Sunday Nov 17, 2024
Sunday Nov 17, 2024
Wednesday, 18 March 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies will vie for the honours in the biggest trophy of the ICC. It’s quite interesting that four Asian countries have joined the battle this year in the quarter finals and three of them have already won this battle in the history. Incidentally New Zealand and South Africa are the only two nations that have not tasted the wining feeling of a World Cup yet.
A lot of expectation
The countdown begins from 18 March when Sri Lanka meet South Africa in the first quarter finals in Sydney. India will meet Bangladesh on 19 March at Melbourne. Australia will meet Pakistan on 20 March at Adelaide while West Indies is taking on New Zealand on 21 March at Wellington.
India and New Zealand entered the quarter finals as two unbeaten teams from Pool A and B respectively. Pakistan and West Indies who initially had a few setbacks were able to bounce back to be in the final eight.
Desperate West Indies were riding on Pakistan who played against Ireland to earn them a place in the super eight as a win for Ireland would see them packing their bags home. They have beaten UAE to stake their claim for a place in the first four places. But their destiny was in Pakistan’s hands as Pakistan had to win their match against Ireland to concrete West Indies’ place. But luck was with the West Indies as Pakistan edged out Ireland and earned a slot for the West Indians in the final four slots in Pool B.
Sri Lanka has a tough contender, South Africa and Proteas will fire all their cylinders to bypass Sri Lanka and get a berth in the semi-finals. The Islanders will have an edge against their opponent in terms of World Cup experience but South Africans who have scored more than 300 runs in every match except in the match against Pakistan should not be overlooked.
Sri Lanka being a two-times runner-up in two consecutive World Cups will defiantly want to change their position and Angelo Matthews’s boys have come up strongly at the later stage when their power hitters of the calibre of Kumar Sangakkara and Thilakeratne Dilshan regain their top form. They were specially banking on those two players while Mahela Jayawarnene who is playing his last World Cup is also expected to perform at this juncture to take one step further beating South African to reach the semi-finals.
Sri Lankans suffered heavy blows during stage one as they lost many best players due to injuries. Skipper Angelo Mathews was lucky to escape and it’s good to hear that Sri Lanka’s front-line spinner Rangana Herath is recovering well and looks likely to face South Africa in the tense battle.
India qualified to the quarter finals as the only unbeaten team in Pool B. Indians will have more pressure as the defending champions but they are lucky to have one of the Asian counterparts as their opponents. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side is one of the favourite teams to defend the title this time and they also comprise of big hitters and match winners.
Bangladesh has already created one of the biggest upsets in the first round after registering a victory over England which paved the way to the Englishmen for early exit from the World Cup. The tigers also capable of turning table upside down but that would be very unlikely against their opponents.
New Zealand, the only unbeaten team in Pool A, will also look in to retain the cup when they battled it out with West Indies and are one of the favourites to take the titles this time.
This is possibly the best all-round New Zealand side put out for a very long time. They have played extremely well. There have been a few minor hiccups, but they went through the first stage unbeaten, which is a very positive sign.
Captain Brendon McCullum has become a tower of strength for the Kiwis with his power hitting. The Black Caps chased down 289 with seven balls to spare against Bangladesh on Friday to remain unbeaten, with India the only other team to achieve that in pool play. Notably, New Zealand won 10 of their last 12 one-day internationals in Wellington.
West Indies, earlier on Sunday, thrashed UAE in their last pool game and did that without Chris Gayle, who was out due to a back injury. If West Indies can keep up the intensity, the Kiwis will find it difficult to brush aside Jason Holder’s men.
Australia on the other hand who have joined New Zealand to host the ICC Cricket World Cup will look for every opportunity to retain the cup in Australia. Australia are stepping back in time in an effort to maximise their chances of a fifth World Cup title
Pakistan are on a resurgence in this World Cup. They lost to arch-rivals India by 76 runs and then by 150 to the West Indies in their first two matches in this tournament, but have showed marked improvement with wins over Zimbabwe, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa.
The Cricket World Cup is a marathon event primed for plenty of unexpected twists in form. Therefore predicting who will take the World Cup home would be a disaster as this is where predictions take a back seat.
