In contrast, Sri Lanka have lot going for them. Firstly, they will be playing at home, which anyways will give them an added advantage. Secondly, most of their players are in great form and will be looking to put up another imperious showing against the Kiwis. Their recent World Cup record also has been excellent. They made it to the finals back in the Caribbean with some superlative performances before running to a man named Adam Gilchrist in the finals. The only factor which might go against them in the semis will be the fact that they came through untested in the quarter final clash against England. The latter, which had be the most erratic side in the tournament reserved the worst for the game against Sri Lanka and as a result Sri Lanka came through unchallenged. While the manner of victory must have thrilled them no end, deep down even they would have wanted a closer game considering the stage of the tournament.

Key clashes

Malinga vs. McCullum

Both Lasith Malinga and Brendon McCullum are mavericks – one with the ball and the other with the willow. But, while the Sri Lankan has been at the top of his game again, the same cannot be said of McCullum. His big knocks have been thus far reserved for minnows. But, on the big day against Sri Lanka, he would be expected to come good considering his vast experience. Cometh the hour, cometh the man they say. Against South Africa, McCullum couldn’t prove the adage right, but the Proteas have given him another chance to do so against the Lankans. It would be an incredibly tough task though as Malinga is in the greatest form of his like akin to 2007. Like that year, he has taken a hat trick this time too and has been getting wickets at will. His slinging action and unplayable yorkers have found pride of place in soft drink commercials too. If New Zealand want to kill the Malinga threat, McCullum is one man who is capable of the same. Will he be able to do it or whether he, at present possesses the confidence to do so is another matter altogether.

Taylor vs. Murali

The Ross Taylor versus Muttiah Muralitharan battle will be another great contest within the contest that could go a long way in deciding the fate of the match. Taylor is without doubt a great player of spin, but he will be able to quell the Murali challenge remains to be seen. The good thing for New Zealand is that Taylor has been in excellent form post his Pakistan bashing. Having said that, Murali will offer a totally different challenge. Pakistan’s attack wasn’t as strong as Sri Lanka’s and it will not be an easy task for the Kiwis to take on Murali and co. They will thus look forward to a Taylor-made solution.

Ryder vs. Mendis

Like Taylor versus Murali, Jesse Ryder taking on Ajantha Mendis will be another key battle. Till the quarters, Ryder was not in great form at all, but he played a mature knock against the South Africans which should stand him in good stead for the semis. He probably doesn’t have the technique but does possess the temperament to come good in big matches. On the other hand, Mendis has not been deadly by any stretch of the imagination, but has still been a good foil for Murali. If the legend gets his act right, it will be difficult to get him away and the likes of Ryder will then be forced to attack. That will be his best chance to get among the wickets.

Southee vs. Dilshan

For New Zealand to do well, they will need to get the in-form Lankan openers cheaply. And Tim Southee will be the key here. He has done exceptionally in patches, but will have to be in his elements against the Lankans on Tuesday. That is because he will be up against Tillakaratne Dilshan. The latter has been in exquisite form in the recent games and that does not augur well for the New Zealanders. It has helped that he has got good support from fellow opener Upul Tharanga. New Zealand’s biggest hopes to upset the Lankan opening combo lie with Southee. It will be battle worth watching.

Vettori vs. Sangakkara

It’s the battle of the captains, one with the bat and the other with the ball. Kumar Sangakkara has a distinct advantage here as Lankans are among the best players of spin. Even so, Vettori is undoubtedly the best left arm spinner in world cricket today. Even if he cannot come up with something sensational, he would be expected to rise to the occasion and lead from the front in all aspects not least of all with the ball.

South Africa

What can one say about the South African cricket team. For the fifth World Cup in a row, they got felled in the knockouts when everything seemed to be going their way. Against a New Zealand side with limited ability, they were always the favourites. And for almost 75 overs of the game, they played like that but a disciplined bowling effort and their usual brilliant fielding was enough to upset the Proteas’ applecart. Dejection was writ large on the face of skipper Graeme Smith, who was retiring from one-day cricket, but it was the loss against the Kiwis that undoubtedly hurt him more. Unfortunately, South Africa have only themselves to blame for they were cruising at one stage, but it all came down like a pack of cards.

The wicket of Jacques Kallis was without doubt the turning point of the game. Until then, they were cruising and Kiwis needed something special to be back in the game. All of a sudden, Kallis in an effort to break free went for the big hit and perished thanks to an awesome catch on the boundary by Jacob Oram. Only a man of his ‘height’ could have pulled it out. After that, the rest just could not handle the pressure cooker situation and cracked. The bad aspect from South Africa’s point of view was that a number of their batsmen got starts, but not one could go on to register that match-winning effort. Among the culprits were captain Graeme Smith, Kallis and AB de Villiers — all experienced enough to absorb the pressure of the situation, but unable to do so. It did not help that Hashim Amla had a rare failure.

Despite the Proteas’ hara-kiri, credit must be given to the Kiwis for the manner in which they kept up the pressure once they saw an opening. Their bowling wasn’t sensational by any means, they hardly possess the attack to do so. But, what they did well was to maintain a tight leash on the South African batting once they found an opening post Kallis’ exit. There were too men in particular who did exceedingly well with the ball for the Kiwis. Jacob Oram, bowling his medium pacers was on target on most occasions. He bowled a tight line and length and just did not allow them to break free. And every time the South African batsmen tried to break the shackles, they perished one after the other.

Off spinner Nathan McCullum was the other star with the ball for the Kiwis. He typified South Africa’s woes against slow bowling as three men fell to him. Between McCullum and Oram, they captured seven wickets, including some key ones like Amla, Smith and not least of all JP Duminy. The latter, who has been known to be a great finisher, too felt the heat as he played an atrocious shot to revive the Kiwis further. And the final nail in the over arrived rather soon for South Africa’s comfort. de Villiers, always lighting between the wickets, responded to an attempted quick single call from Faf du Plessis, which was never there. And it was proved by the fact that even de Villiers ended up way short of the crease despite diving full length. Was it pressure? There wasn’t much until a few moments back, but South Africa self-destructed to change things around. The pitch wasn’t playing any great tricks, but was only offering a hit of turn. Yet, South Africa batted like it was a minefield. Fauf du Plessis did try to make amends for his big-match blunder, but while there were glimpses of hope courtesy some big hits, it was too little and too late.

Unlike their batsmen, the South African bowlers did a much better job. Opening the bowling, Robin Peterson once again got the early breakthrough, read the wicket of the dangerous Brendon McCullum. And when Dale Steyn fooled Martin Guptill with a well disguised slower one early on in the innings, it seemed all one way traffic. Some even had thoughts of a game akin to the West Indies-Pakistan quarter final. But while Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor took their time while rebuilding the innings, their approach wasn’t as negative as the one shown by Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul the other day. Neither Ryder nor Taylor went for too many big hits and were content rotating the strike. The thoughts of another middle and lower order collapse akin to the one against Sri Lanka must have definitely crossed their mind, which made both the usually free scoring batsmen adopt a cautious approach. As a result, New Zealand did have wickets in hand but not a score that was challenging by any means.

Owing to their wait and watch approach, when they eventually tried to break the shackles both Ryder and Taylor fell and New Zealand found themselves in no man’s land. Thanks to a sensible cameo by the impressive Kane Williamson, the Kiwis managed to end up with a somewhat respectable total. But without doubt, at the halfway stage, South Africa held the aces thanks to their impressive showing with the ball. Steyn was once again among the wickets at the start. Irman Tahir’s impressive tournament continued as he picked up both of the big scalps of Taylor and Ryder and, towards the end, Morne Morkel returned to damage the good work done by New Zealand in the middle overs, by picking up wickets at will. The game was now South Africa’s for the taking. And, midway through their chase, all seemed to be going according to plan. How the panic button got switched on will remain a mystery.

Key moments

Early loss of New Zealand openers

Rebuilding partnership between Ryder-Taylor

Tahir’s double strike

Morkel’s triple success

Amla’s early dismissal

Loss of a well set Smith

Oram’s brilliant catch to get rid of Kallis off Southee

de Villiers’ run out at a crucial juncture

End of du Plessis’ resistance

In 1992, New Zealand under Martin Crowe’s innovative leadership, were one of the favourites to win the World Cup. They had to face Pakistan, whose form was lop-sided. The Kiwis won the toss and elected to bat first on a sunny day in Auckland. Crowe himself played a blinder of a knock, a perfect captain’s innings of 91 runs off just 83 balls to lead New Zealand to a competitive total of 262 in 50 overs. It was a tough ask for Pakistan and there were staring down the barrel at 140/4, until the young and burly Inzamam ul Haq decided to make the game his own. He alongside the experienced Javed Miandad struck a 87-run 5th wicket partnership to guide Pakistan home with one over to spare. Inzamam ended with 60 runs off 37 balls, unbeaten in the end. With this, Pakistan got an opportunity to win a World Cup for the first time and this was the beginning of Inzamam’s rise as one of the greats in world cricket.

Six years later, Australia toured India for a 3-Test series. India won the first Test at Chennai and today was the second Test at Kolkata. Australia were never in the game at 1/2 in the first innings, and India won by an innings and 219 runs. Mohd. Azharuddin, the Indian skipper scored a masterclass 163 not out on the way towards the team total reaching 633/5 declared. As a result, India won the series 2-0 and perhaps for the first time, Shane Warne was manhandled in a Test series.

Also on this day, Sunil Gavaskar scored the first Test century of his career against West Indies in Guyana, which led the way to a historic 1-0 series win for India in 1971. He scored 774 runs in the series, the highest aggregate by a batsman in his debut series. And also this paved the road for him to score a record 34 Test hundreds, which was broken fittingly by his ‘successor’, Sachin Tendulkar in December 2005.

South Africa

Strengths: South Africa’s biggest strength is undoubtedly the fact that they have in their midst the best fast bowler in world cricket. Dale Steyn is a sensational bowler and even if he has a half good day he can blow the opposition away. The game against India was a perfect illustration. He was taken apart by Sachin and Sehwag in his initial spell, but came back to destroy the remainder of the Indian batting line up and turned the game on its heels. The Kiwi batsman would have to be wary of him else he could do the same to them. Steyn’s presence also gives this South African side a definite edge over the previous ones, who were also tipped as favourites, but failed on each and every occasion.

The good thing for Steyn is that he has found great support and an able ally in Morne Morkel. Also quick in pace, Morkel has cemented his place in the side over the last year with some excellent spells of fast bowling and has only augmented his reputation with some impressive performances in cricket’s premier tournament. The Steyn-Morkel combination, if on fire, can be too much to handle for the Kiwis.

The surprise element in this tournament as far as South Africa are concerned has been the impressive performance of left-arm pinner Robin Peterson. The latter has been part of the Proteas’ set up for a number of years now, but has never been more than a bits and pieces player. However, this World Cup has changed that all. On pitches supportive to his kind of bowling, he has found success both while opening the innings as well as in the middle overs. What’s more, he is even contributing with the bat at key moments. Add to it, they have former skipper Johan Botha as well who has also done his bit whenever given the opportunity, which makes South Africa a completely dominant outfit.

There’s much to be happy about in the batting department as well. Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers have all been among the runs and looked fluid at that. Their fielding has always been a strong point, yet it deserves a mention.

Weaknesses: One of the major worries for the South Africans is the form of their skipper Graeme Smith. He has looked totally scratch even as the other around him have gone around scoring merrily. Someday or the other the in-form batsmen are bound to have a bad day, like the one against England and if Smith doesn’t rise up to the occasion then they could be in deep trouble. Also, they have a tendency to struggle against slow bowling and if New Zealand can find a way out here, they could have an opening into the game.

Opposition: It is a given that the Kiwis are less talent of the two sides. However, they are still capable of making up somewhat given their battle-hardened nature. The Proteas thus shouldn’t be overaggressive or the move could backfire.

Threats: Although South Africa managed to chase down India’s big total, they haven’t been completely ridden of the chokers’ tag. It is something that mentally may still weigh heavily on them. And this is one aspect where South Africa can be put under pressure if the Kiwis are good enough to do so.

New Zealand

Strengths: Having limited ability, the positives of this New Zealand side are also bounded. Still, they can be used to deadly effect as was evident against Pakistan. Think of the game against Pakistan and Ross Taylor’s destruction immediately comes to mind. The immensely talented stroke maker could put all the Proteas’ plans to nought if he comes of. Further, in Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill they have two men who have hit form at the right time. Of course, most of their big knocks have come against lesser sides, but that is no discredit to them. Also , there is no doubting their ability as well. The Kiwis don’t lack in all-round talent too. In Jacob Oram and Scott Styris they have two class batsmen who can also do a reasonable job with the ball.

It doesn’t even need to be mentioned that, If fit, Daniel Vettori could be the trump card for the Kiwis considering the conditions, which should suit his style of bowling. Finally, there are two aspects that give the New Zealanders a slight edge if one can say so. The Kiwis haven’t lost to South Africa in the World Cup since 1999 and, as Hamish Bennett’s replacement in the event pointed out, they have made it to the World Cup semis on as many as five occasions.

Weaknesses: The Kiwis are mentally strong no doubt, but at times outrageous talent can outshine mental aptitude. This explains why the Kiwis have never made it past the semis. In 1992, Inzamam-ul-Haq blasted them out when it seemed they would easily make it to the summit clash. In 1999, too Pakistan were too good for them. And so, it could all depend on how badly South Africa want to win and amount of ruthlessness in their game.

Opposition: South Africa just look much more superior and well-balanced on paper. And if they perform to potential, the Kiwis won’t be able to do much despite their best efforts.

Threats: New Zealand haven’t been having a good time of late on the subcontinent. They were blanked by both Bangladesh and India. If a few things go wrong, the haunting memories could be back as well.

Group A has panned out as expected, the International teams have decimated the Associates. Canada, Zimbabwe and Kenya have only ratified the ICC’s decision of streaming down the number of teams for the next world cup down under. Kenya have been the most impressive of the Associate teams as far as Group A is concerned, improving considerably with every game.

Here is a look at how the top 4 teams have gone (Group A) and what lies ahead:

Australia

- The defending champions came into the tournament on the back of a drubbing that they offered the Poms after an embarrassing defeat in the Ashes. Australia have a lot of things going for them this tournament, decent batting order, potent attack and fabulous fielders.

- However, a few obvious gaping holes do lie in between. Their batting has been suspect this tournament, despite the 320 odd that they scored against the Kenyans. Both the openers have looked sublime but the middle order has not been able to keep the score board ticking. Michael Clarke was an exception today, but, Ricky Ponting and Cameron White have been in woeful touch with the bat. Ponting has still snuck through but White’s form has been real cause for concern.

- On the positive note, Michael Hussey has returned to the Australian side giving the batting much needed potency in the middle order. Hussey always seems to have a calming influence about himself that invariably rubs of on his peers.

- All the talk about the Australian bowling being the best in the tournament, the three pronged pace attack looked ordinary against Kenya and could be exposed against better oppositions in the quarter finals if they fail to hit their lengths. Having said this, I personally do believe that if the bowlers hit their straps soon, the oppositions may be in for some contest. Add to this, their bowling has the best strike rate across all teams this world cup. Australia’s bowling should improve over the next week.

Sri Lanka

- The last time the World cup was staged in the sub continent, it was the Lankan tigers who walked away with the trophy. Arjuna Ranatunga inspired the Rest of the World as he enabled Sri Lanka announce themselves on the World stage.

- 15 years later, the World cup is back in the sub continent and you would not bet against the Lankans, they are wily at home and looked determined like never before. Muttiah Muralidaran is sure to hang his boots up with the closure of this tournament and would look to bring home the cup after 15 elusive years.

- The Lankan top order looks solid, with Tillakaratne Dilshan taking them of to blazing starts on a regular basis. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene provide the perfect foil in the middle order. It is their lower order batting that is a little questionable, Angelo Mathews does not look good enough to provide the impetus at the fag end of the innings on a consistent basis. They rely on other bits and pieces cricketers in Thisara Perera and co to do the job.

- Nevertheless, you cannot discount them. Just a reminder, Sanath Jayasuriya was an unknown commodity too in 1996, so you never know with the Lankans.

- Their bowling seems very steady with Lasith Malinga and Muralidaran leading the pack. Sri Lanka should make the semi finals and stand a very good chance this tournament if they can sort out their late order batting.

Pakistan

- The only consistent thing with Pakistan is inconsistency. On paper they look a very balanced unit, one that opposition teams must really take seriously. But which Pakistan you get on the day, can never be told. It is a well documented fact, Pakistan on their day can beat the chickens out of their opponents.

- They have looked impressive this tournament barring the outing against New Zealand where they threw away their position of strength and ended up being battered like one of the minnows.

- A steady top order lead by Younis Khan and Misbah ul Haq is followed by a flamboyant middle order in Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi with Abdul Razzaq providing the finishing touch. Perhaps the most efficient lower middle order across all teams, Pakistan is sure a team to watch out for.

- The bowling complements their batting perfectly, 2 front line seamers backed by a steady Razzaq and useful spinners in Afridi and Rehman to do the job. However, Pakistan’s biggest issue for many years now, has been their fielding. The fielding fails to give teeth to the bowling and they tend to put down a couple of catches, least, every match.

- Contenders this year, if only they can shave of the slack and unprofessionalism, Pakistan may just do what they did in 1992.

New Zealand

- New Zealand, workman like, have been very industrious in the way they have gone about things. Nothing flashy in their cricket, steady and stable.

- One feels for New Zealand, with a population under 50 lacs, it must be hard to find full time professional cricketers.

- It has to be Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor who have got to do the bulk of the job with the bat, if New Zealand stand any chance this world cup. Daniel Vettori, by far is their most proficient and experienced player.

- A lot of things have to go wrong for other teams and a lot right for NZ if they have to proceed any further than the quarters this World cup.

- The lack of a game changers with both bat and ball is a huge problem for the Kiwis. They will have to make do without them or hope young guns in Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson come to the fort.
- A good side in decent form but may find it difficult to proceed ahead of the quarter finals.

Sangakkara celebrates after scoring his century

Sri Lanka crushed New Zealand to run home winners with an easy win at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Sri Lanka won by 112 runs after scoring 265 in their 50 overs and ensured that they would end the group in the top two positions. Kumar Sangakkara was named the man of the match for his century.

Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat first. The decision was prompted by the high temperatures in Mumbai and the 2.30 pm start, which would have made fielding difficult to begin with. However, the decision seemed to have backfired at one stage when the side lost two wickets before even getting to 20 in the fifth over.

It was then, the partnership between Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene that rescued the side. Jayawardene should have probably been given out when he accorded a catch back to the bowler but the third umpire decided to give the Lankan batsman a benefit of the doubt.

From there, Sangakkara went on to get a century whereas Jayawardene made a 66 to ensure that the side would get to a big total. In fact, at 210/3 in the 42^nd over, one felt that 300 was achievable but there was a collapse that saw the side losing their last six wickets for 55 runs in the last eight overs or so.

However, that proved to be enough as none of the New Zealand batsmen could get to more than what Ross Taylor got – 33. There were a couple of 20s and a 13, 14 and a 19 but the wily bowling from Muthiah Muralitharan meant that the side was left with too much to get once the wickets started falling.

Muralitharan, who was suffering from a hamstring strain, bowled his eight overs for 25 but most importantly, took four wickets. He was difficult to read for the opponents and this was despite the ball not turning due to the dew in the outfield.

The win for Sri Lanka meant that they finish with nine points from their games. New Zealand ended with eight points. Australia and Pakistan play against each other and have nine and eight respectively, which means that if Australia win, the top four will be led by them and followed by Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Pakistan. If Pakistan go on to win the game, the Pakistanis will lead the group, followed by Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand.

In the other group, South Africa have eight points from five, India have seven from five, England have seven from six, West Indies have six from five whereas Bangladesh have six from five as well. Bangladesh play South Africa while India play West Indies in the last two games of the group which will decide which four teams go through and at what position.

Unfortunately for Pakistan, it was actually the silence before the storm. Shoaib Akhtar bowled a plethora of full tosses and was treated by the well-set Taylor with the least of respect. All those deliveries found their way over the ropes as Akhtar could do nothing but watch in embarrassing amazement. Taylor threw his bat at everything and was rewarded suitably as he also brought up his birthday century. There was more come in the innings of the lifetime as Taylor dished out similar treatment to Abdul Razzaq. Like Akhtar, Razzaq was also guilty of bowling a number of full tosses. And not surprisingly, those deliveries were dispatched easily over the ropes. And even when the bowler managed to land the ball on the pitch, the ball was creamed to the fence along the ground. The bowlers had absolutely no answer to the Taylor assault. Inspired by Taylor, Nathan McCullum and Jacob Oram also played wonderful cameos as Pakistan bowlers succumbed to the pressure.

Taylor’s was the kind of innings New Zealand needed to lift themselves up following some disappointing efforts in recent times. Taylor hadn’t been the greatest form going into the tournament. In fact, he had been struggling for quite a while. Also, his record on the sub continent had been below par prior to this tournament. In spite of all this, Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori had backed Taylor to come good sooner rather than later in the tournament. And that’s exactly what happened. Taylor went from strength to strength as the innings progressed and hurt Pakistan badly for their misdemeanours with both the ball and in the field.

Once Taylor and co had blasted Pakistan in the manner they did, there seemed to be no way back for the Pakistanis. So shell-shocked were they that in time the Pakistanis had lost six wickets and the game was all but over. It was only a blazing counter attack by Abdul Razzaq that the Asian giants something to cheer about. He got some good support from Umar Gul towards the end. But, that was only a case of too little too late.

Apart from Taylor, Martin Guptill’s half-century will also give assurance to New Zealand at the top of the order. He has been in good form of late and the Kiwis will want him to continue that in the coming matches as well. What they need now is for Brendon McCullum to find his groove. He did perform well in the previous game against Zimbabwe. However, New Zealand will need McCullum to be more consistent in the coming games. Among the other worries, the injury to skipper Vettori will be a bit of a worry to them.

From Pakistan’s point of view, they will need to get their bowling act at the death right. Also, their fielding needs to go up by a few notches. And, of course, their batting under pressure needs to improve. They have been caught napping on more than a couple of occasions now and were bailed out by Shahid Afridi. The business end of the tournament is just about to begin and Pakistan need to put the past victories behind them and look ahead to the bigger battles that are ahead.

Crowds always support the under dogs, the team who is behind, unless it’s a home team, to make a cricket match interesting. However, CWC 2011 has only been able to see competitive matches with strong performances from minnows against the cricket majors.  In another disappointing one sided affair, . Mitchell Johnson was adjudged Man of the match for his 4 wickets for just 33 runs.

It was an obnoxious start for the kiwis with the opener Martin Guptil taking 19 deliveries to open his account. Brendon McCullum on the other hand, in his usual style, creamed the opposition over covers on multiple occasions. McCullum fell in the fourth over handing a catch to Krejza.  Jesse Ryder showed some promise and pulled a couple of bowls from middle and leg towards the long leg for consecutive boundaries of Mitchell Johnson. Guptil innings soon came to end to a ball keeping low and it opened the flood gates for rest of the Kiwi side. Ryder was caught behind and Franklin got out in the similar fashion poking outside off stump. NZ were tumbling wickets and lost Styris in a matter of few balls and were in shambles in the 15^th over with 6 down at 73. The younger McCullum showed some intent and scored a well compiled 52 while captain Vettori managed an impressive 44 to make NZ reach a respectable but below par 206 all out with almost 5 overs to spare.  Brett Lee spearheaded the attack with two maidens in his spell of 8 overs giving away just 29 runs. Tait’s fury was New Zealand’s trouble as he struck on three occasions but the hero of the day was Mitchell Johnson who uprooted four NZ victims for only 33 runs.

The ruthless openers Shane Watson and Brad Haddin left no stone unturned in forcing New Zealand bite the dust as they cruised the scoreboard to 74 in the first power play without losing a single wicket.  Haddin in particular played some scintillating drives caressing the ball through covers and through the ‘V’ and made a better than run a ball fifty. At the other end, the man in form of his life, Shane Watson raced to 62 in just 61 balls. Hamish Bennett gave some respite by picking up both the openers in the 19^th over of the second innings. Ponting’s dismal run continues as he was stumped of Southee for 12. Michael Clarke and White ensured no further hiccups and drove Australia home with 7 wickets to spare.  NZ bowling was lacklustre and they need to regroup for the future matches. Australia is sending strong signals to all the teams and is just finding the right touch at the right time.

Final Score:

NZ       206 all out (45.1 ovs)

AUS    207/3  (34 ovs)

Australia wins by 7 wickets

Pakistan may have lost to Sri Lanka in their first Super 8 match, but it is important to understand that the Lankan lion’s are playing the best cricket of their life since the 1996 world cup. Pakistan did give them a good fight in that match but could not manage to reach the final total. However, Pakistan now looks like a team on a mission to regain their lost title. Players like Afridi, Mallik, Ajmal, Gul, and Razaq have put in superlative performances whenever the team required their services. Under the captaincy of a very relaxed Younis Khan, the Pakistani team looks very dangerous and hungry to regain the title.

South Africa has played Pakistan just once in the T20 format of the game. A great innings from their skipper Graeme Smith ensured that they got the better of Pakistan that time. However, past performances will not matter as the location is new, the match is an all-important semifinal clash, and both teams are looking forward to win the title for the first time. Therefore, things are completely different as compared to their last encounter.

The Proteas are unperturbed by the chokers tag, which had cost them dearly in the past. In 2009, they want to prove to cricket audiences worldwide that things have drastically changed in their approach to the game. With five consecutive victories in the tournament and players like Kallis, Smith, Botha, De Villiers, Gibbs, Parnell, Morkel, and Steyn showing good form, the South Africans are the hot favorites to win the tournament this time round. Only one thing is certain from this match and that is high intensity and non-stop entertainment as the two titans of cricket clash to regain their lost glory.

The Pakistanis decided to bat after winning the toss and looked comfortable while piling up 159 runs by just loosing five wickets against the Irish bowlers. Kamran Akmal took the experienced Irish bowler Trent Johnson, to the cleaners by smashing 20 runs of his second over of the match. The only Irish bowler to have troubled the Pakistani batsman was Boyd Rankin. His steepling bounce caused a lot of anxiety for the Pakistani openers and kept them under leash. The Pakistani batsman looked in control thereafter with notable contributions from Kamran Akmal (57 runs), Shahzaib Hasan (23 runs), Sahid Afridi (quick fire 24 runs), and Misbah-ul-Haq (20 runs) to take the score past 150 and set a challenging total for the Irishmen.

The target 0f 160 seemed to be a long distance away for Ireland with a lethal Pakistani bowling attack going full throttle against them. Saeed Ajmal spun a web around the Irish batsman with his 4-wicket haul thereby spinning Ireland out of the match. Umer Gul joined the party with a 2-wicket haul to leave Ireland 39 runs short of the target. The Ireland batsman never looked in control during the run chase as wickets tumbled on a regular interval throughout the match.

Pakistan thus ended the Super 8 stage of the competition with two consecutive victories to come close to a Semi Final spot from group F. A win for Sri Lanka against New Zealand would ensure that both the Sub continental teams reach the Semi finals from this group. Things could change with a win for New Zealand, which would force the Semi Finalists selection based on run rate, thereby leaving the Semi Final door open for all the three teams in this group.