Weekly CRICKET Review - CXVii | The T20 World Cup
Hello, fellow Cricket Enthusiasts,
You already know I share a weekly wrap-up of what's happening in the Cricket community. And it's the 117th edition now.
The World of Cricket is very busy right now, with the T20I World Cup. Even after a few matches, the tournament has become so exciting and entertaining. So, let's see what's going on.
- This is the 10th edition of the tournament, which began in 2007 in South Africa. India became the first champion, defeating Pakistan, and they are the defending champions as well. It will be played from 7 February to 8 March 2026, in India and Sri Lanka, with 20 teams. You can see the full details from here.
- Out of 55 matches, 25 matches have already been finished, and it was just awesome. Here you can see the points table up to now; all the teams have played two or more matches.
- All the groups have been pretty competitive, as associate teams are giving a huge fight, and the competition has become wide open. Right now, only the West Indies and South Africa have qualified for the next round, with three straight wins. Nepal and Oman have already been eliminated from the tournament.
We saw very close matches from the start, like the USA challenging India, the Netherlands almost kicking out Pakistan, Nepal almost winning against England, etc. But Zimbabwe is winning against the Australians, and the double-super over match between South Africa and Afghanistan will be the best highlight so far.
Earlier I talked about South Africa vs Afghanistan: A Magical Show!. The match got tied, the super over tied, and South Africa won the second super over in the ball. The match was spinning between the two teams until the very end, quality cricket from two quality teams.
The 19th match between Australia and Zimbabwe gave the biggest surprise. Anyway, it's not unheard of, as Zimbabwe did the same thing in the only other time they met, in 2007.
The match was held in R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. Zimbabwe batted first and batted sensibly. From the start, they batted maturely, scoring runs without losing many wickets. Brian Bennett and Marumany scored 47/0 in the powerplay, with 61 runs partnership for the first wicket. Bennet scored an unbeaten fifty as well. With finishing touches from Burl and Raza, they managed 169/2 in their 20 overs. Australia really struggled with the unavailability of their pace trios.
Australian battting line up, we were on the back foot from the start, and they lost their wicket in the second over. Inside 5 overs, they lost 4 wickets for just 29 runs, including two ducks. Matt Renshaw and Maxwell rebuild the inning, infact they needed 67 runs in the last 6 overs with 6 wickets. But once the partnership is broken, the next few wickets also followed simultanuously. Australia only managed 146/10 with a 23-run loss.
Blessing Muzarabani was the hero, with 4 wickets for 17 runs. Brad Evans also took 3 for 23. 4/17 by Muzarabani is the best bowling figures for Zimbabwe in a T20 WC match. A famous and memorable day in Zimbabwe cricket.
Most Runs
- Tim Seifert from New Zealand is leading the list along with Markam, Lorcan Tucker from Ireland, Shubham Ranjana from the USA, and Shimron Hetmyer. There are no hundreds so far, and 94 runs from Tucker against OMAN is the highest score.
Most Wickets
- Shadley van Schalkwyk from the USA leads the chart with Lungi Ngidi, Blessing Muzarabani, Harmeet Singh from the USA, and Marco Jansen.
So, that's it for today!! Until next time! Enjoy!
Thank you.
Best Regards!
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