Lefties living up to their reputation of wreckers

Trent Bridge, Nottingham:

It's only two days into the World Twenty20 Championships and the tribe of left-handers have hit back with vengeance to reclaim their lost territory.

After the opening day saw right-handed performers such as Tim de Grooth of the Netherlands and Ian Butler of New Zealand claiming man-of-match awards, the second day once again saw the resurgence of the southpaws.

Chris Gayle played a spirit-crushing hand of 88 from 50 balls and so it was the case with Indian Yuvraj Singh (41 from 18 balls, 3 fours, 4 sixes) as the West Indies and India emerged emphatic winners. Unlike Gayle, Yuvraj wasn't the man of match but the honour still belonged to a left-arm cricketer, Pragyan Ojha, for India who sparkled with figures of 4 for 21.

In case the message was lost to the rest of the world, the other notable performers in India-Bangladesh were also left-handers and top scorers for their sides: Gautam Gambhir with 50 from 44 balls and Junaid Siddique whose 41 off 22 balls gave Bangladesh an outside chance.

Australia suffered a debilitating defeat at the hands of the West Indies but their top-scorer was none other than Robert Warner, the stocky left-hander whose 73 off 53 balls steadied a rocking ship.

Southpaws have been the superstars of this format as borne out by the fact. The highest scorer of the 2007 world cup was a left-hander: Matthew Hayden with 265 runs. The two top scores of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2007 and 2009 were left-handers: Shaun Marsh with 616 runs and Hayden with 572 runs.

The highest individual scores in this format also bears the testimony: the top innings in the 2007 T20 World Cup also came from a left-hander: 117 by Gayle versus South Africa.

The soaring shots and crunching drives also favour the men with left-handed preference: Gayle's 88 on Friday included six fours and six sixes. Yuvraj Singh thrashed four sixes from 18 balls and Junaid Siddique 3 maximum shots from 22 deliveries faced.

Such statistics makes one wonder if number of left-handers alone is a guarantee for teams doing well in the Twenty20 format.

If so is the case, then it would take some stopping India and South Africa from contesting for the trophy on 21st of this month.

Both the sides have eight left-handers each in their squad of 15 which gives them unusual advantage.

Most of the rest teams have only 4 southpaws in their ranks with Bangladesh alone featuring 5 of them in their line-up.