All-Time Great T20 Tournament

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ATG T20 Tournament.

Have you ever pondered what country has had the best T20 players of all time. Well, this tournament is perfect for you! Every current Test playing nation will be included, meaning sides like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have a chance to make some upsets.

The format

I have split the teams into two groups, and each country will play 10 games in the round robin aspect of the tournament, 5 home and 5 away. Then, the top 3 teams from each group will qualify for the Knockout stages. The 2nd and 3rd placed teams from each group will play 2 legs (1 home and 1 away) in a 'qualifying final' aspect to it. The winner of the qualifying final will play the 1st ranked team from their group in the semi finals, with the winner of each series to play in the grand final (also 2 legs).

So, what are the groups?

I have tried to make the groups as even as possible, but total equality is definitely not achievable.

Group 1	Group 2
IND	AUS
PAK	RSA
NZ	ENG
WI	SL
AFG	IRE
ZIM	BAN

Squads

The squads have been posted in this thread - https://www.childishthings.com/forum...atg-t20-squads


Finally, any ties will be decided by a super over, and if the super over is tied, both teams will receive half a point for their efforts.

Hope you all enjoy this series!

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In case your wondering, here are the final versions of all squads.

AFG - Afghanistan

Asghar Stanikzai

Najibullah Zadaran

Hazratullah Zazai

Usman Ghani

Mohammed Shahzad

Rahmanullah Gurbaz

Mohammed Nabi

Samiullah Shenwari

Gulbadin Naib

Karim Sadiq

Rashid Khan

Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Hamid Hassan

Dawlat Zadran

Hamza Hotak

AUS - Australia

Aaron Finch

David Warner

Shane Watson

Mike Hussey

Cam White

Adam Gilchrist

Matthew Wade

Glenn Maxwell

James Faulkner

Andrew Symonds

Adam Zampa

Mitchell Starc

Dirk Nannes

Mitchell Johnson

Josh Hazlewood

BAN - Bangladesh

Tamim Iqbal

Soumya Sarkar

Mohammed Ashraful

Sabbir Rahman

Mushfiqur Rahim

Liton Das

Shakib Al Hasan

Mohammed Mahmudullah

Mohammed Saifuddin

Mustafizur Rahman

Abdul Razzak

Al-Amin Hossain

Mashrafe Mortaza

Arafat Sunny

Nasum Ahmed

ENG - England

Eoin Morgan

Alex Hales

Dawid Malan

Jason Roy

Kevin Pietersen

Jos Buttler

Jonny Bairstow

Paul Collingwood

Moeen Ali

Ben Stokes

Graeme Swann

Adil Rashid

Stuart Broad

Jade Dernbach

David Willey

IND - India

Rohit Sharma

Virat Kohli

Shikhar Dhawan

Yuvraj Singh

Gautam Gambhir

MS Dhoni

KL Rahul

Hardik Pandya

Ravi Ashwin

Ravindra Jadeja

Yuzvendra Chahal

Jasprit Bumrah

Harbhajan Singh

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Ashish Nehra

IRE - Ireland

Paul Stirling

Kevin O'Brien

Andrew Balbirnie

Ed Joyce

Andrew White

Niall O'Brien

Gary Wilson

George Dockrell

Alex Cusack

Simi Singh

Mark Adair

Boyd Rankin

Craig Young

Trent Johnston

Max Sorensen

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PAK - Pakistan

Babar Azam

Misbah ul-Haq

Umar Akmal

Ahmed Shehzad

Salman Butt

Mohammed Rizwan

Kamran Akmal

Mohammed Hafeez

Shoaib Malik

Shahid Afridi

Shadab Khan

Umar Gul

Saeed Ajmal

Hasan Ali

Mohammed Amir

NZ - New Zealand

Kane Williamson

Martin Guptill

Ross Taylor

Colin Munro

Brendon McCullum

Devon Conway

Tim Seifert

Mitchell Santner

Daniel Vettori

Kyle Mills

James Neesham

Tim Southee

Ish Sodhi

Shane Bond

Trent Boult

RSA - South Africa

Jean-Paul Duminy

David Miller

Faf du Plessis

Hashim Amla

Graeme Smith

Quinton de Kock

AB de Villiers

Jacques Kallis

Johan Botha

Wayne Parnell

Chris Morris

Dale Steyn

Imran Tahir

Kagiso Rabada

Morne Morkel

SL - Sri Lanka

Tillakaratne Dilshan

Mahela Jayawardene

Angelo Mathews

Chamara Kapugedera

Kumar Sangakkara

Kusal Perera

Sanath Jayasuriya

Tissara Perera

Wanindu Hasaranga

Sachitra Senanayake

Lasith Malinga

Ajantha Mendis

Nuwan Kulasekara

Dushmantha Chameera

Rangana Herath

WI - West Indies

Chris Gayle

Marlon Samuels

Evin Lewis

Rovman Powell

Lendl Simmons

Nicholas Pooran

Shimron Hetmyer

Kieron Pollard

Andre Russell

Dwayne Bravo

Sunil Narine

Carlos Brathwaite

Samuel Badree

Sheldon Cottrell

Kesrick Williams

ZIM - Zimbabwe

Hamilton Masakadza

Elton Chigumbura

Malcolm Waller

Craig Ervine

Chamunorwa Chibhabha

Brendan Taylor

Tatenda Taibu

Sean Williams

Graeme Cremer

Ryan Burl

Sikandar Raza

Tendai Chatara

Christopher Mpofu

Prosper Utseya

Blessing Muzarabani

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Round 1 Preview

Fixtures

Group1	Group2
IND v ZIM	SL v BAN
PAK v AFG	IRE v RSA
NZ v WI	ENG v AUS

A massive opening round, headlined by an England and Australia match-up. India will open the tournament with a game against Zimbabwe.

Match of the round:

Has to be Australia v England. New Zealand's clash with the Windies may also be a close game, but you simply can't shy away from a game with two juggernauts like England and Australia.

I will always be controlling the home team to prevent an advantages from this.



*Games will be played in this order; All group1 games, All group2 games.

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Game 1 - India v Zimbabwe

India XI - R Sharma, G Gambhir, V Kohli, MS Dhoni, Y Singh, KL Rahul, H Pandya, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, H Singh, J Bumrah
Zimbabwe XI - H Masakadza, C Chibhabha, C Ervine, B Taylor, S Williams, T Taibu, S Raza, R Burl, G Cremer, T Chatara, B Muzarabani

Toss - Zimbabwe won and elected to bowl

Indian Innings

The scene was perfectly set; a packed crowd in Bangalore, ready to see their Indians probably dismantle a weaker Zimbabwean outfit. Blessing Muzarabani stood at the top of his mark, Rohit Sharma marked his guard, and the umpire lowered his arm. He charged in, pitching it full and on the stumps. Sharma got a hold of it and drove it strongly, but it went straight to mid-off. A dot ball. Sharma hit the next one around the corner for a single, leaving Gambhir to face his first ball. It was straight on a full length, and Gambhir missed it! He was struck dead in front, and the umpire's finger was raised. Not a great start for India. Kohli didn't score for the rest of the over, and Indian fans begun to get nervous. It took a few overs, but Rohit and Kohli began to find the feet. The powerplay completed, and with the score at 30-1, you could say Zimbabwe were in a good position.

Graeme Cremer was introduced, and on a spinning Indian pitch he dismissed Kohli with the third ball of his spell! Sharma was caught by Cremer off Raza's bowling next over, leaving India 34-3! Instead of trying to rebuild the innings, Yuvraj Singh came in with aggression. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work and he was caught and bowled by Cremer for 5. India went into drinks 52-4, and the crowd was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop.

MS Dhoni came out of drinks with one goal, to hit as many runs as fast as he could, signalling his intent with a 6 off Williams. Things were looking better for India, scoring 27 runs in 3 overs, before KL Rahul ran himself out in a suicidal decision. Burl trapped Pandya in front a couple of overs later, and with India 76-6, you could well and truly say their were in big, big trouble. Jadeja and Dhoni hit a few fours in the next few overs, helping their side to 95-6 after 17. They continued to attack, but Dhoni edged off to Muzarabani with 8 deliveries remaining. His 52 from 34 though was very important, and he received many applauds walking off. Chatara closed out the innings well, taking the wickets of Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh, while only conceding 5 runs.

So, the target was set, Zimbabwe needed 123 runs to upset India

Zimbabwe Innings

Bumrah was handed the new ball, with a huge task ahead of him and his fellow bowlers. After Masakadza got things rolling with a single, Bumrah bowled a beautiful yorker to trap Chibhabha LBW for a golden duck. Ervine hit a couple of early fours to ease the pressure, and then lofted a Bumrah full toss into the stands to put the Indian crowd to silence. Masakadza hit his own six, and Zimbabwe were 35-1 after 3 overs. Harbhajan Singh was brought into the attack, but to no avail. He conceded 10 more runs, not helping the Indians at all. Masakadza hit his third six to end the powerplay, and with Zimbabwe already halfway to their target, the result was all but decided.

Ashwin got Ervine for 36 from 21, and a small but enthusiastic cheer came from the crowd. With another couple of quick wickets they could get back in the game. And what do you know, Taylor was stumped for 6 next over, and Zimbabwe needed 48 runs from 12 overs with 8 wickets remaining. Unfortunately, they couldn't keep up the pressure, and Sean Williams' six over third man pretty much sealed the deal. Even though Ashwin finally got Masakadza, some people in the crowd were already leaving.

Taibu fell second ball to Harbhajan, but Williams hit another ball into the stands, rubbing more salt into the wounds. Raza and Williams took their time, but eventually they chased the small total down.

Match Result

India 122 (MS Dhoni 52, Sharma 19, Cremer 2-18, Chatara 2-19) lost to Zimbabwe 123-5 (H Masakadza 38, Ervine 36, Ashwin 2-23, Jadeja 1-24) by 5 wickets.

MOTM - Hamilton Masakadza.

Wow. What a start to this tournament! Zimbabwe winning by such a wide margin is insane. They could've probably done it 2-3 overs faster, but they chose just to play sensibly and whittle down the total that way.

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Game 2 - Pakistan v Afghanistan

Pakistan XI - M Hafeez, S Butt, B Azam, M ul-Haq, M Rizwan, S Malik, S Afridi, S Khan, H Ali, U Gul, S Ajmal
Afghanistan XI - U Ghani, H Zazai, M Shahzad, N Zadaran, A Stanikzai, G Naib, M Nabi, R Khan, M Ur Rahman, H Hassan, D Zadran

Toss - Afghanistan won and elected to bowl.

Pakistan

After winning the toss and electing to bowl, Afghanistan had Rashid Khan open the bowling. Hafeez stood at the strikers end in shock, wondering why Hassan was not opening. But he just shrugged, and tapped his bat on the ground, ready. A couple of singles, followed by a boundary to end the opening over got Pakistan rolling. A pair of sixes off Rashid's second over hurt Afghanistan, who's tactic of opening with spin was working up until that point. Hamid Hassan finally came into the attack, only to be welcomed by a glorious Salman Butt cover drive. Fielding restrictions ended, and Pakistan were 47-0.

The runs kept flowing before drinks, with Hafeez on 48 and Butt on 33 at the break. Hafeez brought up his 50 by pulling a Hassan bouncer to the rope, with loud cheers heard in the crowd. And the runs continued, one over from Nabi conceding 18, including a six and two fours. Salman Butt passed 50 during the 13th over, and with the score 122-0, a total upwards of 200 was possible. The 150 came up early in the 15th over, with Hafeez closing in on a century. A lofted cover drive for six later and Hafeez was on 100! A great innings from the opener, and with 20 deliveries remaining, there was still plenty of time to add some more. His onslaught continued for another over, before mistiming a drive straight to cover. Babar brought up the 200 next over, leaving Afghanistan in major strife. The score was 216-1 at the end of 20 overs, and Afghanistan had major work to do.

Afghanistan

Zazai hit a boundary second ball, signalling his intent nice and early. Ghani sent a Gul fulltoss 20 rows back, and the Pakistan crowd knew it was game on. Then, an over later Ghani fell, trying to whack a Hassan Ali yorker out of the ground. Ajmal came into the attack and got Shahzad, one of Afghanistan's best batters, to edge off for a mere 3 runs. Zadaran made the crowd quieten by hitting his first 2 balls into the stands, and the over ended with Afghanistan 53-2 after 5, still well and truly a chance.

After the powerplay was over, Shadab Khan came into the attack, and bowled the over of his life. Three plays and misses, a single, another play and miss and the wicket of Zadaran was the turning point of the game. Ajmal got Stanikzai first rock and Pakistan were on top. Drinks were brought onto the ground with the score 93-4. The ball after Gul came into the attack and clean bowled Zazai for a well-made 39. Naib and Nabi rebuilt the innings, and continued a healthy scoring rate, meaning Afghanistan needed 76 runs from the last 5 overs. A hefty but doable task. Until Ajmal came back into the attack and dismissed Nabi. Rashid fell in the same over and it seemed as though Afghanistan were beaten. Naib brought up his 50 soon after, but with the Required RR at 23, it was safe to say they weren't going to win. Mujeeb hit two boundaries in the penultimate over but fell on the last ball, leaving Naib to score 31 runs off 6 Umar Gul deliveries. He hit a single, leaving Hamid Hassan to score the runs. He hit 4 boundaries but it wasn't enough, as Afghanistan lost by 13 runs in a high-scoring thriller.

Match Result

Pakistan 216-1 (Hafeez 114, Butt 85*, G Naib 1-57) defeated Afghanistan 203-8 (G Naib 63*, Zazai 39, Ajmal 4-41, H Ali 2-36) by 13 runs.

MOTM - Mohammed Hafeez.

Afghanistan tried and tried, but the target was too much for them.