Will weather favor Nepal, Afghanistan in ACC Twenty20

“Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.” -Mark Twain


 The Climate for the tournament will surely be electrifying which most of the Associate Players may not be lucky enough to see but the weather in Kathmandu will surely favor a few. The 2 times champion Afghanistan and the hosts Nepal both will definitely will get an Advantage from the weather. If we look at the average maximum and minimum temperature it will say it all

"It surely is cold at a few places only"

As we can see in the coldest month in Asia only 3 capitals i.e. Kathmandu, Kabul and Thimpu are in the temperate zone and rest are in the tropical zone. The max temperature in December is 19.4 C and min is just 3.0 C. This means we will have cold morning and evening.


Weather surely plays a very crucial factor in cricket. The cricket ball is very hard. In cold temperature the hands tends to become numb and effect the holding of the ball. For people of colder places like Nepal, Afghanistan or Bhutan it will not be much of a problem since they are used to it. However imagine a player who comes from Dubai or Malaysia, where it never gets cold through out the year. For such players it will be coming from 36 C to 20 C. It effects the performance specially fielding and bowling. 


Secondly the cold weather means thin air, which means more swing. The Pacer of Afghanistan or local stars will know how to extract the maximum.

Afghanistan are the champions and though this tournament means nothing for qualification but it surely is pride. The Rivalry between Nepal and Afghanistan is not any less than that of India Pakistan

Nepal has a huge home advantage that will boost it's morale. The weather also can be used to maximize its performance. Nepal will never have a better chance to boost it poor track record in T20


All things said and done, the teams are expected to perform in all circumstances. Since it the start of December there is a possibility that it will still not be that chilling. Also many of the players in the Gulf teams are from northern part of sub continent where also it get very cold and would be used to it. Finally to close I have a beautiful anonymous quote


“Whether the weather be fine, Whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold, Whether the weather be hot, We'll weather the weather, Whatever the whether, Whether we like it or not”

What can the coaches expect from SAARC Twenty20

The SAARC Twenty20 is on in full steam. We have seen some good contests but mostly one sided contests. In this tournaments where Bangladesh did not even send a team and India send a team that is not even a Ranji team. So from this tournament what should coaches of different countries expect

1. Afghanistan
Afghanistan is placed in a very easy group. The coach should not expect any tough competition in the league stage and has happened that way. It is here the coach should have used the bench strength and tried various new players and youngsters. Then in the Semi Finals and Finals the Afghan should put in the best team as it would be against the stronger teams of Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Afghan should definitely aim to win this tournament

2. Bhutan
Bhutan is one of the weakest teams in the group. The coach here should put his best team and try to get the best performance. They had a chance to qualify to next stage by defeating Maldives (Though they did not do it) and then perhaps more exposure against the strong teams of Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The coach should have relished the cricket team is playing after a long time

3. India
India has send not even a A or B or C but rather a Z team. It is not even one of the 24 Domestic Ranji teams. The players here perhaps would never get a chance of representing India and same maybe the case for the Coach. The coach should have got the best out of the players and perhaps got some recognition for himself.

4. Maldives
The coach will be coaching the hosts. He has big responsibility. He has perhaps the toughest task of taking his team beyond expectations. On a positive side, the team will never get a greater exposure than this and should relish this

Dassanayake: He perhaps has the toughest job in the tournament

5. Nepal
This tournament is perhaps most critical for Nepalese Coach. He is a new coach and the team is new to him. The team has a critical tournament of ACC Twenty20 coming up ahead which they are hosting. The team was always short of exposure and this tournament could not have come at the right time. The coach should be happy they got the tough group and will get all the exposure. Nepal should have aimed to perform and excel. They have not been able to do so. They have lost to Sri Lanka and just managed to go past the non existent KIC so called Indian team. The match against Pakistan is crucial and the Nepalese should not be happy with the win against KIC.

6. Pakistan
The coach is commanding perhaps the strongest team in the tournament. The coach has set of boys who would to prove themselves and perhaps break into the national squad. he should get exceptional performances and lead them to the title

7. Sri Lanka
The teams can be seeded second behind Pakistan. The coach would have similar condition as that of Pakistan. Ambitious boys and aim for the title

The tournament is now moving into the second stage. Let's hope to see some great matches and all the best to all the coaches

SAARC Twenty20 Schedule

As we all know SAARC TwentyT20 cricket tournament is being held in Maldives from October 31 to November 7. All the 8 members of SAARC are supposed to be participating in the tournament.

BCCI due to other commitments was not able to send it's U-25 teams as the senior team, U-19 team and A team will be busy, besides domestic tournament going.  As the tournament is being held on the sidelines of the SAARC summit, Maldives government wanted all the team to take part in it, hence  BCCI will be represented by Karnataka Institute of Cricket.

Similar problem are also there for Bangladesh who have their both national and A teams busy, hence will be represented by a representative team to be declared soon.

We will soon be seeing some action like Ind V Pak rivalry, Afghanistan proving a point against Bangladesh, Nepal getting good exposure against likes of India, Sri Lanka & Pakistan



Group A
Afghanistan
Bangladesh Representative Side (Bangladesh)
Bhutan
Maldives

Group B
KIC (India)
Nepal
Sri Lanka
Pakistan

Tentative Schedule
31 Oct
Maldives vs Bhutan
Sri Lanka vs Nepal
1 Nov
Afghanistan vs BRS (Bangladesh)
KIC(India) vs Pakistan
2 Nov
Sri Lanka vs KIC(India)
Maldives vs Afghanistan
3 Nov
Nepal vs Pakistan
Bhutan vs BRS (Bangladesh)
4 Nov
Maldives vs BRS (Bangladesh)
Sri Lanka vs Pakistan
5 Nov
Bhutan vs Afghanistan
Nepal vs KIC(India)
6 Nov
1st SF:-Group 1 winners vs Group 2 Runners-up
2nd SF:-Group 2 winners vs Group 1 Runners-up
7 Nov
FINAL 

Scatchy details on SAARC U-25 Tournament Groups and Schedule

Presently the details of the groups though have not been declared and we are still waiting for them but there are few details that can be shared

SAARC Twenty20 Cup, 2011

FORMAT:- T20

Schedule:- 31st Oct to 7 Nov. Teams arrive on 29th Oct and leave on 8th Oct.

Number of teams:- 8, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives(Hosts), Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka U-25 teams

Wicket:- Synthetic wicket (Astro turf).

Groups:- 2 Groups of 4 teams(Group A & Group B) each based on Ranking (Ranking yet to be declared and awaited)
2 Semi Finals:- Winner A Vs Runner Up B, Winner B Vs Runner Up A
Finals


SQUADS:-
3 teams have declared their squad
Afghanistan:- Hamid Hassan, Mohammad Nabi(captain), M. Shahzad, Mirwais Ashraf, Gulbadin Naib, Samiullah Shinwari, Dawlat Zadran, Javed Ahmadi, Asghar Stanikzai, Nasir Jamal, Najibullah Zadran, Amir Mangal, Fazel Zazai and Nawab Khan (TENTATIVE AS PER afgcric.com)

Bhutan:- Jigme Singye, Kencho Norbu, Susil Sharma Luitel, Thinley Tenzin, Thinley Jamtsho, Sonam Darjey, Nar Bahadur Burathoki Mongar, Sisir Raj Gurung, Nima Gurung, Tandin Wangchuk, Tandin Wangchuk, Manoj Adhikari, Sonam Tobgay, Tashi Yoedzer Tshering, Damber Singh Gurung (Coach), Sonam (Manager)

Nepal:- Paras Khadka (Captain) and Gyanendra Malla (Vice Captain), Sarad Veskwarker, Mahesh Chettri, Anil Mandal, Amrit Bhattarai, Rahul BK, Pradeep Airee, Prithu Baskota, Naresh Budhayer, Binod Bhandari, Krishna Karki, Bhuwan Karki and Avinash Karna.

Pakistan:-     Nasir Jamshaid, Awais Zia, Umer Amin (cap), Rameez Aziz, Zain Abbass, Shazeb Hassan, Jamal Anwar, Raza Hasan, Muhammad Tallha, Anwar Ali, Mohamed Rameez, Asad Ali, Usman Qadir, Bismillah Khan. Officials: Sabih Azhar (Coach/Manager), Dr. Riaz Ahmed (Physio), Yasir malik (Trainer)

We are awaiting for more details of the tournament. As soon as we get them we would post them for you.

SAARC U-25 Cricket Tourney: More similar tournaments needed

The government of Maldives is inaugurating its first cricket stadium in a brilliant way. Along with the SAARC conference it is organizing the first SAARC U-25 Cricket tournament in which all the 8 members will be participating. Initially as part of SAARC games, cricket was included but one or the other team like India or minor countries like Bhutan did not send teams.

Cricket in South Asia is really popular, a religion. It is infact the place which cricket is popular that no other games stands a chance to come near it. India, Pakistan, SL and Bangladesh are well known cricket crazy nations but very few know that it is also the most popular game in Nepal, Afghanistan and Bhutan, and surprisingly the hosts are the only nation where cricket in no 2 in South Asia.

This tournament after a long time will give youngsters from Nepal, Afghanistan rightful experience against big boys of South Asia. It also gives them a chance to showcase their teams and perhaps defeat the traditional teams and give them the needful attention. Who knows we will see the likes of Mehboob Alam or Hamid Hassan blowing away wickets of Pakistani's or Indians or Paras Khadka or Mohammad Nabi steadying the innings and taking their teams home

Will Paras Khadka take Nepal home like so many times he has done before

The tournament has the started at the place where it should but perhaps a little late. Lets go by the saying "Better Late than Never". Similar to this tournament, ICC can take the help of government to start similar tournament across the globe where the youngster of lesser and bigger tournament meet. The lesser teams play very less cricket and less cricket means less development of teams. It is a vicious cycle and with ICC so much in control of money minded boards of 10 Test Nations, government support is definitely break the cycle

Can we see a repeat of Asian Games

Besides South Asia, perhaps UK Government can fund a similar tournament for all the Home Nations and we see a annual tournament between teams from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, N Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man. Cricket is decently popular in all the nations and England can send England Lions or a junior team, but will be worth the experience for the other nations and surely will bring attention in many nations like a Ireland V Wales game.

The other place can be South East Asia with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, Myanmar and Brunei can join in for the tournament. Many government in the area can support such move. The move to make Cricket a demo sport in South East Asian games is perhaps a first baby step in such direction. Also Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong have been involved in a tournament before. Also like Copa America SEA can invite any of the Test nation or their junior team as per the availability

East Africa has been a place where such a annual tournament took place. It is also a place that has got many decent teams in form of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. These 3 nations along with Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi and perhaps Zimbabwe, Namibia can join the tournament along with South Africa can take part.

The South America has already started a continental tournament. ICC needs to work in these nations and develop cricket in these nations. Argentina, Brazil, Chile can be great potential nations can start the tournament along with inviting Suriname and Guyana for a interesting tournament.

All these tournaments appear great on paper but besides South Asia there is not much motivation for government to go for such tournament. The biggest motivation and driver can be OLYMPICS.  If ICC has to break the shackles of BCCI, then it needs to get cricket at any cost into Olympics and T20 is the perfect way to do it. Doing that it will start to get government support and many such tournaments will become a reality.

Cricket is at a make or break stage. Lets us see in which direction it goes, meanwhile best of luck to SAARC U-25 tournament and may it become an annual affair.