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| Jonathan Carter For West Indies |
Pakistan and West Indies rose to the occasion and
ensured their places in the knockout stage of the ICC Cricket World Cup-2015. Notwithstanding
the minnows both teams were facing they had to take the games seriously. In the
first match West Indies without Gayle did win with a big margin as required for
a better net run-rate against UAE. Chasing a modest target of 176 at Napier
today West Indies won by 6 wickets with nearly 20 overs to spare making it
almost impossible for the loser of the other match between Pakistan and Ireland
to come up on better net run-rate and their place in the Quarterfinals was
ensured except for a tie or no result in the other match.
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| Sarfraz Ahmed's Century For Pakistan |
Pakistan bowling that has been responsible for the
team’s great comeback stuck to their job and restricted Ireland to 237 in 50
overs despite a century by Porterfield (107 off 131 balls). Pakistan without
Younis Khan did not take any chances in the chase and went steady with the only
objective of a win. Their batting clicked too with Sarfraz Ahmed making the
first hundred for Pakistan in this World Cup and it was also his maiden century
in 38 one day internationals (101 not out off 121 balls). Finally Pakistan overwhelmed
a promising Ireland by 7 wickets with nearly 4 overs to spare.
The much awaited spots in Pool-B are now final—1.India,
2.South Africa, 3.Pakistan and 4.West Indies. Accordingly the Quarterfinal
line-up is clear:
1.
March
18, Wednesday, Sydney South
Afria Vs Sri Lanka
2.
March
19, Thursday, Melbourne India
Vs Bangladesh
3.
March
20, Friday, Adelaide
Australia Vs Pakistan
4.
March
21, Saturday, Wellington New Zealand Vs West Indies
Just thinking it would have been a mouth-watering
prospect if the knockout stage was played as Super Eight Round Robin. I still
maintain that this will be the right format for such a world event followed by
billions of fans. See the irony now, the hard-fought dream of any team for
reaching the next stage could be terminated with just one loss.
The winners of Quarterfinals 1 and 4 will meet in
the semifinal in Auckland on 24th March. This means South Africa or
Sri Lanka will meet either New Zealand or West Indies. The winners of
Quarterfinals 2 and 3, that is to say, either India or Bangladesh with meet
Pakistan or Australia on 26th March in Sydney. This again means
India and Pakistan can possibly meet each other only in the semifinal like last
time and that an India-Australia final on 29th March in Melbourne is
also ruled out. New Zealand or South Africa or Sri Lanka or even West Indies
are set to test their chances of reaching the final as the other team. Stay tuned.
