Surprisingly, he didn’t get a single game to play. His experience of the conditions will still be helpful to lead his side in this tournament, although he has not been well in the last couple of weeks.
England
None of the late 90s Englishmen are playing in the 2009 World T20. Andrew Flintoff could have been one if he was fit to play the tournament. Nasser Hussain has taken up mike instead of a bat.
How quickly the things can change in a space of few years!
South Africa
This is probably why they are considered the strongest contender to take the trophy home—South Africa has their three main players in this World T20 squad that played the last world cup in England.
Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, and Mark Boucher, the main South African players, are well aware of the conditions and all of them are thought as the best in their department. The mixture of these veterans and some exciting young players is maintaining a solid combination throughout this tournament.
South Africa must not choke this time around because this trio will certainly have the memories of the sensational and disastrous semi-final against Australia on their minds (they tied against Australia and could not go through to the final due to less run rate).
The backbone of South Africa lies with this experienced trio, and that’s why South Africa is looking so dangerous.
West Indies
Shivnarine Chanderpaul is the only West Indian player to have participated in both 1999 and 2009 World Cup. Along with Brain Lara last time, he was sharing the responsibility of holding the middle order together.
This time, he will have to play the role of senior anchor in the middle order with Ramnaresh Sarwan. Chanderpaul may not be tailor-made for this form of cricket, but he can certainly play an important role in the unpredictable West Indian batting lineup.
Pakistan
The runner-up team of the 1999 World Cup only has two players in this World T20.
Shahid Afridi (who plays more as a bowler now) and Abdul Razzaq (who played an important part both with bat and bowl during Pakistan’s success in the 1999 World Cup) are two players who will come in handy for Pakistan due to their experience.
Shoaib Akhter, who was originally named in the T20 squad, would have increased the list to three players, but he was dropped due to health problems. Only 11 players from world cricket are aiming for what they did a decade ago on the same soil for their respective countries.
There may be many new and fine soldiers in each regiment, but experience is always handy, especially if they have fought on the same battlefield before.
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