ICC World T20 2012, a big turn-off

The way WT20 2012 was marketed, it didn't meet up to that expectation

Was out of the scene thanks to study and internship purposes but has been following cricket on regular since cricket is in my blood, but sorry to say this current edition of World T20 was a big turn off for me, except for the broadcast, nothing much was as good. Grounds weren't good and could had been better. Plus filled grounds area pleasure to watch. Even crowd visited Windies Cricket Grounds when T20 event staged in Caribbean, unlike in Lanka where I could see the Yellow on Blue seats of RPS, Pallekele and Hambantota, though scenery around was spectacular but deserted grounds were a worry and thanks to some nail biting Pakistani games and an India Pakistan clash, Lanka's grounds were at capacity, else like we say in Urdu "Naak Kat Jana", would had happened.

The way ICC WT20 2012 was conducted, first of all, on what grounds this World T20 event was given to Sri Lanka? No doubt they are our friends but it should also be noted that several matches in this tournament were having doubts, and created some issues on clarity of this tournament.

So many super overs, and one sided clashes without continuity into their performances, if you ask me this tournament can be summarized under the mentioned tagline. Again saying this not because of Pakistan not qualified but on a reality note, the way games were placed i.e. giving so many games to RPS compared to Hambantota and Pallekele, was injustice to those venues and secondly over dose of games particularly on RPS tracks, while having an average continuous 4 innings on a day on the same track is just killing the already deteriorated slow tracks into cricket killing tracks, keeping in mind majority of SLPL games were also staged at RPS, secondly the quality of pitches in Sri Lanka were not sporting (both, the curators and the tracks itself), plus since it was an ICC tournament, than how come ICC curators couldn't prepare a sporty pitch? By sporty pitch I mean which supports both batters and bowlers, therefore it should be an equal fight between bat and ball. (I guess this game was supposed to be played by bat and ball only)

Umpires flaws are other things which raised my attention since:

• None of the umpiring flaws went against the Lankans.
• Even Umpire of the Year Kumar Dharmasena made so many flawed decisions which changed the complexion of the game and gave advantage to other team.

Therefore, this event unlike the 2010, 2009 and 2007 editions, wasn't as fruitful for ICC since there was no charm whatsoever in this tournament while wrongly seeding the teams, and scripting the super 8 groups in such manner that tough teams lie in one group and less in another, else in my opinion there should had been a combination of teams (both tough and not so tough) within both groups, voiding the essence of surprise package in the Super 8 stage. We watch T20 cricket because we expect that there must be something surprise within any match. I am not a Predictor or Forecaster but whatever I assumed after seeing the groups, the same happened, and when those teams actually qualified for Semi Finals, I was not shocked at all, nor at the time when Pakistan lost to Sri Lanka by margin of 16 runs, I wasn't shocked at that time, even my friends and colleagues whom I text alot, actually know and they cursed me when I was saying Pakistan will lose the game since their body language was totally defensive unlike the last game when they played against the mighty Aussies.

This change of form for Pakistani team also raises atleast my eye brows and that is one of the reason why I lose interest in watching these scripted games altogether, whether anyone like it or not but I feel this is the fact and after something, things will unfold, therefore waiting for that time.

Lets see how the Bangladesh edition of the same goes. I am not expecting goods, and if Bangladesh wins that tournament, you shouldn't be shock either. But for this time, Sri Lanka is the winner and congrats to Lankans in advance.
Adios & Peace out!