Jos Buttler enhanced his ever-growing reputation in limited-overs cricket with a series of fine displays for England during the ICC World Twenty20.

The wicketkeeper-batsman entered the tournament under the weight of expectation as the Three Lions’ power player in the middle order following his strong displays against South Africa over the winter.

Buttler struggled in the early stages of the competition with low scores against the West Indies and South Africa along with a paltry six runs against minnows Afghanistan. However, when England needed a performance, the 25-year-old rose to the occasion with an impressive 66 not out against Sri Lanka, which proved to be decisive in securing a 10-run victory over Angelo Mathews’ men to keep his side in the tournament.

Buttler was in imperious form against New Zealand, firing three sixes in quick succession to get the Three Lions over the line and into the World Cup final.

His power was on full display again in Kolkata against the West Indies in the final as he dispatched the bowling of Sulieman Benn over the boundary three times in England's counterattack. However, he made 36 before he was caught going for one big shot too many off the bowling of Carlos Brathwaite, ending his innings when he was just beginning to hit his stride at the crease, while he was powerless to watch as Brathwaite powered the Windies to victory.

Despite England's defeat, Buttler's 191 runs earned him a place in the ICC team of the tournament for his exploits in the middle.

HERE IT IS! The ICC #WT20 Men's Team of the Tournament!
What do you think of the XI??https://t.co/UntNYqlEjD pic.twitter.com/orEHnIc1bc

— ICC (@ICC) April 4, 2016

Buttler made a strong impression on the crowds in India with the noise level elevating every time he entered the pitch, bat in hand, which will stand him in good stead when he begins his career with the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.

The franchise bought the services of the wicketkeeper for £385,000 after the England and Wales Cricket Board allowed him to play for the duration of the competition, as a result of him losing his Test place to Jonny Bairstow.

Mumbai will be aiming to follow up their efforts from their triumphant 2015 campaign, when the club secured their second title, with another success. Their Indian Premier League cricket odds to win the crown stand at 5/1.

Adding Buttler will add power to their batting lineup, with stars such as Keiron Pollard, Lendl Simmons and skipper Rohit Sharma already amongst their ranks.

The 25-year-old will be desperate to make a lasting impact as one of only three English players plying their trade at the tournament along with Kevin Pietersen and Sam Billings.

Buttler demonstrated that he has all the shots in his repertoire to be one of the dominant players in the IPL after notching 12 sixes in the World T20, the second highest in the competition.

Most Sixes in #WT20 2016: Tamim Iqbal 14, Mohammad Shahzad/Jos Buttler 12, Chris Gayle 11, AB de Villiers 9, Martin Guptill 8. #Stats

— Geo Cricket (@Geo_Cricket) April 4, 2016

He will also get the chance to further develop his skills against high-quality spin bowling on the turning tracks of the Sub-continent, which can only benefit England and his county side Lancashire in the future.

The challenge will be great for the 25-year-old as England players have struggled to hit the heights of their foreign counterparts, but if any player can buck the trend it will be Buttler.

This article first appeared on DAWN.

Our "legends" Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram have been harping on about how Pakistan cricket is a decade behind the rest of the world.

Really guys? You think we are so stupid that we will listen to your lame comments and believe that we suck?

Come on.

Firstly, which rest of the world are you talking about? South Africa? Sri Lanka? West Indies? Bangladesh? Australia?

It does not take a genius to look around and figure out that it is really only New Zealand that is playing exceptional T20 cricket at the moment. Every single other team has struggled at one moment or the other.

The likes of ABD, Amla, Steyn, de Kock could not take a team to the semis, and you expect that Afridi, Shehzad, Akmal, Wahab would have? Even a team comprising of Warner, Maxwell, Watson, Finch, Faulkner is on the verge of being knocked out. As is a team comprising of Kohli, Dhoni, Sharma, and Ashwin!

It was a World T20 tournament. Sure we such at ODIs too, but at least we are among the best test teams in the world, if not the best. Isn't that the real cricket everyone keeps talking about?

So please don't exaggerate and make the public believe that we are so bad that we require your useless services to get out of this rut.

We don't need you, thank you! We all know what you are capable of, or not, so please you may be legends in your own right, but PAKISTAN is NOT 10 YEARS BEHIND OTHER TEAMS.

If anything, we are about 20 odd runs behind.

We lost to New Zealand by 22 runs. We lost to Australia by 21 runs. We lost to India and had we scored another 20 odd runs the result might have been different.

So we are really only 20 odd runs behind. And that is definitely not equivalent to 10 years!

And those 20 runs can easily be brought about by replacing a couple of batsmen in the T20 line up.

One doesn't need an overhaul for that.

With the World Twenty20 now under way in India, there are a number of sides vying to lift the trophy of this young tournament for the first time. Although Australia have dominated the cricket world in nearly every respect over the years, they have thus far failed to make their mark on this modern, fast-paced version of the game. This could be the year in which that is about to change.

Belief

There is plenty of belief within the Australian squad, with the ambitious captain, Steve Smith, stating that they are here to try and claim the elusive title once and for all. The Baggy Greens are coming into the tournament on the back of a T20 series win over South Africa, and this should give them a confidence boost and allow them to take some momentum into the tournament. At the time of writing, Smith and his teammates are 9/2 with 32red Australia and Unibet to win the tournament, while the hosts, India, are priced at around 3/1.

For a nation with such a rich cricketing history, and a sense that cricket runs through the blood of the country’s inhabitants, it seems strange that they haven’t conquered the game in this format. The players and the fans are now starting to believe that this is long overdue, which could spur the team on to try harder and claim the title this time out.

Squad
Many found the squad selection for this World Cup to be a rather mysterious one. Some big names were left out and lesser known players were included. The selectors have argued that it is too hard to pin down Australia’s best T20 squad, and that is the reason behind the controversial selections. Although there has been debate over whether the players selected are the best available, there is certainly enough quality there to get the job done.

Peter Nevill will take over behind the stumps, and this decision to bring in the nation’s best wicketkeeper for this tournament has been hailed as a smart move. To have a specialist keeper in the squad also emphasises the selectors’ faith in the strength of the batting line-up.

They have some of the world’s best hitters in the team, with David Warner at 14/1 with 32red and 10bet to be the tournament’s leading batsmen. Smith, Usman Khawaja, Shane Watson, and Aaron Finch, make a considerably strong top order on paper.

Josh Hazlewood will lead the bowling attack but it could come down to Australia’s young spinners, Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar, to make the difference in favourable conditions for turn.

Opponents

The Baggy Greens will have been elated upon hearing the news that the hosts of the tournament and favourites to win the title were beaten by New Zealand in the opening match. The Kiwis pulled off a shock 47-run victory over India and now the hosts face a challenge to top their group and put this early defeat behind them.

Another of Australia’s main rivals are South Africa, who are 4/1 to win the tournament with Unibet, 32red and Betway. If Australia progress from the group stage they may well encounter these able foes on the route to the final. Although Russell Domingo’s players suffered a demolition at the hands of England in the recent Test series at the turn of the year, they bounced back and pulled off convincing victories in the following One Day and T20 series. They have one of the world’s most dangerous batsmen in their ranks with AB de Villiers, who, at 9/1 to be the top tournament batsman, is a force to be reckoned with on his day. Many are anticipating him to enjoy a devastating return to form on the world stage.

Australia will also have to contend with their closest rivals, New Zealand, in the group stage. With only two teams progressing from each group, it could be a fierce battle between the two teams to claim one of the top places in the “Group of Death”.  


Australia certainly have the ability within their ranks to produce a victory in this tournament, and at a time when their main rivals seem to be faltering they could well take advantage. But first they must claw their way out of this tough looking group.

Imran Farhat, Shahzaib Hasan, Awais Zia, Imran Nazir ... Pakistan has had a number of mediocre openers in the past. The list is endless.

But there have been none worse than Khurram Manzoor.

Just like Sami has for the bowlers, Khurram has set the bar really really low for Pakistan's openers!

If reports of Ahmed Shehzad being recalled for the World T20 to replace Khurram are true, then I could not have woken up to better news.

Sure Shehzad has had a bad year in international cricket. He has been woefully out of form. However; he did well in the PSL. If Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif can be selected due to their PSL performances then there was no reason to drop Shehzad in the first place.

Despite his recent bad form, Ahmed Shehzad has been Pakistan's most trusted opener, along with Mohammad Hafeez, across formats in past 6 years. There is absolutely no reason why Shehzad and Hafeez should not be opening for Pakistan across formats.

If only Pakistan's selectors smoked a little less pot and paid more attention.

According to the betting markets, India are the favorites to win the ICC World T20 2016.

Considering that they are the number 1 ranked T20 team, they clean sweeped Australia 3-0 in the recent T20 series, they are looking like the strongest team in the ongoing Asia Cup T20, and that the World T20 will be played in their back yard, the betting markets are quite right.

For punters the markets are also offering wagers on the leading batsman of the World T20 with Virat Kohli the favorite among all batsmen. Rohit Sharma and AB De Villiers are also near favorites.

With the way Kohli has been scoring in the past two months, it is hard to imagine anyone out scoring him in the World T20.

Likewise, it is going to be tough to beat India at home, where they are typically invincible.

If there is any team that can realistically stop the Indian juggernaut, it is New Zealand or Australia; however the latter are not favored by the betting markets.

Check out Pokies Palace for odds on a number of bets that you can place for the World T20.

You can place bets on likely semifinalists, likely stage a team will exit the tournament, the top batsman for each team, the likely position of each team in their respective group, and many others.

Cricket always offers punters a wide variety of betting options.

These are all pre-tournament bets; when a match gets underway it increases the number of things one can bet on.

Every ball is like an event. You can bet on each single ball of the match!

World events like the World T20 are boom time for the betting markets, which witness a significant increase in betting activity during the World Cup and World T20.

I know of people who have already taken a punt on the likely winner and on where certain teams will end in the tournament.

No one divides emotions among Pakistanis the way Shahid Afridi does. There are fans who still believe that he is the only match winner the team has, and then there are critics who believe he is well past his sell by date and should have hung up his boots some time ago.

I am not sure why our fans go into a hyper frenzy mode before every world event. Our lead up to the ICC World Cup 2015 revolved around wanting Misbah to leave ODIs and let Afridi captain. Our lead up to the ICC World T20 2016 is about removing Afridi as captain and replacing him with God knows who!

Why?

Since the World Cup 2015, Pakistan's record in ODIs and T20s has been as follows:

vs Bangladesh: LOST ODIs 3-0; LOST T20s 1-0
vs Zimbabwe: WON ODIs 2-0; WON T20s 2-0
vs Sri Lanka: WON ODIs 3-2; WON T20s 2-0
vs Zimbabwe: WON ODIs 2-1; WON T20s 2-0
vs England: LOST ODIs 3-1; LOST T20s 2-0
vs New Zealand: LOST ODIs 2-0; LOST T20s 2-1

ODIs: WON 8 LOST 11
T20s: WON 7 LOST 5 TIED 1

Our ODI team and T20 team have mirrored each other in the series that Pakistan has played since the World Cup 2015. Both teams have been under performing. However, our T20 team has won more than it has lost and it has done relatively better than the ODI team.

But somehow, all that seems to be Afridi's fault.

How?

So why hasn't the ODI team improved after the departure of Misbah and Afridi? Weren't they the biggest problem the team had?

Logic is always thrown out the window the moment Pakistan cricket fans try to become analysts.

Now let us turn our focus to Afridi's performance as a player. A number of critics believe that his current form is not good enough for him to be in the team.

Really? I wonder where these critics are when Afridi is winning games for Pakistan.

Here's a look at the 13 T20 matches Pakistan has played since the World Cup 2015, barring the ongoing Asia Cup.

Pakistan vs Bangladesh

Only T20: Scored only 12 and conceded 0-25 in 3 overs. Pakistan lost.
FAIL

Pakistan vs Zimbabwe

1st T20: Scored 4* of the only ball he faced and conceded 0-28 in 3 overs. Pakistan won.
NEUTRAL

2nd T20: 7(3) and 1-36 in 4 overs. Pakistan won.
FAIL

Pakistan vs Sri Lanka

1st T20: Came to bat in the last over and scored 8(4); and 0-31 in 4 overs. Pakistan won.
NEUTRAL

2nd T20: Came to bat with Pakistan 40-5 in 7.2 overs while chasing 173. Scored 45(22) and set up the chase for Anwar Ali and Imad Wasim to finish it off. 1-30 with the ball. Pakistan won.
PASS

Pakistan vs Zimbabwe

1st T20: Came to bat in the last over and scored 2(3). 0-23 with the ball as Pakistan defended 136.
PASS

2nd T20: Came to bat in 17th over and scored 2(2). 0-26 with the ball as Pakistan defended 136.
PASS

Pakistan vs England

1st T20: 0 and 0-33. Pakistan lost.
FAIL

2nd T20: Came to bat at 120-6 in the 17th over while Pakistan were chasing 173. Scored 24 off 8. Pakistan lost by 3 runs. Pick of the bowlers with 3-15.
PASS

3rd T20: Came to bat at 65-5 in the 12th over while Pakistan were chasing 155. Scored 29 off 20 as Pakistan tied the game. Pick of the bowers again with 2-19.
PASS

Pakistan vs New Zealand

1st T20: 23(8); 2-26; 4 catches; 2 run outs; Pakistan won; man of the match.
PASS

2nd T20: 7(3) and 0-38. Pakistan lost.
FAIL

3rd T20: 8(8) and 1-27. Came to bat at 55-5 as Pakistan collapsed to 101 all out.
FAIL

So then in 13 T20s in the past year, Afridi has given a good (PASS) performance in 6 matches; he has given a fair (NEUTRAL) performance in 2 matches; and he has failed (FAIL) in 5 matches.

Based on this performance will you kick him out of the team?

No seriously tell me, does this mean his place in the team is not justified?

Even if you consider those 2 neutral performances as a fail, it means he did well in 6 matches and failed in 7 matches.

Is that not good enough for you?

For the past week, since an interview was published where Shahid Afridi was quoted as saying that there was a lot of pressure on him from friends and family to continue playing T20 cricket for Pakistan even after the World T20, every single facebook group, whatsapp group, and social media platform has been abuzz with the Afridi debate.

I am tired of arguing and I hope to God that this can at least show the haters / critics that no Afridi is not past his sell by date. nor is he a liability on the team. He has performed over the past year and deserves his spot in the XI on current form.

And that interview was just an honest statement from a man who doesn't mince any words. Surely there are many people out there who don't want Afridi to retire. They want to see him play forever. That's all he said. He never said he is not going to retire.

Our fans have a knack of dramatizing everything. Emotional qaum hai, kya karein.

Afridi will retire at the end of the World T20. Till then he is our T20 captain.

Till then it will be great if we can remember him fondly and remember what he has done for Pakistan, rather than talk about what he hasn't.

About two weeks ago, Pakistan's selectors announced the 15-man squad for the World T20, which included as many as 5 rookies. Since then the selectors have had a chance to assess performances in the just concluded PSL. Injuries, coupled with a few superlative performances in the PSL, resulted in the selectors announcing 3 changes to Pakistan's squad.

Out went the injured Babar Azam and Rumman Raees, while Iftikhar Ahmed for dropped.

In came Sherjeel Khan, Mohammad Sami, and Khalid Latif.

There were already question marks over the selection of Khurram Manzoor who could not even find a place in one of the PSL squads and with these changes the selectors have raised even more questions.

Sherjeel Khan, who had impressed in the T20 series against the England Lions in Dubai in January, should have been in squad from the beginning. If Ahmed Shehzad was going to be dropped, then Sherjeel was the ideal replacement, not Khurram!

At least that wrong has been corrected and on the back of PSL's only century, Sherjeel is back in favor.

It is the other two selections that are completely puzzling!

Khalid Latif impressed in the PSL scoring 206 runs at a strike rate if 119.07. His highest score of 59 was his only 50 in the PSL.

Good numbers, but it really makes me wonder why the selectors looked at him and not Ahmed Shehzad who piled up 290 runs in the PSL at a strike rate of 143.56. He also managed two fifty plus scores and shone for the Quetta Gladiators, ending the tournament as their highest run scorer - higher than KP, higher than Luke Wright.

It really makes no sense to me.

And poor Iftikhar Ahmed who had to make way for Khalid Latif. Iftikhar has been part of Paksitan's squad for the past 3 series, hasn't got a single game, and now finds himself on the sidelines.

I really want to know what the selectors have been smoking.

Maybe the same stuff that Mohammad Sami has been considering he also finds his way into the squad.

Sure Sami's performance in the PSL was outstanding. He took wickets, he was economical, and he looked as fast as he did 15 years ago.

But he's Mohammad Sami!

This is probably his 11th comeback to the national team. It is the same story all the time. He has been a domestic performer for almost 2 decades now. Isn't it about time that the selectors realize that he doesn't have it to succeed at international level?

Pass on some of that stuff selectors!

After seeking an extension of two days from the ICC, Pakistan finally announced their squad for the Asia Cup T20 and World T20, which will follow the ongoing Pakistan Super League.

The PSL gave the selectors a chance to judge some of the relatively lesser known cricketers, and also monitor the form of the some international players who had not impressed in recent times, namely Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Gul, Sohaib Maqsood, and Mohammad Rizwan.

The squad, sans the four players mentioned above, contains surprises aplenty. Here's a look at why these four were dropped and what their replacements - Babar Azam, Khurram Manzoor, Mohammad Nawaz, and Rumman Raees - have done to earn a call to the international T20 team.

OUT: Ahmed Shehzad
Afridi's blue eyed boy could not maintain his place in the side after a prolonged period of indifferent form. In his last 8 T20 innings against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, England, and New Zealand, he produced scores of 7, 17, 7, 28, 4, 16, 9, 8. To top that of, his form in ODIs during the same period was nothing to write home about.

His 71 off 46 deliveries against the Karachi Kings in the PSL might have nudged the selectors a bit; however his other 3 innings of 11, 16, and 15 would have further reduced his stock.

IN: Khurram Manzoor
He has never played a T20 International for Pakistan; however his domestic T20 record - an average of 29 and a strike rate of 116 - is quite impressive. He also boasts 2 centuries in the format, something not many other batsmen around the world can stake claim to. Despite this, his inclusion is a bit perplexing given that he was not picked by any of the PSL teams and he hasn't played a T20 match since September last year!

He did impress in the Haier Mobile T-20 Cup in September last year where he was the 4th highest run scorer in the competition, but there were other batsmen that were more impressive in that tournament; namely Faisal Mubashir, Fawad Alam, Khalid Latif, Kamran Akmal, Mukhtar Ahmed, Nasir Jamshed, and several others.

OUT: Sohaib Maqsood
With an average of 13 and a highest score of 37, Sohaib has always looked out of place in a T20 line up. It was surprising to see him in the squads for the series against England and New Zealand. He has been on the sidelines of his PSL team as well, so it is no surprise to see the axe finally fall on him.

IN: Babar Azam
It was high time that the selectors included him in the T20 squad. He has an outstanding domestic record in all formats of the game and he has had a supremely impressive start to his ODI career hitting 5 fifties in only 9 ODIs. An average of over 45 and and a strike rate of over 90 in ODIs suggest that he can translate that form into T20s easily. His domestic T20 average is over 40!

Definitely the right choice!

OUT: Mohammad Rizwan
He is a bit unlucky to miss out considering he hasn't had too many chances to impress. He has done reasonably well in the ODIs he has played; however he played only 4 of the 6 T20s he could have against England and New Zealand. Sure his scores of 6, 24, and 4 in those games were nothing great, but he just didn't get enough chances to prove himself. Even in the PSL he has had only 2 innings scoring 37 and 4. His domestic T20 record is awesome and he is a livewire in the field. Pakistan may have missed a trick by leaving him out of their squad.

IN: Mohammad Nawaz
He has been the find of the PSL. His left-arm spin has earned him the highest tally of wickets in the PSL thus far - 8 in 4 games at an average of 11! The best part about this is that he is primarily a batsman and he has been in fine form for the Quetta Gladiators. He will always be remembered as the find of the first ever PSL that was staged. For him, it came at just the right time. He deserves his place in the squad.

OUT: Umar Gul
He returned from injury after 8 months for the T20 series against New Zealand but failed to impress in the two matches that he played. His form in the PSL has also been indifferent - he has picked up 4 wickets at an average of 35 in the 4 matches that he has played and he has conceded 10 runs an over! It would have been extremely difficult to justify his inclusion in the squad no matter how good his past performances in T20.

IN: Rumman Raees
As if Pakistan did not have enough left arm pacers! It is interesting to see Rumman in the squad ahead of more seasoned campaigners like Gul and Junaid Khan. He has not set the PSL on fire, and he doesn't seem to have the pace to trouble international batsmen; however his impeccable line and length and intelligent variations make him a very economical bowler in T20s. His economy rate in the PSL is only 4.40 and that is what probably impressed the selectors.


Who would have bet on Pakistan announcing a squad with as many as 5 rookies! Check out the odds on Betfred.

The reason I did not mention Iftikhar Ahmed above is because he has been in the T20 squad for the past few series without playing a game. He has had an outstanding domestic season and it would not have been justifiable to drop him without playing him.

I can understand the reasons to drop Shehzad and Gul, but I can't understand the reasons to select Khurram and Rumman. They latter two might be promising players, however a World Cup is not the place to test them. I probably would have stuck with Shehzad and Gul given their experience, but if they had to be replaced then their were better options like Mukhtar, Fawad, and Junaid out there.

Nawaz and Babar definitely deserve their call ups to the international T20 side and it would have been better had the selectors only opted for these two rookies.

There are as many as five players who have never played a T20 international for Pakistan in their World T20 squad, which makes it extremely inexperienced for a world event!

It is good that there will be an Asia Cup T20 just before the World T20 so Pakistan will get the time to figure out their best XI.