T20 Teams

Australia went into the ICC World Twenty20 2007 with the same line-up that had seen them effortlessly claim the ICC Cricket World Cup earlier in the year with a bowling attack bolstered by the addition of Brett Lee who had been injured for the Caribbean event. However, despite a side boasting Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds and Ricky Ponting, they struggled to carry their ODI form into the T20 format.

They got off to the worst possible start in the 2007 event, losing out in a nail-biting last ball thriller to Zimbabwe in what was undoubtedly in the biggest upset in the short history of Twenty20 Internationals. Rusty and underdone Australia was embarrassed by the so-called minnows by five wickets. The hero of the night, Brendon Taylor effected one stumping, took two catches, effected a run-out and scored an unbeaten 60 to guide his team to victory.

Taken aback by the defeat, the Australians had to scramble their way back into the tournament with victory over England. Nathan Bracken and Mitchell Johnson picked up three wickets apiece, which was followed by a hammering delivered to the English bowlers by Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist. Australia won with conviction by eight wickets and sailed through to the next round.

Bangladesh was treated to some top quality Aussie fast bowling. Brett Lee was immaculate, peppering the inexperienced Bangladeshi batsmen with short pitch stuff and was rewarded with the first ever hat-trick in T20 Internationals setting the base from which his side was able to romp home with seven overs to spare.

The next Super Eights match saw Australia lose out to Pakistan whose stars on the day were young left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir who took 3 for 31 from his four overs and Misbah-ul-Haq and captain Shoaib Malik who both scored unbeaten half-centuries to ensure Pakistan clinched a convincing six-wicket victory.

Australia had to defeat Sri Lanka in the next match to ensure a place in the semi-final and comfortably rose to the occasion restricting their opponents to 101 all out before Gilchrist and Hayden knocked off the runs in 10.2 overs.

But the good form from the Sri Lanka match deserted Australia in the semi-final as an India side bolstered by 70 off 30 balls from Yuvraj Singh set them a target of 189 and with none of the Australian bastmen able to make a match-winning contribution in reply they fell 15 runs short.

Australia had gone into the 2007 event as the holders of both the ICC Cricket World Cup and ICC Champions Trophy and were hoping to make it a hattrick in the ICC World Twenty20.

The disappointment of defeat to India and India's subsequent victory hurt Ponting and his side and they will be fired up for success when the next event takes place in England in 2009.

T20 Australia Team
Ricky Ponting (captain)
Michael Clarke (vice-captain)
Nathan Bracken
Brad Haddin
Nathan Hauritz
Ben Hilfenhaus
James Hopes
David Hussey
Mike Hussey
Mitchell Johnson
Brett Lee
Peter Siddle
Andrew Symonds
David Warner
Shane Watson

India and South Africa will never forget the stunning defeats at the hands of the Test minnows in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007. Young captain Mohammad Ashraful remains the star batsman and his wide variety of stroke play suits the shortest version of the game. Mohammad Nazimuddin is an exciting batsman while Mashrafe Mortaza is the team's bowling kingpin.

The side produced one of the shocks of the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in beating the West Indies in the group stage by six wickets. The heroes that day were Aftab Ahmed and the skipper Ashraful who both produced half-centuries and Shakib Al Hasan who claimed four wickets.

They failed to continue this form into subsequent matches, losing by seven wickets to South Africa in their second group game and getting thumped by Australia and Sri Lanka in the Super Eights.

The match against Australia was most memorable for Brett Lee's impressive bowling which was rewarded with the first ever hat-trick in T20 Internationals. Lee's impressive display helped restrict Bangladesh to only 123 which the Australians knocked off with seven overs to spare.

Sri Lanka further increased Bangladesh's miseries with a win by 64 runs which put Bangladesh out of contention and although they also lost their final match against Pakistan they went down fighting with Zunaed Siddique firing an impressive 71 in 49 balls.

Bangladesh will go into the 2009 event as outsiders but always have the potential to spring a surprise, particularly in Twenty20 cricket.

T20 Bangladesh Team
Mohammad Ashraful (captain)
Mashrafe Mortaza (vice-captain)
Tamim Iqbal
Junaid Siddique
Raqibul Hasan
Shakib Al Hasan
Mushfiqur Rahim
Naeem Islam
Abdur Razzak
Shahadat Hossain
Syed Rasel
Mohammad Mahmudullah
Rubel Hossain
Shamsur Rahman
Mohammad Mithun

England's players had played more Twenty20 cricket than any of their rivals ahead of the first ICC World Twenty20 but they were not able to turn this experience into success in South Africa.

They began well enough with a comfortable 50-run victory over Zimbabwe with Kevin Pietersen hitting a typically flamboyant 79 from 37 balls.

Against Australia in their next match though, England were restricted to 135 all out in their 20 overs and the opposition had no trouble knocking off the runs.

The victory over Zimbabwe had been enough to secure qualification to the Super Eights but there were to be no further victories. First South Africa beat them by 19 runs with Albie Morkel's 43 runs in 20 balls changing the match and the veteran Shaun Pollock putting in a vintage performance with the ball.

They went on to lose a tight match against New Zealand by five runs before falling 18 runs short against India.

The game against India is one which the side would like to forget. Yuvraj Singh set the Kingsmead Cricket Ground alight with an amazing show of power hitting, becoming the first man in the history of Twenty20 cricket to hit six sixes in an over. England fast bowler Stuart Broad was at the receiving end of man of the match Yuvraj Singh's whiplash blade.

England will be expecting to do better than their solitary victory over Zimbabwe when they host the tournament in 2009. Kevin Pietersen will be pivotal and there will be many fingers crossed that Andrew Flintoff can find his best form with both bat and ball before the event.

T20 England Team
Paul Collingwood (captain)
James Anderson
Ravi Bopara
Stuart Broad
Andrew Flintoff
James Foster
Robert Key
Dimitri Mascarenhas
Eoin Morgan
Graham Napier
Kevin Pietersen
Owais Shah
Ryan Sidebottom
Graeme Swann
Luke Wright

Four years after Sourav Ganguly's Team India had been blown away by Australia in the ICC Cricket World Cup final at the Wanderers, their Twenty20 side returned to the same venue and this time emerged victorious to claim the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 crown.

In a truly nail-biting finish, India lifted the trophy with a narrow five-run win over Pakistan.

Gautam Gambhir (75) and Rohit Sharma (30 not out) managed the Indian innings at either end of the 20 overs and helped their side to 157. Rudra Pratap Singh and Man of the Match Irfan Pathan took three wickets each to keep India in the hunt.

The fortunes kept fluctuating until the last over in which Pakistan needed 13 with the last wicket-pair at the crease. Bowler Joginder Sharma gave a wide in the first ball and was tonked over his head for a straight six by Misbah-ul-Haq off the second. Off the next ball, Misbah was ambitious and tried a paddle over the fine-leg fielder in the circle but he failed in his execution and the ball fell into the grateful hands of Sreesanth and India had won the title.

Earlier in the group matches, heavy showers halted the match against Scotland and both sides were awarded a point. The next match saw a unique bowl-out, which India won against old foes Pakistan by a 3-0 margin. Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa all hit the set of stumps while Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi missed it for Pakistan.

In their first Super Eight match, India was stunned by New Zealand by 10 runs to script their only defeat in the tournament.

They bounced back well in the next match. Yuvraj Singh, in an exhibition of raw power assorted with sheer class, hit six consecutive sixes and took the English bowlers, the fans, commentators, and his teammates by storm. India set a daunting target of 219 for England to chase and won comfortably by 18 runs.

They defeated South Africa by 37 runs in their final Super Eight match with Rohit Sharma being declared man-of-the-match for his match-winning innings of 50 not out. The match also saw spirited bowling from RP Singh (4/13), Sreesanth (2/23) and Harbhajan Singh (2/30) to book the side's berth in the semi-finals.

In a nerve-racking semi-final, Yuvraj smashed a 30-ball 70 before Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh and Joginder Sharma displayed some fantastic bowling to limit Australia to 173, 15 runs short.

The rest is history and India's victory in the final was greeted with an outpouring of joy back home. The 2007 triumph means they will carry huge expectations on their shoulders in 2009 and anything less than a victory will be a disappointment for over a billion followers.

T20 India Team
MS Dhoni (captain)
Virender Sehwag (vice captain)
Gautam Gambhir
Suresh Raina
Yuvraj Singh
Yusuf Pathan
Rohit Sharma
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma
Praveen Kumar
RP Singh
Ravindra Jadeja
Pragyan Ojha
Irfan Pathan