However, that does not prevent the ECB from going ahead with their T20 Cup, or the Friends Provident T20 Trophy that got underway on the 1^st of June, with the game between the last year’s winner, Sussex and runner-up Somerset.

And much like last year, Sussex hammered Somerset at Hove, after piling on 155/7 in 20 overs. Luke Wright’s 39 at the top of the innings was the highest score, but that was enough for the side to win by 52 runs. Craig Kieswetter celebrated his call-up to international cricket with a 47, but none of the rest including captain Marcus Trescothick got going and the hosts won easily.

Sussex then won their second game of the tournament as well, as they beat Middlesex by 28 runs. Middlesex had contracted Adam Gilchrist for this season, but he failed with the bat.

In two of the other interesting games, Loots Bosman messed up the Yorkshire bowlers with a 50-ball 94, to win the game for Derbyshire by 65 runs, whereas Hampshire made heavy weather of the target of 115 set by Kent, before winning with two balls to spare.

The format of the tournament works like this. The 18 counties are divided into two groups based on their location, called the North Group and the South Group. Each of the nine teams in each of the groups then play against each other twice, on a home and away basis. Based on the results and the points table, the top four sides from each group qualify for the quarter-finals of the Friend’s Provident T20 tournament.

These eight sides then go on to play in the quarter-finals, and then, the winners of the quarters will play in the semi-finals and then the final. Earlier, both the finalists went on to qualify for the Champions League T20, but for this year, that will not be possible and hence the sides will probably not be motivated enough for the same.

Earlier, this tournament was called the T20 Cup, and has been played since 2003. Surrey won the inaugural edition of the tournament, and then, they were runner-up in 2004, before being losing semi-finalists in 2005 and 2006. The 2004 edition was won by Leicestershire, who then went on to win it again in 2006, with Somerset winning it in 2005 under Graeme Smith. Kent won in 2007, Middlesex in 2008 and Sussex are the defending champions by beating Somerset in 2009.

Warwickshire have entered the quarter-final of all the editions except 2006. Any guesses who will win the tournament this season?

India will be represented by three teams, Australia and South Africa will have two sides each, whereas there will be one each from West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have not been afforded an invitation yet.

Nine out of the ten teams have already qualified for the Champions League so far. The only side which is yet to go through in the one from West Indies, where domestic T20 tournament has yet to be played.

India:

Chennai Super Kings:

Won the IPL after it looked at one stage that they will not even get through to the semi-finals.

Mumbai Indians:

Played the most consistent and quality cricket in the IPL before losing to Chennai in the final of the tournament

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

A patchy IPL this year ended with a semi-final loss to Mumbai, but they beat Deccan in the third-place pay-off to win that third place in the Champions League T20.

Australia:

Victoria Bushrangers:

Winners of the KFC Big Bash T20 tournament. And easily, the most consistent team in the T20 cricket in Australia. Out of the five KFC Big Bash tournaments that have been played in the country, they have won four and been runner-up once.

Southern Redbacks:

South Australia made their first entry into the final this season after having never finished better than fourth earlier.

South Africa:

Western Warriors:

Won the Standard Bank Pro20 tournament this season with consummate ease to qualify for the Champions League T20

Lions:

Good performances throughout the league helped them get through to the semi-finals, where they won two close games against Titans to go through to the final. They lost to Warriors, but made it through to the CLT20.

New Zealand:

Central Districts:

It was Central Stags in this season who made it through to the Champions League T20, thanks to some aggressive cricket from the likes of Ross Taylor. Taylor blasted an 80 in the final of the HRV Cup to propel his side to a 78-run win over Auckland and a vital spot in the CLT20.

Sri Lanka:

Wayamba:

Wayamba made it through to the Champions League T20 again for a second year in a row after they beat Ruhuna in the final of the inter-provincial tournament. The victory was comprehensive, and much like Central Districts, brought about by a 91 by Mahela Jayawardene which meant that the Wayamba side were through.

A special mention needs to be made of the Pakistani side, Sialkot Stallions, who have won their domestic tournament for five successive times, but will not be able to play again due to confusion between what their chairman Ejaz Butt said and what he had thought he said!

Consistency and continuity:

Like has always been the case, the Australian selectors have always been an epitome of continuity. There have been many examples in the past as well, starting from the times of Mark Taylor, and even after Ricky Ponting became the first ever Australian captains in more than half a century to lose two Ashes. The captain did not get the sack, and that was probably because the selectors had faith in the guy.

In fact, this is a trait that runs in the Aussies. Why the players, even the selectors were spared after some shocking selections throughout the previous edition of the Ashes. It was almost a given that the selectors would be given a boot after the Ashes fiasco, but they were persisted with and the side was soon on their winning ways again.

The same logic seems to have been applied to the Clarke, the captain of the T20 game.

Future captaincy prospect?

The other reason why I can think of the continuation of Clarke as a captain is because one gets the sense that he will also take on the responsibility of the role from Ricky Ponting in the other formats of the game once Ponting is done with the game.

Now, personally I think that if Clarke were to be chucked out of the T20I format without being afforded the rightful opportunities, this could end up inflicting some confidence issues on him when he takes on the bigger role of leading the side in Tests and ODIs. And given the way things are, there do not seem too many others in the Australian camp that could take up the role of the captaincy in the other two formats of the game.

But what about back problems?

That is the one point that can be rationally brought into the conversation. Clarke’s career hasn’t been injury free and his back has given him enough trouble to last a lifetime. He has almost quit bowling as regularly as he did earlier, and the question that seems to be worrying some of the experts is that the excessive load of T20 cricket, both, as the captain and a batsman, could make life miserable for the talented batsman. And if Clarke does decide to play in the IPL, things could become even more tough for someone with the back issues.

On a notice?

All said and done, the two T20Is against Pakistan, to be played in England, will be a litmus test for Clarke. Another couple of failures could make him susceptible to a lot of blame again and that could well make it difficult to sustain him as the captain of the side.

So how did the English side manage to turn around the fortunes and clinch the tournament?

Balanced Side:

Unlike many of the other teams in the competition, England went in with the side which had six batsmen, four frontline bowlers and a fifth medium pacer who could wield his willow if needed. The batsmen were expected to their job, but the bowlers were not the worst when it came to holding the bat, whereas the bowling side had three fast and two spin bowlers.

All in all, there was a lot of balance in the side, and the side went unchanged throughout the tournament, except when Kevin Pietersen had to return back to England to attend his child’s birth.

Excellent Fielding:

There have not been too many sides in the history of international cricket, who have won a major tournament without possessing a side that can field rather well. And England was no exception. While their fielding in the entire tournament was good, it was the final that saw them push up to the very next level; the first four of the Australian dismissals were all thanks to brilliant efforts in the field.

Paul Collingwood, the captain, obviously led the way, but even the others were always there to back him. Pietersen was excellent in the outfield, whether it was catching or ground fielding, and in the end, that is where it made a lot of difference.

The Pietersen-Morgan show:

It must be said that apart from the final where Craig Kieswetter finally came to the party, it was the joint efforts of Pietersen and Eoin Morgan with the bat that saw the English never get under pressure. Pietersen did not have a good tournament to begin with, when he was out caught, pulling the ball to the fence, but right through the remaining four games that he was a part of, he managed to exhibit the same kind of form that he had show before the Achilles Heel injury hit him.

Yardy and Swann surprise:

It was a big surprise that when most of the other spinners struggled in the tournament, it was the duo of Michael Yardy and Graeme Swann that dominated the proceedings with some throttling bowling. Swann ended with an economy of 6.5 and scalped ten wickets in the tournament, whereas Yardy had an economy of only 6.8; something that can, at best, be expected out of sub-continent spinners and especially on the Caribbean tracks.

Cool Captain Collingwood:

There can hardly be any doubt that Paul Collingwood played a huge role in the development of the side and his confidence seemed to have rubbed on to the others as well. The best example of his captaincy was when he won the toss in a pressure final and decided to field first, something that took everyone by surprise. However, he backed his bowlers to the hilt and in the end, stood vindicated as Australia slumped to 8/3 and 47/4 in ten overs.

So, what went wrong with a team that had only in 2007 lifted the trophy?

Fatigue factor?

MS Dhoni had pointed out to the IPL parties as one of the reasons why the Indian side could have been affected. And while the others have dismissed it as a frivolous excuse, the fact is that Dhoni was not too off the mark. It was not only the parties, but the tournament itself, that would have contributed to the fatigue factor.

The team looked jaded from the very start, and there had been reports of the players sleeping off whenever they got the opportunity to do so; and in the end, there was a definite lack of intent while they played even in the last, all-important T20 game.

Strange Captaincy:

Make it very, very strange. How else would you define the manner in which an extra batsman was chosen for the two successive games, and yet, the side decided to field first. With five, regular and irregular spin bowlers in the ranks, the least that Dhoni could have done is to bat first, allow the batsmen to score the runs without any kind of pressure and then unleash the slower bowlers.

Then again, there were some others like not sending Yusuf Pathan up the order in crucial games, Dhoni batting down the order at Barbados and promoting himself at St. Lucia, something that cost him the tournament in the end.

Short Ball woes:

In the previous edition of the ICC World T20, the side had struggled with the short ball. The bouncers were played so badly by the Indians then, that there was much hue and cry associated with the same. One year on, nothing had changed. Nothing whatsoever. Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Murali Vijay, all of them batted like they had no clue to whatever what was happening out there.

What was surprising is that the selectors had continued to choose the same set of players who had struggled earlier and that cost the Indian batting dear.

Selection and Bowling form:

What shoddy selections. On tracks that were supposed to play real quick, the side had gone in with only four pace bowlers; one of whom was injured before the tournament, and the other, a youngster making his first trip. This meant that the side had hardly had enough personnel to take on the opposition.

Then again, Zaheer Khan looked out of sorts, and apart from Habhajan Singh, the others had a moderate form going for them.

With all of the above, it is only natural that India did not win a single game in the Super Eights!

That said, it was very evident that Chennai played well enough, but had Mumbai Indians played in the manner that they had in the rest of the tournament, it would not have been easy for the Super Kings. So, where did the Mumbai Indians go wrong?

Toss?
Of course, that cannot be a factor, or can it? While saying that the toss played an important role in Mumbai’s loss, I am not trying to find excuses. It is a rather simple fact of life. In a tournament as long as this, expecting the pitches to remain as good as they had through the first part of the tournament is rather foolhardy. And with the pitches playing, any team batting second would find it difficult to chase; Mumbai or Chennai.

That is precisely what happened, as the Mumbai Indians collapsed to a defeat chasing a big enough total. Three out of the final four games, including the two semi-finals were won by the sides batting first and were one-sided at that.

Dropped catches:
I would have been tempted to add the lbw appeals that went against the Mumbai Indians as well, but to me, it looks like the umpires actually helped the Mumbai team by negating the two of them against Matthew Hayden. Because, till the time he was there, the Chennai Super Kings were actually struggling. And then, he got out!

Talking of the catches, Suresh Raina offered two, rather simple catches and was dropped on both the occasions. Now, Raina is still some way off being a top-notch finisher, but he has the quality nonetheless, to make you pay. And that is exactly what he did! Bye-bye match.

Where/Who was the captain?
That was a captain that at least half of the billion people watching the game had in their mind while the Mumbai Indians batted. The other half was clearly sleeping.

There were many instances of muddled thinking during the entire twenty overs of Mumbai’s innings, and even before that. For one, Abhishek Nayar had no business to bat as high as the number three position, which should have, ideally, gone to either Saurabh Tiwary or Ambati Rayadu, both of whom had done it before in the tournament, and quite well at that. Then again, if he did bat at that number, the acceleration, or at least the attempt at that, should have come much earlier than the tenth over.

The second case in point was that of Harbhajan Singh sent at number four. While I agree that this was a double-edged sword, with a good chance of coming off, what one must remember is that despite how Tiwary has batted in the tournament, he has needed 6-8 balls to get going; something that was crucial at that stage. He was the ideal number four, from where he could have stamped his authority in the later stage.

And then, even without questioning the reasons behind not sending in Kieron Pollard, it ws quite appalling to see JP Duminy bat at the number seven position in the batting. Over Pollard. Made absolutely no sense, given that not in the entire series has he ever given an impression that he can score runs at the 13 runs per over needed at that stage. To me, it was game, set, match to Chennai the moment Duminy walked out to bat.

India:
Previous Performance:
A blast of a performance in the 2007 edition of the ICC World T20 but damp squib in 2009. Won it in the first edition, and lost woefully in the Super Eights of the second tournament.

Strengths:
It has to be the captaincy of MS Dhoni. In the previous edition, it was for the first time since Dhoni had become the captain that one saw him lose his cool, and in turn, his side capitulated to one loss after another. But as mentioned, that was also a learning experience for the Indian captain and he seems to have learnt from that experience.

Weaknesses:
Their bowling is a definite one. Apart from Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, the bowling lacks the experience or incisiveness to knock out the opposition, and with the likes of Vinay Kumar having yet to play an international, it also affects the back-up bowling staff for the side.

Then again, the absence of Virender Sehwag to an IPL-injury will hurt the Indians as much as it would be hurting him now!

England:

Previous Performance:
One of the more consistent teams in the competition; they have been ousted in the Super Eights round on both the occasions!

Strengths:
One needs to be careful while assessing their strengths, because England has, for years remained a mediocre team in any of the formats of the game. But one does feel that under the captaincy of Paul Collingwood, there is refreshness in the side, along with the presence of youngsters adding to the hope that England could outperform – their own previous record!

Weaknesses:
It has been their inability to come out trumps at crucial junctures in matches that has caused much grief. England’s biggest woe is their inability to play a unit and almost exhibit a lack of discipline to finish off matches.

Afghanistan:
They are the babies of international cricket, but in a short span of 2-3 years since they started playing international cricket, they have surprised everybody with their results. They finished fifth in the World Cup qualifiers and narrowly missed making it to the World Cup to be played next year, but lifted the ICC World T20 Qualifying tournament by beating Ireland in the finals.

They have never played at the international stage against a Test-playing nation, and against India and South Africa, will be a big test. They may go on to lose, but the world eyes will be on them to see, how well they perform at the biggest stage of international T20 cricket.

Thankfully, after the start of the tournament, the off-the-field issues have stopped, but on the field, the players have continued to make news for all the wrong reasons. Here is a lowdown of all the things that have gone wrong in the tournament so far:

Yuvraj proposes, Ness disposes:
After been disposed off as the captain of the Kings XI Punjab side, Yuvraj Singh wanted to shift to the Mumbai Indians side according to a report in a newspaper. The owner of the side, Ness Wadia refused, but then was worried that the combination of the loss of captaincy and the lack of desire to play for Punjab would mean that he could underperform. Wadia is then said to have supposedly spoken to the BCCI about his fears, who had had a talk with the player.

The result? Yuvraj Singh struggles through most part of the first half of the tournament, whereas the Punjab side capitulate to one loss after another and after having played ten games, they are already out of the tournament.

Ordinary or extra-ordinary?
Gautam Gambhir is a rather angry man on most occasions, but this time around he seemed to have stirred the hornet’s nest by calling the Rajasthan side ordinary. He was been asked whether he thought he was worried about the Royals chasing down the target that was set by the Daredevils, and he replied that apart from Yusuf Pathan, he was barely worried about the ordinary side.

Modi reprimanded Gambhir, but that did not mean that the dashing southpaw stopped making statements. He said that he stood by what he said and did not care much for people who had not held a bat in their hands – alluding to Shilpa Shetty in this case. Rajasthan went on to beat Deccan and Punjab in two successive games and look to be heading their way into the semi-finals.

While diplomacy was never Gambhir’s middle name, surprising to hear Gambhir call the Royals ordinary anyway, given that they have won the first edition of the IPL and look good to enter the semi-finals in the second!

Over-rate issues:
While it was good to observe that the IPL had taken upon itself to sweep the slow over-rate offenders with fines that were anything but tiny, the surprising bit was that not only the captain but all the rest of the players were fined a bomb as well.

So picture this. Kumar Sangakkara gets fined $20k for his first offence, $40k for his second and gets banned for his third one. He has already lost more than $100k in fines. But more importantly, each of his player has also lost around $50k, which is probably more than what some of the players even earn in the entire duration of the tournament! This means that by playing in the IPL, these players, with contracts worth $30,000 or $50,000 stand to gain nothing, all thanks to some slow thinking captains! Quite a joke I tell you!

This piece talks about three of the best innings played in this IPL so far:

Yusuf Pathan, 100 (37 balls) versus Mumbai Indians:
Not often does a century in T20 cricket end in a lost cause. This is exactly what happened when Yusuf Pathan smacked a 37-ball century consisting of nine fours and eight huge sixes, as his side failed to provide him with the necessary support required to win the game.

Chasing a total of 213 for a win, the Royals were down in the dumps at 66/4 in the tenth over with almost an academic interest left in the margin of defeat. Instead, Pathan had other ideas and by the time he was unfortunately run-out, the Royals had the entire momentum going their way, as only 40 runs were needed for the win off three overs.

The rest of them failed, and the Mumbai Indians ended winners by only 4 runs. It also led Shane Warne to quip that it was the best innings he had seen in career lasting two decades!

Jacques Kallis, 89 (55 balls), versus Kings XI Punjab:
It was an innings of great poise and substance. The Kings XI Punjab had piled up 203 in their twenty overs and chasing it down was going to be difficult. Not so much as the Bangalore team opened their innings with Kallis, who was expected to do the anchor’s role. Instead, the pair of Manish Pandey and Kallis mesmerised the Punjab attack with a 74 run stand and then Kallis rotated the strike over with Robin Uthappa looking in sizzling touch.

Even by the time Uthappa was dismissed, the Bangalore side needed 61 runs off six overs, a total that the team got with consummate ease thanks to the great South African; Kallis. His 89 ahd eight fours and most surprisingly, five sixes, something not to be expected from a more sedate batsman like Kallis!

Sachin Tendulkar, 71 (48 balls), versus Kolkata Knight Riders:
That Tendulkar has been in the form of his life is not unheard of. However, for him to play in the manner that he has in this tournament so far has been a sheer treat to the eyes, in a format that not many reckon his cup of tea. Against the Knight Riders, the target was 156, and Tendulkar opened the innings. He was ably supported by the others around him, but most importantly, he kept picking up the boundaries throughout the duration of his innings.

But most specifically, he reserved a special treatment for Ishant Sharma, someone who was banished to the fence each time he erred ever so slightly in the spell. Sharma did pick up a couple of wickets, but could not get Tendulkar out and conceded 44 runs off his four overs.

And Mumbai won with seven wickets and nine balls to spare!

It was a heart-warming innings in a format of the game which is usually associated with brute power and thrashing!

Rajasthan Royals:

Strengths:
The Rajasthan Royals have a captain who is one of the best in the business, but then again, he will need to lead from the front. Apart from the captain Shane Warne, Yusuf Pathan’s bold and audacious hitting will make him a dangerous customer for the opposition and on grounds which support his brand of batting, things will become really difficult for the opposition.
But Rajasthan’s biggest strength is that they do not possess too many super-stars like some of the other names. Their basic strategy is to make the most of their limited players, and that is precisely how they had won the first edition of the tournament. In the second IPL, they had picked up a side more suitable for the Indian conditions but with the tournament moved to South Africa, they had ha their difficulties. Now, they should relish the Indian conditions and they will be followed with quite a lot of interest in the tournament.

Weaknesses:
Their middle-order looks a tad weak. Over-reliance on Yusuf Pathan could be an issue and if Graeme Smith or Swapnil Asnodkar are unable to recapture their form of the past, things could get really difficult for the Rajasthan side.

Players to watch out for:
Pathan without doubt. But apart from Pathan, it will be interesting to see whether two of the older guys, Warne himself and Damien Martyn, are able to make their age a non-issue and deliver for the side. warne’s shoulder needs to hold up, but in his own words, the more he bowls, the better it gets and hence he could be the bowler to look out for.

Kings XI Punjab:

Strengths:
The captain has changed from Yuvraj Singh to Kumar Sangakkara, and one gets the feeling that unlike Brendon McCullum , Sangakkara will be able to unite the team much better than what Yuvi managed in the second edition. That should also take the load off Yuvraj Singh’s shoulders and allow the Punjab team to enjoy his stroke-play.

Weaknesses:
The absence of Brett Lee will hurt, as would the presence of a half-fit Irfan Pathan. Unfortunately for the Punjab side, their bowling could be an issue as neither is it strong nor does it consist of players who can bottle ends up even in this format of the game. With not too many wickets to show for, and with the runs leaking at both ends, things could get very difficult for even someone like a Yusuf Abdullah, who is not used to bowling in Indian conditions.

Players to watch out for:
Yuvraj Singh, if fit, would be raring to go. He hasn’t had a great last one year, and with injuries having taken over, he is struggling to make it count. So will Kumar Sangakkara and S Sreesanth, all of whom have much to prove in their own little ways.