By Hamad Hussain
KARACHI, Pakistan (TheSportsNEXT) October 4, 2012: As former World T20 champions Pakistan and title favorites Sri Lanka will fight for the place in the final of ICC World T20 2012 today, I want to bring my readers’ attention towards the controversies hitting captains of the two teams during their Super Eights matches.
The much-awaited match of the ICC World T20 2012 was played between arch-rivals Pakistan and India on Sunday September 30, 2012. The match which had created the hype and caught attention of billions of people proved nothing more than a drop-scene as India outclassed Pakistan in a one-sided encounter. Every cricket follower is well aware that Indian cricket team always prefers to chase totals as batting is their prime strength. But on that day, when billions of people were watching the two bitter neighbors clash in Sri Lanka, Pakistani skipper Mohammad Hafeez made a blunder of decision when he won the toss and decided to bat first which ultimately laid the foundation of Pakistan defeat.
The strange decision of Pakistani skipper shocked not only millions of Pakistani cricket lovers but also his teammates as well as the team management in Colombo as it was decided in the team meeting that Pakistan will bowl first after winning the toss to reduce Indian chances of victory.
So far, Mohammad Hafeez is yet to justify his decision of batting first against India as cricket lovers are still trying to understand the logic behind Hafeez’s strange decision.
On the other hand, Sri Lankan cricket team were entered in controversy in their last Super Eights match against England when they sent Kumar Sangakkara for the toss despite of the fact that both captain Mahela Jayawardene and vice captain Angelo Mathews were playing in the match but Sri Lankan team management decided to give captaincy to Kumar Sangakkara in the important match.
It raised eyebrows of many cricket followers as this may be sign of some revolt or dispute within the Sri Lankan team as Mahela got back the captaincy this year after he resigned from the post in 2009. Sri Lanka had Kumar Sangakkara as skipper after Mahela but defeat in final of ICC 2011 World Cup against India prompted him to leave the job. Dilshan was named skipper but Sri Lankan cricket team had a horrible time under him, so Mahela was reinstated as skipper of Sri Lanka but latest twist in the captaincy game against England has certainly something fishing.
The Sri Lankan team management has give stupid reason of over-rate penalty to skipper as they feel that if Sri Lankan skipper will be fined for slow over-rate, then Mahela or Mathews may have to be left out from the semi-final as both were penalized for slow over-rate in last one year. As per ICC rules, if skipper is penalized twice in a year for slow over-rate, then he will have to serve one-match suspension from match referee.
The question that arises here is that what Sri Lanka will do if they reach in the final of the tournament and their skipper will get penalized for slow over-rate?
The stupid decision may have something to do with the conflicts in the team which Sri Lankan team management is trying to hide.
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