Totally illogical

This point has already been thought about by so many experts about the illogical nature of the D-L method for which there was yet another example yesterday in the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders. The match was reduced to 13 overs even before the Kolkata Knight Riders were put into bat by the Royal Challengers owing to bad weather. But, towards the end of the first innings, the Kolkata Knight Riders ended their innings at 89/4 but the target that the Royal Challengers Bangalore were supposed to chase down to record a victory happened to be 102 from 13 overs.

According to not only me but many of them, the target that the RCB were supposed to score should have been 90 and not 102. But it is the magic of the D-L method that makes the target exceed by 12 more runs than expected. Recently, there was a game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Superkings where despite batting second the Kolkata Knight Riders won the match by ten runs which is impossible in a regular LOI. Going by the rules of cricket, a team batting second can win a match by so many wickets and by so many runs.

If this happens to be the case after the introduction of the D-L method, what if a 20 over match happens and the team batting second requires more than one run compared to the score put up by the team batting first in order to attain victory? The debate has been going on for decades altogether but a proper permanent solution is awaited and that is in case someone is serious in solving the problem rather than terming the match as a bad luck for the losers. However, a total of 102 never seemed to bother Chris Gayle's team.

This time as well, there was no one stopping Chris Gayle who scored runs at a rate of 316.66 runs for every 100 balls he faced. Had there been no Chris Gayle, the Royal Challengers Bangalore would have been termed as an unlucky team for, despite the presence of Chris Gayle and his timely contribution with the willow, the RCB took 12.3 overs and losing 6 wickets en route to reach their target. So one can imagine RCB without Gayle. Likewise there was a noted bowler in Charles Langeveldt who shone with the ball scalping 2/10 from 3 overs at 3.33 runs an over.

South Africa exit yet again

For the third consecutive time, South Africa have given a grand exit from the world cup after losing to Pakistan at Gros Islet by 11 runs. The margin of victory for Pakistan might not seem to be that good but, the match against the Proteas was worth wining for both teams one, for South Africa to make it to the semis and second for Pakistan to keep their hopes alive in making it to the semis. Pakistan has lost both their earlier games to England and New Zealand while South Africa have a win against New Zealand and a loss to England.

With all gates being close for South Africa, Pakistan has a chance of making it to the semi-finals in case England happen to win over New Zealand. In case New Zealand win, the semi-finalists would be the two teams which beat Pakistan in the super eight stage. Coming to the match, the pitch never seemed to favor the batsmen when both Pakistan and South Africa had a bowler in their team who could scalp 4 wickets. Or else, a total of 147 is hard to defend. This is for the 2^nd time that Pakistan have ousted South Africa from T20 world cup.

Last time year, Pakistan had knocked off South Africa (who were until then unbeaten) in the semi-finals of the tournament en route to their successful campaign in England. Looking at the scorecard, After Kamran Akmal's stint at the top, Pakistan had to wait until the entry of Umar Akmal to see their scoreboard ticking once again. It was Umar Akmal's 51 runs along with a 61 run partnership with Shahid Afridi which laid the platform for a decent score on a bowler friendly pitch which went on to become a winning total for them. Shahid Afridi's 30 runs from 16 balls should also not go unnoticed.

Coming to the batting of the South Africans, initial blows from Asif and Abdul Razzaq was more than enough for viewers to come to conclusion of the match. If not for AB deVilliars, no other batsmen really had something to talk about. In the end, South Africa lost equal number of wickets as Pakistan but fell 11 runs short of what Pakistan could put up on the scoreboard. Now, all that Pakistan would want to happen is that England win thrashes the Kiwis which will see Pakistan making to the semis of a T20 world cup for the third consecutive time.