of luck to all other teams in Super8 berth and let the best team wins, but sorry to say Pakistan didn’t deserve to win this tournament. Not blaming coaches or support staff, its the responsibility of management where they’ve failed, not only failed, failed miserably, and I don’t think the team with such performance should deserved to even defend their title.

Pakistan’s first encounter in Super 8s

Yesterday after Australia winning the match against the Bangladeshis, Pakistan automatically qualified for Super 8 stages. Yesterday the group matches ended with expected results i.e. Australia beat Bangladesh and South Africa beat Afghanistan.

Now today 6th of May 2010, the first match being played is of defending champion Pakistan with England, two good and equivalent teams with combination of youth and experience with England have the upper edge as they have their players available else Pakistan is limited in players like Malik, Younis Khan etc.

Tonight’s encounter would be a worth watching game as winner of tonight’s match will confirm their seat for the semis, and especially the first match of any tournament, group or series has worth mentioning importance as they get psychological advantage in their later matches.

Pakistan has the tough group ahead, as its to play against England, New Zealand (Don’t under estimate them, they are group leader from Group B beating last year’s runner ups Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, so it’d be stupid assumption to take them for granted) and South Africa (can’t even dream of taking them for granted as like last year the way Pakistan took their momentum in the later part of the tournament, similarly the case I’m seeing with South Africa and New Zealand this time)

Lets hope how Pakistan tackles with this group of death, Group F consisting of Australia A2, Sri Lanka B1, India C2, West Indies D1 is also a hard group and one can’t predict who’d be the two teams qualify from this group to the Semis.

My prediction for Group E is Pakistan and South Africa (if there isn’t any upset, like Kiwis beating Pakistan and England beating South Africa), and for Group F is Australia (don’t underestimate Aussies, they are emerging as a tough team in T20 as well), and India (their batting is an example for others to adopt).

Duckworth and Lewis Method

[Taken from http://blogs.cricinfo.com/pakspin/archives/2010/05/lies_damned_lies_and_duckworth.php]

Was Paul Collingwood right to question the target set for West Indies by the Duckworth Lewis Method? I believe he was right, and it was disappointing that Frank Duckworth dismissed his concerns so readily. Statisticians, and I work with many, have their preferred methods but the best statisticians will always accept that each method has its flaws. Show me a statistician whose first answer to a statistical question is ‘it depends . . .’ and I’ll show you a statistician with wisdom.

Here’s why Collingwood has three arguments in his favour:

The alternative would be increase the weighting in favour of the side batting first in these circumstances.

1	The statistical argument: The higher number of data points available, the more reliable any statistical estimate. With only 14 balls bowled by England before the rain set in, the sample was too small to reliably estimate the trajectory of the West Indian innings. Duckworth’s argument that the speed of scoring in those fourteen balls dictated the target exposes the unsuitability of the Duckworth Lewis Method when only a small proportion of an innings, around 10% in this case, has been completed. In this circumstance, there are insufficient data points (balls bowled) to reasonably predict the trajectory of an innings. A fairer approach would be to set a minimum number of overs before the runs already scored are taken into consideration. For example, if that minimum number of overs in T20 were 5 overs (i.e. 25% of the innings completed), what West Indies had scored in those 14 balls would be irrelevant. The target set would assume that no balls had been bowled. The West Indian target should then have been higher. After 5 overs, and only after 5 overs, the runs already scored and wickets already lost would be taken into account.
2	The spirit of cricket argument: Anybody who has played cricket at any level knows that it is much easier to score around ten runs an over for 6 overs than it is for 20 overs, especially when 10 wickets are available in both situations. It is wrong for Duckworth to suggest otherwise. When the target set by the Duckworth Lewis Method feels wrong and against the spirit of the game, then the numbers thrown up by a statistical analytic package are irrelevant.
3	The regulatory argument: The pressure for a resolution by the Duckworth Lewis Method is created by limits on playing times. In major T20 tournaments, often staged at facilities with floodlights, these regulations seem absurd. Half an hour’s extra play is clearly insufficient. The option of an extra hour, at the very least, is essential. I’m confident most spectators would prefer to stay an extra hour or so to watch a proper contest than witness a farce that allows them to get home earlier.

I believe the ICC needs to act and reconsider the application of the Duckworth Lewis Method in T20 cricket. What happened to England earlier this week was unfair for several reasons. Collingwood had a point, Duckworth had a Vera moment.

Nervous times for Pakistan

Today is the all awaited encounter for Pakistani fans, its not a Pakistani team’s match but its encounter between Bangladesh and Australia, this match will clear the dust from the points table of Group A which is still undecided whether who’s going to be the leader of this group. Pakistan already have played its quota of two matches, one comprehensive win against Bangladeshis and one lost against Aussies against them, we lost miserably and the advantage we gained in win against Bangladeshis was all drained in next 24 hours when we lost against the Aussies in our second encounter and in return we lost the match and probably early exit in the tournament, because Pakistan’s inclusion in the tournament is dependent on Australia Bangladesh’s match.

If I were the skipper of this Pakistan side, like I said is one of reply’s that this would have been my last option to depend on other team’s result.

Even if we had lost the match but had reduced the defeat margin, and not bowled out completely than the scenario would be different and Australia had to play today’s match with a pressure of surviving in this tournament, but we ourselves gave this advantage to Australia and now don’t wanna be strict but Australia is playing today’s match with its own terms and conditions, and we are dependent on them whether we can stay in this tournament or not!

Its just humiliating for me being a Pakistani to be so much dependent on others, for somewhat its ok but totally dependency is another thing and I discourage it being a Pakistani…

Bangladesh can take Pakistan’s hope for qualifying for Super 8s on their encounter against Aussies

Matter taken from http://shortofalength.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/can-bangladesh-still-qualify-and-eliminate-pakistan-from-the-2010-icc-twenty20-world-cup/

It could happen… Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by the rather comfortable margin of 21 runs in their opening match, but ended up losing heavily to Australia, and that 34 run loss means that Bangladesh have a very realistic shot of upstaging the defending champions and giving them a humiliating first round exit. Here is the points table as it stands right now:

Group A
Teams	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Points	Net R/R	For	Against
Pakistan (01)	2	1	1	0	0	2	-0.325	329/40.0	342/40.0
Bangladesh (08)	1	0	1	0	0	0	-1.050	151/20.0	172/20.0
Australia (09)	1	1	0	0	0	2	+1.700	191/20.0	157/20.0

Simply put, all Bangladesh have to do is defeat Australia while maintaining that they score not less than 12 more runs than they have conceded in total. That gap is currently 21, so if they beat Australia by as low a margin as 9 runs they will end up with a better run rate than Pakistan. Lets take a look at all the possible scenarios:

1) Bangladesh Bat First: In this case they have to ensure that no matter what they score, Australia lose by a margin of at least 9 runs. Australia in this case would still qualify with a net run rate of 0.65. If however, they manage to defeat Australia by as high a margin as 48 runs, then Pakistan would qualify ahead of Australia on net run rate.

2) Bangladesh Bat Second: The first assumption is that Australia are either bowled out or bat their full 20 overs. The second assumption is that Bangladesh win by a margin of one run, i.e. they just get over Australia’s score rather than hit a six and win by six or five or less runs. In this case Bangladesh have to chase down whatever Australia score in 113-116 balls (18.5 to 19.2) depending on what Australia score (I’ve taken realistic ranges from Australia scoring 90 to 250), to get a higher net run rate than Pakistan. For these same ranges in scores, Bangladesh would have to achieve their target in roughly 7.3 to 11.2 overs (varying from 90 to 200) to push Australia’s nrr below Pakistan, which is much riskier for them and unlikely to happen.

So as you can see, if Bangladesh do win, they stand an excellent chance of qualifying ahead of Pakistan as long as they don’t win by a very small margin. Which is why it was crucial for the defending champions to score as close to Australia’s score as possible yesterday, so that Australia would not take the chance of losing to Bangladesh by a small margin themselves since that might have ended their aspirations. The match on the 11th of May assumes critical importance!