ICC T20 World Cup in UAE: Gulf News experts analyse the lie of the land as we near the semi-finals

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Transcript

00:00Hi guys and welcome to our usual Golf News World T20 World Cup and we're going to go

00:17straight over to Anas. We've had a tremendous day today and we've actually worked out who

00:26is going to be going, we think, to the semifinals. Let's see what's happening.

00:32Thank you, Matt. Hello, Mr. Gautam and hello to all the beautiful people of Golf News World.

00:36Two important games. First was between Australia and West Indies. Australia had to win the

00:41match. They not only won, but they won with a good run rate and ensured that their return

00:46rate got better. And the second match, the unlucky South Africans against England. They

00:50put up a decent total, but not good enough to make sure that they go ahead of Australia.

00:55They won the game. Rabada got a hat-trick, but as usual, I'm afraid South Africa's rub

01:00of the green against luck goes against them. And they are knocked out of the ICC World

01:05Cup once again. So, Gautam, hi. I just want to say that there was an absolute valiant

01:14effort by South Africa today, but they're going home empty-handed once again. Yes, South

01:22Africa has this history of falling short in the World Cup. I mean, this was another case

01:28in point, they came looking a bit undercooked. But see, they all the top three have won four

01:36out of five, and still they're going home. So what do you say? But the interesting part

01:41is with the performance of you know, Ras Van Der Doosan, his 24 of 60 deliveries, and Duane

01:50Pretorius, they seem to be a nucleus of a team, which can, you know, even without the

01:55big names, you can hope for something from this team from, you know, the upcoming big

02:01tournaments. The next generation? Yeah, sort of. Yeah, yeah. And Anas, if I can check with

02:10you, I mean, there was one whirlwind over, they got like a 666, I think, they just smashed

02:18something, and it really put England on the back wheel. Does that mean, do you think that

02:25there is a way to take out England if we want to call them their favourites? England definitely

02:32are favourites. But today, the injury to Jason Roy has dented that, to be very honest, they

02:37first lost one of the premium fast bowlers. And now Jason Roy, who's known for giving

02:42them good start, and he was literally in tears, I was in the stadium, and I could see the

02:46expression on his face. In fact, in the break, I just waved to him because he plays for my team.

02:51And there was a smile and suddenly, within a half an hour, you know how fortune can change.

02:57I believe it's a very bad injury. They haven't mentioned the injury, whether it's a hamstring

03:02injury, but he had to come out. So he seems to be out. I believe Sam Billings might come in. But

03:10this is going to really dent England's chances because Jonny Boyastro doesn't look in his own.

03:15He's out for nought and one in his last two games. They depend now a lot on David Malan,

03:22and especially Joss Butler, because Owen Morgan is out of form. So the batting, to be very honest

03:27to me, looks thin on paper. The bowling is good. It's well sorted out. But the batting looks thin

03:31on paper. So I wouldn't call England now the favourites anymore. So who do you think are the

03:36favourites? If India qualify, it will be definitely India. Otherwise, I'll give it to Pakistan.

03:43Okay. Now, we're looking at the other teams and we looked at

03:49Mitre Australia. Yeah, I forgot about Australia.

03:54Yeah, they looked very solid today.

03:57Yes, to be very honest, I was a little emotional about Team India. India is not even through.

04:02If you have to ask me now, if I have to pick one favourite, I'll pick Australia.

04:06Oh, wow. Okay. All right. Gautam, everyone else is watching. You've got to mark that down,

04:13because I was the only person that predicted Australia. Okay. Gautam, now, if we look ahead,

04:22realistically, if we're looking at the four teams that are going to make it to the semis,

04:28where do we go? Do we think it's going to be an England-Pakistan final?

04:40Once again, these are T20 games. I mean, there's a margin of error, it's so little. I mean,

04:44we thought that England was simply infallible. But yes, I mean, as they were on the cusp of chasing

04:51190. Jason Roy, it looked like a hamstring injury to me. I mean, the way he hobbled in starting for

04:58the single. But anyway, I mean, what is the cutoff given? I think anywhere between four weeks, I mean,

05:06which means he's done for this tournament. He's done. Yes. Right. So that's really unfortunate.

05:15I mean, it's part of sport. Yes. I mean, the thing is, it all depends on whom they're taking

05:22on as the second team from group two, a lot depends on that. If we, you know, before we

05:28come into any conclusion for the matchup on the 14th. It's not Scotland, we'll put it that way,

05:36guarantee you it's not Scotland. Yeah, not Scotland. Yeah. But Scotland have shown the

05:41spunk. The other day, their total was more than Bangladesh. The match had gone for. Yeah.

05:49But if you look at some of the scores that we've seen, I mean, I'm not talking about

05:54Sharjah or Abu Dhabi or Dubai here, but England lost, scoring 179. And then other teams have

06:06won, scoring like 130. Is it all down to the grounds or is it all down to how the team plays

06:14on the day? Obviously, Matt, it has to be on how the team plays on the day. And today, to be very

06:20honest, the motivation was more for South Africa than for England. Of course, they couldn't make

06:26it to the last four because they had very little cushion because the way Australia won the match

06:31against West Indies with four overs to spare. So that small things have made a difference. You

06:35have to give credit to Australia that they not only won the second last game against,

06:41I think it was Bangladesh, if I'm not wrong, very easily. And then today,

06:48hammered West Indies in 16 overs. So these small things made the job tougher for South Africa.

06:55They must have won the game, as I said. But in hindsight, at the back of the mind, I know they

06:59came without any expectations, a young team, no big names. If you have to ask me, the only big

07:04name if I can talk about was Quinton de Kock, and he was the most disappointing player of the

07:08tournament for South Africa. We'll come back to you, Gautam, for the South Africa team.

07:20Do you think that they've failed to live up to anything in their reputation? Or as just as

07:27Ana said, it looks like it's a team that's still preparing for the next time?

07:34No, just on the contrary. I mean, nobody was expecting anything out of them. I mean,

07:40when they used to come in with the Abbey de Villiers and, you know, the Grand Smiths and

07:48the Delstades, that was the time when you expected things out of them and the team would choke.

07:54But here, even the game that they lost, it was a very, very thin margin. And that was the

07:59starting opening game against Australia. In fact, Australia were lucky to scrape through.

08:04So, and in Rassi, I do not know, maybe Anish will be able to say better if he leads any

08:12of their state teams or anything. I mean, this guy almost looks like a future captaincy material

08:19to me, the way he carries himself, the maturity that he has that on how to pace his innings

08:25in this kind of on this kind of tracks. And today, those two scoops were simply audacious.

08:31So, you know, more to gain out of this. Kagiso Rabada's hat trick, I mean, see, we know he's

08:38a class act. In fact, because of the weekend, he had gone for quite a few runs before that.

08:42So he was laughing at the hat trick. Yeah. So interesting, I mean, because these guys were

08:50playing in the IPL. So they made use of the preparation, they were going little under the

08:56radar, which worked for them. So, South Africa, and, you know, to some extent, Sri Lanka also,

09:03I think we need to watch out for these two teams for the future.

09:07Now, Anish, I'll just come back to you very quickly, just before we wrap up. I mean,

09:12where do we see this going in the future? If you think of obviously,

09:17we know who we think are going to be in the final, right? And that will be England and Pakistan.

09:24But where do we go with Australia? Where do we go with Sri Lanka? Where do we go with South

09:30Africa? Where do we go with Australia? Like Gautam mentioned, the two teams who probably

09:35the justice has not been done has been Sri Lanka and South Africa. South Africa,

09:39in spite of winning four games, they could not make it to the knockout, but they have played

09:45much more than their expectation. This is a bunch of youngsters. And so with Sri Lanka,

09:49if you talk about the Hasrangas, and the Nisankas, and there's a spinner in,

09:54I can't remember his name, who bowls like Varun Chakravarti, they are a brilliant team.

10:00And the only thing is that both these teams, South Africa and Sri Lanka, they need a good

10:04backing from their board. Because unfortunately, their board doesn't seem to, they have crumbled a

10:10bit in the past. And I simply hope somebody puts his hand up and backs his youngsters. Because if

10:14you want the teams to do well, you need to give them good motivation. And apart from motivation,

10:20you need to financially do well. Because if you see teams like India, England, they have been

10:25taken care of financially. And finally, it all boils down to finance. And if you don't take care

10:30of the finances, you don't expect the teams to come and turn up. And like I say, I mean, that's

10:35why I was saying about football as well. That's why, you know, like Spain and England always do

10:40well in terms of football, because they've got the financial backing. And it's the same with

10:45England and India when it comes to cricket. Now, we have to talk quickly, Gautam, about

10:55two guys who may have played the last game. We have to talk about Mr. Universe himself,

11:04Chris Gale. And we have to talk about Dwayne Bravo.

11:10So what's their impact been to the T20 game?

11:15It's very, very, very emotional. I mean, these two performers, they had been around for so long.

11:23And, you know, despite being such franchisee giants, they were somehow, you know, they have

11:30had their run-ins with the board. I remember Dwayne Bravo at one point of time, he was the

11:36white ball captain, he had a major showdown, and he possibly went back. They were on a tour of

11:43India and then went back. But finally, somewhere down the line, it could be their, you know,

11:49the sense of pride of wearing that maroon shirt, which brought them back over and over again.

11:55But this time looks like this is it. Bravo has already said that he's going off.

12:02Gale also, it's a matter of time. Again, he may say that, you know, I'll play these old T20s or

12:08whatever. Maybe there is a question of, you know, if they completely sign off from international

12:15cricket, does it hurt their, you know, the paycheck in franchisee cricket? I'm not too

12:22sure about that. But like Bravo has said that I'm going to play franchisee cricket for some more

12:27time. And he's about 37-38. So he may play another one or two years. Gale, totally his call. But these

12:34two have been absolute giants of, you know, West Indies, not only white ball cricket. And Gale is a

12:40guy who was possibly the last guy to score a triple century for West Indies in tests after Lara.

12:46And also hit the six sixes.

12:53Now, Anas, just very quickly, just before we sign off, what do you think it means to T20?

13:01And obviously, West Indies, as they are the defending champions. What happens from here for

13:07the West Indies team? Well, let's first talk about these two players, you know, who have served their

13:13nations quite well. Okay, they were known more for franchise cricket, but they are part of two

13:18World Cup winning teams where they won in 2016 and 2012. So they were part of that squad. And

13:27both of them have done wonders, whether it is for team West Indies or for their respective franchise.

13:32So it's going to be a big loss for West Indies and to find players of the stature of Gale and

13:37Bravo is not going to be easy. It's not easy issues to fill in. So West Indies really will

13:41have to work hard to find there is talent is again, as I mentioned about South Africa and

13:47Sri Lanka, the board has to function well to ensure that they find players such players of

13:51such high caliber. Okay, so we're going to have to be so they're going to have to go back to

13:57grassroots. Is that what we're saying? In terms of you find these new players and then build them up?

14:04Yes, in terms of that. Okay. All right, guys. Thank you very much. I think we've gone over time.

14:10So I'm going to have to say thank you very much to Anas and to Gautam. And we'll see. We'll catch

14:16up with you again tomorrow. And we can catch up with everything and all the latest news

14:24all on gulfnews.com. And we shall see you all tomorrow.

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