The Twenty20 does the talking

By Abeed Hassnat

No opening ceremony, no big bangs, no dancing girls (yet!) but there is one things that will be doing the talking. The cricket. It has arrived in Sri Lanka and the hosts will be cautious against the team that's been hunting down upsets, Zimbabwe.

Probably the hosts are doing a tactical game by not having an opening ceremony with the focus needed on the cricket as one slip in the very small and narrow group stages can be costly as being eliminated before the tournament would get properly under way.

Sri Lanka are the ones that have the most to lose being the hosts, being the runners-up of the 50 over World Cup as well as having the reputation of slipping in big matches. Despite being patchy with their Twenty20 record, they're firm favourite to win this opening match with improved coaching staff and adequate preparation as well.

For Zimbabwe though, this is an opportunity to show that they can shine. They have a reputation to upset in big tournaments against big nations. Beating Australia by 5 wickets in the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup is one of them and they hope to produce scalps like this in the group stages. The younger players have been in form in the past 8 months but despite a bit of pressure on the young players on such a big tournament, they always sure to leave a surprise on Twenty20 matches like these...

Ones to Watch

Cliched as it might sound as always but you always have to keep an eye for Lasith Malinga when he's playing a Twenty20 match. Especially if he's playing for Sri Lanka. He's joint highest wicket taker in Twenty20 history and with the home crowd around him as well as his pinpoint yorkers that have proven to be match-winners, you can almost definitely see him in full power.

Vusi Sibanda is the one to look out for being attacking and looking to be the best as well as playing with the best. He can attack the short and full balls and the Sri Lankans will get a big boost if they get him out early on...

Sri Lanka team (likely): 1 Dilshan Munaweera, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Mahela Jayawardene, 4 Kumar Sangakkara, 5 Lahiru Thirimanne, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Nuwan Kulasekara, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Lasith Malinga, 10 Ajantha Mendis 11 Akila Dananjaya

Zimbabwe team (likely): 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Vusi Sibanda, 3 Brendan Taylor, 4 Craig Ervine, 5 Stuart Matsikenyeri, 6 Elton Chigumbura, 7 Prosper Utseya 8 Graeme Cremer, 9 Richard Muzhange, 10 Kyle Jarvis, 11 Chris Mpofu

Prediction: Don't know why but logic says Sri Lanka going to win but brain says Zimbabwe... Think Zimbabwe by 3 wickets for a big upset