Windies firepower gives them the edge

Sri Lanka and West Indies won three matches and lost one each in the group stages of the World Twenty20, and their overall batting and bowling stats are fairly similar. West Indies have the marginally better batting numbers, with a slightly higher scoring rate and average, while Sri Lanka have a marginally better bowling average. Both teams have taken exactly 31 wickets, which shows there's little to separate the two teams.

Both teams have had one match in which they leaked more than 170 runs - West Indies conceded 178 against Australia (but still managed to win) while Sri Lanka went for 190 against England. Both have also had a couple of excellent bowling performances: Sri Lanka shot out Netherlands for 39 and New Zealand for 60, while West Indies bowled out Bangladesh for 98 and Pakistan for 82.

In terms of scoring patterns, though, there is some difference. West Indies have relied heavily on boundaries: they've struck almost twice as many sixes as Sri Lanka, and have scored almost 66% of their runs in fours and sixes. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have played about 15% fewer dot balls than West Indies.

Overall stats for SL and WI in the World T20 2014

	Batting			Bowling
	Runs scored	Average	Run rate	Wkts taken	Average	Econ rate
Sri Lanka	513	23.31	7.97	31	14.48	6.87
West Indies	645	26.87	8.09	31	15.74	6.36

How SL and WI have scored their runs

Team	1s/ 2s/ 3s	Dot-ball %	4s/ 6s	Boundary %
Sri Lanka	134/ 36/ 0	40.26	49/ 14	57.61
West Indies	136/ 32/ 1	47.29	57/ 27	65.77

The bowling comparison

Spin has played a prominent role in the campaigns of both teams so far. West Indies have had Samuel Badree at the start of the innings, and Sunil Narine through the middle and end overs, while Sachitra Senanayake and Ajantha Mendis were Sri Lanka's spin options through much of the tournament, before Rangana Herath made his tournament debut against New Zealand and completely blew them away with figures of 5 for 3.

Overall, West Indies have been more reliant on their spinners: they've bowled more overs than the seamers, and have accounted for 19 of their 31 wickets. Badree is the third-highest wicket-taker of the tournament, while Narine's economy rate of 4.50 is second only Bhuvneshwar Kumar's, among bowlers who have bowled at least 10 overs in the tournament. And then there has been Krishmar Santokie, the unsung hero for West Indies: no one's talked much about him, but he has taken six wickets at an average of 13.83 and an economy rate of 5.59. (Click here for West Indies' batting and bowling averages in the tournament.)

For Sri Lanka, Nuwan Kulasekara has been superb, taking six wickets at 11.67 and an economy rate of 5.83, but Lasith Malinga has had a relatively quiet tournament, taking three wickets in 12 overs. (Click here for Sri Lanka's batting and bowling averages in the tournament.)

Pace and spin stats for SL and WI

	Spin				Pace
	Overs	Wkts	Average	Econ rate	Overs	Wkts	Average	Econ rate
Sri Lanka	25.0	13	12.76	6.64	40.2	13	21.07	6.79
West Indies	41.4	19	12.31	5.61	35.0	12	20.91	7.17

In terms of their bowling performances in different stages of an innings, both Sri Lanka and West Indies have been superb during the Powerplay overs, taking plenty of wickets and restricting the runs. Both teams have taken 11 wickets in the first six overs - the most by any team in the tournament - though Sri Lanka have a slightly better economy rate. There's little to choose between their stats in the middle overs too, but in the last five, West Indies have a better economy rate. Sri Lanka have conceded 9.55 per over in the last five, thanks to their games against England and South Africa, when they went for 48 off 26 balls and 45 off 30 in the last five overs.

WI and SL with the ball so far in the tournament

	First 6 overs		6.1 to 15 overs		Last 5 overs
	Average	Econ rate	Average	Econ rate	Average	Econ rate
Sri Lanka	10.45	4.79	21.81	7.61	10.44	9.55
West Indies	11.90	5.45	25.60	7.11	10.10	6.06

West Indies' last five overs blitz

As mentioned earlier, West Indies have been strong boundary hitters in the tournament, and they've been especially destructive in the last five overs of their innings. Their run rate in the last five is 12.55, a period during which they've scored 247 runs in 118 balls. Darren Sammy alone has caused immeasurable damage to the opposition bowling figures during this period, scoring 99 off 39 balls during this period, at a staggering run rate of 15.23 per over. Dwayne Bravo hasn't done badly either, scoring 54 from 24. Sri Lanka's run rate of 9.83 in the last five isn't too bad (141 runs from 86 balls), but this is clearly a period that has belonged to West Indies.

Sri Lanka's strength has been more in the middle overs, when they've scored at a brisk pace without losing too many wickets. Mahela Jayawardene has been at the forefront in this aspect, scoring 74 off 50 balls during this period (run rate 8.88) and getting out just once.

WI and SL scoring patterns in the tournament so far

	First 6 overs		6.1 to 15 overs		Last 5 overs
Team	Average	Run rate	Average	Run rate	Average	Run rate
Sri Lanka	24.00	7.30	40.80	7.55	14.10	9.83
West Indies	53.33	6.66	21.63	6.61	24.70	12.55

The Mirpur factor

West Indies also have the advantage of having played all their matches in Mirpur - which is the venue for the semi-final - while Sri Lanka have played in Chittagong. However, conditions in Mirpur have favoured spin more than in Chittagong, which should suit Sri Lanka as well: spinners have bowled twice as many overs in Mirpur compared to Chittagong in the main stage of the tournament, and achieved better economy rates. (Click here for the stats of spinners at the two venues, and here for the pace bowlers' numbers.)

The head-to-head history

Sri Lanka and West Indies have played five Twenty20 internationals so far, all of them in the World Twenty20. While Sri Lanka won the first four, West Indies beat them in the big game, the final of the 2012 edition, by 36 runs. Four of the five matches between them have been won by the team batting first.

In matches between these two teams, Jayawardene has been the top batsman, scoring 202 runs at a strike rate of 133.77; Tillakaratne Dilshan isn't far behind in terms of aggregate, scoring 187 at a strike rate touching 160. West Indies' batsmen have been relatively quiet, with Chris Gayle scoring only 73 in four innings.

Among the bowlers, Mendis has stunning stats: in 20 overs he has figures of 13 for 82, an average of 6.30 and an economy rate of 4.10. Malinga, though, has leaked almost 9.50 runs per over against West Indies. Narine has played only two games against Sri Lanka, but has been his usual self, taking 3 for 32 from 7.4 overs.

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India wrap up 2016 berth with narrow win

India Women 106 for 7 (Mithali Raj 39, Sania Khan 3-15) beat Pakistan Women 100 for 9 (Nahida Khan 26, Nida Dar 24*, Soniya Dabir 3-14) by 6 runs
Scorecard

India Women booked a place in the 2016 Women's World T20 with a narrow win over Pakistan Women in the qualification play-off in Sylhet. Six teams - the four semifinalists and the two winners of the play-off games - qualify directly for the next edition of the tournament, while the other teams go into a separate qualifying tournament.

Chasing 107, Pakistan lost wickets regularly, three of them to medium-pacer Soniya Dabir, but useful knocks from their No. 3 Nahida Khan and No. 9 Nida Dar had kept them in the hunt. At the start of the final over, Pakistan needed 17 to win with two wickets in hand and Nida at the crease on 19. Shubhlakshmi Sharma conceded a four to Batool Fatima second ball of the over, and a two and a leg-bye of the next two balls to leave Pakistan needing nine off the last two. Fatima, however, was run-out off the penultimate ball and Nida only managed a single off the last ball, leaving India winners by six runs.

Having chosen to bat, India's top three made decent starts but nobody kicked on to make a big score as the rest of the batting collapsed. Mithali Raj hung around to make 39 and was sixth out, off the penultimate ball of the innings, as India lost their way, going from 64 for 1 to 106 for 7. Medium-pacer Sania Khan was Pakistan's most successful bowler, with three wickets.

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IPL teams face hit in sponsor revenue

With just two weeks for the start of the IPL, many franchises are yet to finalise deals with sponsors. Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore are understood to be the five franchises that have been unable to close deals including finding a front-chest sponsor, a valuable space where the brand is most prominently displayed on the shirt front.

Brand experts predicted a "tough year" claiming the franchises would suffer a deep cut of 20% in their sponsorship revenues which would be exacerbated by the loss in ticket revenues as a result of the first phase of the tournament being played in the UAE.

Uncertainty over the venue for the second half of the IPL, the economic slowdown, clash with the federal elections and the controversies that have emanated from the corruption scandal during last year's IPL are factors that have affected sponsorships.

According to Mohit Burman, one of the owners at Kings XI, as soon as the IPL announced the first 20 matches would be played in the UAE, sponsors sent a warning signal. "One of our sponsors, Lux Cozy, decided to not renew a three-year deal," Burman said. "They pulled out immediately. This year is sort of a mess. The uncertainty over the venues did hamper us. First they said it could be one of - or a combination of - South Africa, UAE and Bangladesh as the overseas venue due to the elections. Now we still do not know where the second part will be held. As it is, the market is soft and due to the recent controversies it has had an impact on the franchise costs."

	"The gate money would be reduced, the sponsorship would be reduced, there are fewer teams so the central revenue would be also be reduced" Mohit Burman, co-owner of Kings XI Punjab

Burman agreed that the overall revenues this season would be significantly lesser than previous seasons. "The gate money would be reduced, the sponsorship would be reduced, there are fewer teams so the central revenue would be also be reduced."

According to a franchise chief executive, the enthusiasm among sponsors for the IPL is not the same as it was in the first five years. "It is very difficult to get sponsorships. The IPL has taken a big beating. Everybody is negotiating - there is a massive decrease in sponsorship costs," the franchise CEO said. This CEO said he had been trying to close deals over the past month but the sponsors, mainly local, were not keen.

Yet, the CEO remained optimistic. "We are in advance talks with a bunch of people. (But) The market has been bad," he said. According to him, during the last meeting the IPL had with franchises in Chennai last month, they were told that a definite schedule would be announced in a few weeks. "The second half schedule has not come in yet. People are still waiting. If somebody wants to spend big bucks would they just bet blindly? So you need a schedule to plan the stuff, budget depending on where the matches are."

The front-chest sponsorship is worth anywhere between INR 10 crore ($1.67m) to 20 crore per season. Muthoot Finance did not renew their three-year contract with Daredevils. Ultratech Cements brought to an end a long-running relationship with Royals. Kings XI, who had two different sponsors after Emirates pulled out in 2011, is understood to have failed to find a sponsor for even one of the six advertising slots available on a team-shirt.

According to the CEO the local sponsors' biggest challenge is building brand engagement when matches are set to be held overseas. "Say some of my home matches are being played outside due to the clash of the elections, my sponsor today is not sure whether he wants to advertise outside. It is not about the TV logo anymore. It is also about activating in the local market," he said. "This is becoming ridiculous. I hope they release the (final) schedule."

Brand experts agree it is going to be gruelling summer for franchises with an estimated minimum cut of 20% in the sponsorship costs. "That is a serious cut. Moreover there will also be impact on the gate revenues with the first phase being played overseas. It is going to be a tough year," said Vinit Karnik, a top official at GroupM ESP, media planning agency.

According to Karnik he had predicted a year ago that sponsorship costs were likely to go down, and not because of the scheduling issues. "This is a peculiar year. When IPL started in 2008 most of the franchises had inked three year deals and some had signed five-year contracts with sponsors. Most of the big deals were for three-year which got renewed for another three year and re-opened in the seventh year. The five-year deals were extended by a year.

"So the seventh year (2014) was the year of a lot of supply where most of the franchises' deals were up for renewal. It is a typical demand-supply situation. If there are eight teams and there are on an average six to eight assets (sponsors) which means about 50-60 assets open in the market."

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North retires from Australian cricket

Former Test batsman Marcus North has sprung a surprise by announcing his retirement from Australian domestic cricket at the age of 34 and after a season in which he was named Sheffield Shield Player of the Year.

North will exit on a high after what he declared was his most enjoyable season, a summer in which he topped the Shield run tally with 886 at 63.28 and played in the first Shield final of his 15-year career, albeit an unsuccessful decider for Western Australia.

The resurgence of Chris Rogers as a Test player in his mid-thirties might have given North a glimmer of hope of resuming his 21-Test career if he maintained his form, but such a recall would have been a long shot and North said he could no longer maintain the fight and desire needed for a full summer.

His success during 2013-14 was all the more remarkable given that he struggled for runs last season and was dropped from the Western Australia side, but he reinvented himself as an opener and began this summer with three centuries from the first four Shield rounds. It resulted in the second most prolific campaign of his Shield career - his only better season was in 2003-04, when he made 984 at 54.66.

However, 2013-14 became a tragic summer for North away from cricket when his brother Lucas was killed in a road accident in late November. After spending some time away from the game following the accident, North returned for the BBL and then helped Western Australia to their first Shield final since 1998-99, the year before he made his debut for his state.

"I felt it was the right time to move on, in many ways, from family reasons through to the way I feel about my cricket at the moment," North said. "I really enjoyed arguably one of the best seasons in my career, but it's exhausting and I've got to the stage now where it's a big effort to maintain that over a season.

"When the times get tough and you feel that you're not going to be able to drag yourself out of it, well I've always said that's about time to move on and that's how I feel. The guys are in a really good place now and you're starting to see the influence of Justin [Langer, the WA coach] and his coaching group coming through. We're playing a tougher brand of cricket now and there's a tougher attitude within the group.

"It's their journey now and it's time for them to enjoy that. It's a huge bonus [to go out on my own terms] and I'm just so grateful to get another opportunity this year after last year and I'm thrilled I made the most of it. It would have been a fairytale finish to win a final as well, but to play in one is special to me as well. It reflects the cricket we played all year."

Although North will leave the game on a high, there is no doubt that the peak of his career personally was being a regular member of Australia's Test side during 2009 and 2010. North effectively replaced Andrew Symonds at No.6 in the Test team and scored a century on debut in Johannesburg, helping Australia to a memorable 2-1 series victory in his first trip with the team.

He followed that with a strong Ashes tour in 2009, when he scored two centuries and was fourth on the series run tally across both teams with 367, and overall his record of five hundreds in 21 Tests suggests a man who was at home at the highest level. However, North's major problem in Test and state cricket was his tendency for peaks and troughs - he matched his five Test tons with five ducks and a string of low scores led to him being axed during the 2010-11 Ashes in Australia.

For Western Australia, North was a solid performer for a decade and a half, and he took over the state captaincy from the newly retired Langer for the 2007-08 season, relinquishing it in October 2012. Langer, who played with North and then coached him, said North had always been a talented batsman who finally towards the end of his career found the consistency that had often eluded him in the past.

"You always judge a person's character by the way they come back from adversity and Marcus relinquished the captaincy, he was dropped from the Warriors last year and then to come back and have a standout season is a real credit to his character," Langer said. "Marcus was my vice-captain for about three years and took over from me as captain.

"Playing together, I always appreciated his talent and, while he would be the first to admit that he was always striving for consistency in his career, when he was on, he was a magnificent player to watch. Looking back on his career - and we've spoken a lot about this, firstly when together and now since coaching - he's always been striving for that consistency and the irony is that, now, in what has become his last year, he's probably found that formula which works so brilliantly."

Although North will not play for Western Australia next summer he is yet to decide on his BBL future and will make himself available for county cricket, while also exploring business opportunities in the UK. His departure makes it the second successive year that the season's leading Shield run scorer has immediately retired from Australian cricket, after Ricky Ponting topped the tally in 2012-13, his final summer for Tasmania.

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Gavaskar reaches out to franchises

Sunil Gavaskar will hold his first media conference as the BCCI president - IPL in Dubai on Wednesday. There was some confusion ahead of that formal interaction, however, and possibly not of Gavaskar's making, emanating from a BCCI statement that said he had briefed franchises and held a discussion with them on Monday.

Franchises contacted by ESPNcricinfo denied there was any meeting held, except for a "courtesy" conference call in which Gavaskar and IPL chairman Ranjib Biswal spoke briefly.

"Mr Sunil Gavaskar, Interim President, BCCI - IPL, had a discussion with the franchises on Pepsi IPL 2014, earlier today," Monday's statement said. "He briefed them on the preparations for the 2014 season. The franchises shared their views and extended their support and cooperation for a successful Pepsi IPL 2014."

Five franchises said nothing of this sort had happened. "They are making it look like there was a meeting," one franchise head said. "There was a conference call that Gavaskar and Biswal had with franchises. It was a courtesy call and nothing else."

"I don't know of any meeting or any call," a co-owner of another franchise said.

It is understood, however, that Gavaskar has begun the process of talking to the owners separately. The chief executive of another franchise confirmed that his team's owner had spoken with Gavaskar.

Franchise officials indicated that Gavaskar, while he was keen to understand the kind of changes they wanted, was indirectly trying to assess their opinion of Sundar Raman, the IPL chief operating officer. "That call was almost hinting at what needs to be done with Sundar Raman," the franchise head said.

Gavaskar was acting on the instructions of the Supreme Court, which last week, while giving him charge of the BCCI's IPL functions, had asked him to work out whether he wanted the services of Raman, the de facto head of the tournament.

Raman, an advertising professional, had been hired by IPL founder-chairman Lalit Modi to be his right-hand man when the tournament started. After Modi's expulsion in 2010, Raman grew equally close to BCCI president N Srinivasan, whose ouster from the BCCI last week called Raman's position into question.

Raman has never been a favourite among franchise officials but they acknowledge he is indispensable to the tournament. "He has been there right from the beginning of the IPL," the franchise head said. "So he has grown into the manager who has made himself indispensable. The fear is if he goes, it might be more trouble than him being there. So let him at least be there."

In fact officials say the tournament's smooth running will minimise the scope for Gavaskar to make any difference. "This is too short a time for anybody to make an impact," the franchise owner said. "At the end of day IMG run the league operationally. IPL officials [the BCCI] have barely any role to play other than sending emails. Otherwise, ticketing, accreditations, matches, appointments of the officials is managed by IMG. So as far as leadership goes, there is hardly anything anyone can do."

The franchise executive said the one thing he could expect of Gavaskar was to help the IPL announce the final schedule for the second phase of the tournament. "Although the BCCI indicated that the second phase of the IPL would be played in India, we are still are waiting for the schedule," he said. "We can then plan our stuff and convince sponsors."

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Pakistan consumed by waves of panic

The performance against Australia gave Pakistan fans hope but, not for the first time, they produced a polar opposite display

Pakistan never fail to surprise us, do they? If you had come expecting a thriller between two similar, explosive T20 sides, what you got instead was Pakistan showing us multiple, and all equally self-destructive, states of panic.

Two of their best bowlers, Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul, cracked under pressure and gave away a combined 59 runs in three overs at the death. The top order went down heaving, and the middle order shut shop in response.

It was one of those nights from Pakistan. As was the night when they had sparked that incredible Australian collapse earlier in the tournament. We know both happened, separated by a matter of a few days. We also know Pakistan are capable of both kinds of displays within such a short span. We can try to delve into what happened and how it happened. Exactly why it happened, we will never really know.

Each wave of panic against West Indies only brought about another, albeit different one, from the following cast. When the opposition is 84 for 5 after 15 overs, and you have overs left from two of the most experienced and best T20 bowlers in the world, the last thing you are expecting is for both of them to lose it suddenly. And Gul lost it so much in the 18th over that as many as three fielders ran up to him at various points in the over with words of advice, or encouragement, or whatever it was that they felt could work at that moment.

Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir. All those interventions did not stop the over from going for 21. They also revealed Pakistan's state of mind at that point. When three different men are needed to rush to your premier fast bowler, all in the span of half an over, you tell the opposition you are on the edge, and are expecting the worst.

And the worst came in the next over. Ajmal is usually the master of these situations. He will toss one up a bit more, or he will hold it back a bit more, or he will bowl the one that turns the other way from which the batsman was expecting it to. And the batsman will have a clueless slog and fall. None of this was happening. Ajmal instead bowled short, he bowled flat, he bowled quickly. He became what your average spinner is usually at the death in limited-overs cricket - a massive risk. For that one over, he lost the aura that makes him Saeed Ajmal. He will doubtless regain that, as he did after the 2010 World T20 semi-final, but the damage had been done again.

Heaven knows how the Pakistanis felt walking off the field at the break, having allowed West Indies to nearly double their score in five overs. Heaven knows what was spoken in the Pakistan dugout at the break. All we saw was that their top order and middle order came out in two extreme states of trance - one suicidal by dint of action, one suicidal by dint of not acting at all.

Ahmed Shehzad can be excused for getting a ripper of an inswinging yorker first ball. Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik cannot be. Not for facing a collective, unproductive 14 deliveries between them. But for reacting in such a frenzied manner that would have you believe they had been collectively unproductive for 14 overs, and that frenzy was the only way out.

To be 13 for 4 in the sixth over is nowhere near the start you want when you are chasing 167 in a virtual quarter-final. To bottle up like Sohaib Maqsood, and particularly Hafeez, did is probably the worst response you want from your middle order when you are 13 for 4.

Pakistan consumed 40 deliveries before they hit their first boundary. One-third of a T20 innings without a single boundary. One-third of a 20 innings that had already seen a batsman heave to mid-off, and two batsmen stumped. And yet, there was not a single boundary during the fielding Restrictions. Maqsood and Hafeez added 24 in five overs. And then fell within an over of each other. It was like the cast of a play frozen in extreme stage fright after the opening acts had bungled their lines by trying too hard too soon.

If you admire Pakistan cricket for showing you the Australia collapse, tonight you were dealt so many shocks you went numb. You then attempted to make sense of each of them. Batsmen throw their bats around in T20, and as Dwayne Bravo said, even the best bowlers go for runs at the death. The top order had no choice but to try and make the most of the fielding restrictions. The downside was that they could fall while doing so, and they did. The middle order, as Hafeez said, was faced with too many jolts too soon and had absolutely no momentum to build on.

You weigh up all these arguments. Maybe they are justified standalone, maybe they are not. But how do you find explanations for such a collective and varied brain freeze? Which is why, exactly why it happened, we will never really know.

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Hafeez apologises for Pakistan performance

Mohammad Hafeez was asked pretty direct questions after Pakistan failed to make the World T20 semi-finals with a heavy defeat to West Indies.

He was asked if he was considering resigning as T20 captain and if he was the No. 3 batsman the side needed. He was asked why Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik were persevered with. He was asked if the Pakistan team management was good enough. In reply, Hafeez apologized to the people of Pakistan for his team's unsuccessful campaign and said that the entire team was collectively responsible.

"After a loss, such things come up," Hafeez said. "But you have to keep in mind that no team wins because of any one individual or loses because of any one individual. It was a good display overall, but in this match, we didn't play well. We take collective responsibility. It's not one person's responsibility. The entire management, all the players, are equally responsible.

"The management has worked hard with the players. All the plans, they were able to reach the players, gave us all the practice. At the end of the day, the players have to deliver, they have to execute the plans. In this tournament, especially in this match, if the execution wasn't good, then the responsibility lies with the players, not the management. But as a team, we didn't do well. All of us have to accept it.

"I apologise to the people of Pakistan as captain and on behalf of the team that we couldn't live up to their expectations. But these things happen in cricket. You are the same person who plays good and bad cricket. But it is important that you take the good things going forward and maintain that."

There were few good things for Pakistan against West Indies. They gave away too many runs at the death, lost too many early wickets, and could not get going in the chase at all. Hafeez said his batsmen's shot selection had been wrong. "The plans were in place but once the pressure got on to them, our best bowlers Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul didn't do the basics right. They leaked too many runs towards the end. We didn't get the momentum in our favour.

"We played some of the shots which were not there and losing too many wickets in the first six overs really cost the game. The batsmen have to take the responsibility. There was never any one innings that came forward. When the momentum is not with you, you get to see this kind of cricket where even good teams can collapse."

Hafeez had a disappointing World T20 personally as well, making 55 runs from four innings at a strike-rate of 72.36. While admitting that he could not perform in this tournament, Hafeez felt that overall, he had done alright in the position. "From the last one and a half years, I have been doing this for the team, playing at No. 3 because the management want me to do this and I have been doing very well at this. Unfortunately, in this tournament, I couldn't get the runs I wanted to. It happens sometimes in cricket - you try your level best but things don't work for you. This is one such tournament. I am disappointed with my own form, I couldn't score runs for the team. You have to accept it, you have to move forward from here."

When asked if moving forward meant dropping those who had not performed, Hafeez said that was the domain of the selectors. "Good and bad, you must take them together and look to the future. The selectors will look at it, they will see who are the players that need to be replaced. That is their job. The team is selected by the selection committee, but the responsibility is not any one individual's. If the players haven't played well, then they must take the responsibility."

Malik and Akmal had a poor World T20 as well, making 52 and 48 runs respectively in four innings each. Hafeez acknowledged that they had fallen short of expectations. "They will also be sad. The selectors have trusted and picked them for a big tournament like this. But they didn't live up to those expectations. They are good players, they have played well for Pakistan but you are right, in this tournament there were not good performances from them. But Kamran's keeping is a positive. He has kept well, there have always been question marks over his keeping. Unfortunately, as an opener, he didn't bat as well. As for Shoaib Malik, he is a senior player, both haven't done very well."

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West Indies bring back their fear factor

The ultimate entertainers, West Indies now have the batting power to match the threat their fast bowlers brought in the 1980s

Croft: Sammy and Bravo played with confidence

West Indies may have a formula for T20, or they may just let it flow through them. Modern players often talk about going out on the field and expressing themselves but it appears to be only the West Indies team that truly do so, at least in this format of the game.

Whether dancing to calypso, Korean pop or some local folk number, West Indies' style has proved just as catchy as it was two years ago. The energy levels as they celebrated a sensational torpedoing of Pakistan were a little down on the party-hard reaction to beating Australia a few days ago, with just a few perfunctory giddy-ups for the cameras, but West Indies emanate conviction that their method is as sound as their arms are strong. With or without all the carry on, they are the World T20 entertainers.

Darren Sammy has become as powerful a symbol of this as Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, stars of their triumphant 2012 World T20. Tony Cozier has written about his resurgence in the finisher's role - innings in Auckland and Antigua, Barbados and Mirpur over the last few months underscore the point with all the emphasis of one of Sammy's flat sixes - and here the captain gave another tingling display of his dead-eye death batting.

As Saeed Ajmal, the premier spinner in this format, was crunched back down the ground in the 19th over, Sammy celebrated banishing the ball from his presence by pumping his fist back and forth, as if ramming home the metaphorical advantage. Ajmal had already gone the distance twice before, at the hands of Dwayne Bravo, who also belaboured Umar Gul - the second-most successful T20 bowler around - for consecutive sixes. Bravo was run out at the start of the final over but Sammy drove remorselessly on, thumping and jiving.

Asked previously about West Indies preference for dots over dash, sixes over singles, Sammy said it was just a natural inclination as to how to play the game. Suresh Raina belittled the approach, to which Sammy responded: "If he thinks we are only six-hitters, then stop us from hitting sixes." India managed it, convincingly; Pakistan did not. Of West Indies' 166 for 6, 51 came in singles, twos and a three; 106 flowed in boundaries.

"In those situations, the best of them all go for runs," Bravo said of the disdain with which Ajmal and Gul were treated. "We had nothing to lose, we were under pressure. So I said to Sammy, as long as we stay still, don't worry about picking Ajmal or trying to rotate, just stay still, keep our eyes on the ball, we're powerful enough if we get close to the ball to hit it over the ropes. Our aim was to get at least 135 to 140 with the start we got but the self-belief we have, the form and the power we have, the momentum went with us, we finished positive and got to 160."

The power of West Indies' T20 batting - missing Kieron Pollard, too - has replaced the fear factor of their fast bowling in Tests 30 years ago. They use it to bludgeon opponents, intimidate them, shrugging off the chance to run ones and twos in favour of full-frontal assault. As with Samuels' tinderbox innings in the final of the last World T20, this match reinforced the sense that they are rarely ever out of a game.

From 84 for 5 at the end of the 15th over, Bravo and Sammy ran amok for another 82 runs from 30 balls. Perhaps the only way they could get better (other than jogging just a couple more singles) would be to implement a pre-War Test trick and reverse the batting order, somehow convincing Sammy to play each five-over block as if it were the last five overs - with the fall back of Gayle, Samuels and the rest to come in if he failed. Bradman would surely approve.

"This is the first game that we lost wickets in the first six overs, so we were trying to consolidate but at the same time whenever we got a boundary we keep losing a wicket again," Bravo said. "So in the middle overs, it calmed down. We've proved ourselves, in Twenty20 cricket we know how the game plays, if you take the game right down to the end anything is possible, as long as we don't give up and keep faith and have that self-belief that if we bat 20 overs we're going to get a decent total.

"But we have to bat 20 overs, so at no point can we let what happens in the middle overs get the better of us, that comes with experience and self-belief. We still had Andre Russell and Sunil Narine to bat. It's good we did not panic at 84 for 5 and take the game all the way down to the end. We showed in the Australia game what the difference can make as long as we have clean hitters at the wicket, so that's our aim, that's our strong point and we use it to the best of our ability."

Bravo, who is enjoying a purple patch in West Indies maroon, spoke of the team's passion and enjoyment for the game, something else that Twenty20 has helped to resurrect in the Caribbean. "All West Indians are like that, we just want to entertain our fans, most of all the people of Bangladesh come out every game and support the tournament so it's important that we give them their money's worth," he said. If West Indies' manage to carry off the title again, it will be in the manner of all great entertainers: leaving us wanting more.

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Captain Bailey's 'most disappointing game'

George Bailey has called Australia's big defeat to India in the World T20 the "most disappointing game" of his captaincy tenure. Australia were bowled out for 86 chasing 160, and Bailey was particularly gutted at the way his batsmen folded, saying they had failed to deliver the improvement that was asked of them after two close defeats to Pakistan and West Indies.

"Unexpected. Disappointing. I'd go so far as to say it is the most disappointing game that I've led from this team for three years," Bailey said. "I'll give all credit to the Indian bowlers, they obviously bowled well. I certainly do not think our batters can hold their heads particularly high in terms of our shot selection, our match awareness, our game sense, all the stuff that we spoke about in the last game that we were not particularly happy with. We asked for improvement and we certainly did not have that."

When asked if there was embarrassment in addition to the disappointment, Bailey said the former was limited only to himself. "If I was embarrassed I'd say it is with my own performance. I'm disappointed with the team, with the way we batted but I have got pretty big faith in these guys and I'm not sticking up for them in terms of ... we all could've made better decisions and done things differently if we had our chance again but I am not embarrassed for anyone, apart from myself."

Australia were not faced with a particularly demanding asking-rate at the start of their chase but they tried too many shots and lost half their side before the halfway mark. Bailey said while Australia's overall approach in the format was to be aggressive, it did not translate to being reckless.

"If I am thinking back to our T20 form over the last 12 months or so, I reckon that is the first time we have scored under 170. So yep, we certainly want to be aggressive and we want to dictate the game but there does have to be a back-up plan. That is the responsibility of us in the middle order to understand where the game is at and you have got a perfect example in the other side from the way Yuvraj (Singh) managed that innings from where India were. I think runs-wise, at about the tenth-over mark, we were roughly the same. We had lost three or four more wickets. That probably sums up our mindset and the mistakes that we made."

Australia needed Bangladesh to defeat Pakistan in the afternoon game for them to stay alive in the tournament, but that wasn't to be. When asked if having been knocked out before the start of the India game meant a dip in motivation levels, Bailey admitted his players' minds may not have been entirely on the match, but refused to accept that as a reason for not performing well.

"I hope not. Certainly not. Clichéd, but any team you are playing for Australia, you would hate to think that people need extra motivation... that is not an excuse. We feel like we played a couple of good games of cricket but we have been on the losing side of them so for us tonight ... without being disrespectful to Bangladesh, it would have been a shock to us if Bangladesh had beaten Pakistan so we were not arriving here expecting miracles.

"There was enough for us to prove by playing India and playing well against a side who we think are going to be close to tournament favourites, and to win that game and prove that we are a really good side over here and we deserve to go better, but not to be."

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Yuvraj fulfils weight of expectations

Probably as much as Yuvraj wanted to succeed, India also dearly wanted him to. His captain's faith in him was vindicated against Australia after a string of failures

India tick all boxes ahead of semi-finals

'Matter of one innings'. 'Matter of one innings'. They kept saying it, and we kept hearing it. Didn't come against Pakistan. Didn't come against West Indies. Didn't get a chance to come against Bangladesh.

Australia was the last chance. This had to be that one innings. And Yuvraj Singh made it count. Their senior batsman finding some form has to be the biggest takeaway for the Indians from this game, although they would have also been delighted with how their spinners confounded a batting line-up for the fourth successive time in the tournament.

Probably as much as Yuvraj wanted to succeed, India also dearly wanted him to. They did what they could in training, giving him several short, sharp stints of batting practice one day, a solo, longer one the other. During their training session before the Australia match, Yuvraj had an extended batting workout, fielding coach Trevor Penny's sidearm device giving him plenty of throwdowns. MS Dhoni usually watches his players practise from a distance, and does not get too involved, but this time, he stood right behind the single stump at the bowlers' end, watching Yuvraj closely.

Australia was to be the final opportunity before the knockouts, and Dhoni wanted to make sure his premier player was getting the most attention. After seeing him time a few drives and defend solidly, Dhoni even bowled a few offbreaks to Yuvraj.

India had also thrown their weight behind Yuvraj publicly. 'We all know what he can do once he gets going,' was the refrain. But even the best batsmen can stutter and stumble when they are out of touch, and when they are under pressure. That Yuvraj was feeling the pressure was evident. You did not need to see the way he had batted, particularly against West Indies, to realise that. It came across even in the way he was carrying himself on the field - brooding and seemingly occupied with himself. It came across when he reflected in disappointment at his struggle against West Indies even as his team-mates nearby celebrated India's second win of the tournament.

Till the time he whipped Brad Hodge to the deep midwicket boundary, Yuvraj was quite nervy. There were two close run-out calls where he slipped on the pitch, there were plays-and-misses against both spin and pace. Yuvraj was on 13 off 21 when he came down the track to Hodge. He then realised he was nowhere near the pitch. He stopped, adjusted his bat-swing and whipped it, against the turn. There was a fielder at long-on, but it was timed too well and had too much power - the combination that is the hallmark of Yuvraj when he is in flow.

Now he needed some fortune. James Muirhead provided him successive short balls that sat up and were smacked for sixes over deep midwicket. Early in his innings, Yuvraj had tried to do hit a Glenn Maxwell short ball but had missed it completely. That phase was over now, the nerves had been put away, and the confidence had been restored considerably.

Dhoni said with a smile that it was one question less that he would have to answer in press conferences now that Yuvraj had rediscovered his touch. "Yuvi's innings was brilliant," Dhoni said. "The way he paced his innings, and the best part was that an innings like this was needed for him, where he can be expressive and just be himself. It was an ideal opportunity today. He went and played a few deliveries and then he expressed himself. We all know the kind of batsman he is. He can clear any ground in the world and it does not matter whether it is a fast bowler or a spinner bowling. Initially he may struggle for the first five or seven deliveries. It is your good luck if you get him out, if not, he will take you out of the game."

It was also India's good luck that Yuvraj came good just in time for the semi-finals. Dhoni probably might not be bowling offbreaks to him in the nets again anytime soon.

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