NEIL MANTHORP: Upsets are not so unusual in T20, the format for the underdog
The little guys have a win rate of 25% versus a surprise rate of 12% in ODIs
Namibia’s 55-run victory against Asia Cup champions, Sri Lanka, in the opening game of the T20 World Cup on Sunday was as much a triumph for the global game, specifically the T20 format, as it was for the team from a country with a population of 2.5-million and about 120 active cricketers.
It may have been an upset but it didn’t look like it. It was the fourth-largest T20I win by an associate nation against a Test nation but it is an event not nearly as rare as you might imagine. In fact, it was the 38th occasion on which a “minor” team has overturned one of the Test-playing nations out of 148 such fixtures. That is a win rate of 25% for the little guys. ..
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