England and Pakistan, the
unbeaten teams so far in Group-1 and Group-2 respectively, have earned 8 points
each with one match each remaining and have sealed their places in the semi-finals.
England is probably the best team of the tournament defeating all tough rivals
easily and busting the myth that teams winning the toss and bowling first go on
to win the matches which, in fact, have been a trend in the sluggish pitches and
the dew factor later in the night at Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai. However,
England in particular and also Pakistan have proved that any good team can
always win under any circumstances. It had been really tough for England to bat
first against Sri Lanka, particularly handling the Lankan good spinners; but their
in-form batsmen took up the challenge
and Buttler went on to hit the first century of the tournament remaining
unbeaten thus helping the team to put up a healthy total of 163 runs. And then,
their bowlers and fieldsmen delivered as in all previous matches to restrain
Sri Lanka to 137 runs. This win took their points to 8 and ensured a semi-final,
and in all probability to be the top team of the group, of course subject to
their last match result against the tough South Africa.
Pakistan has been the
unbeaten team in Group-2 so far beating all the tough contenders including
India, Afghanistan and New Zealand, and then negating the myth of the toss too
by beating Namibia, although a weaker side, when Pakistan lost the toss and
were put into bat, and notching up 8 points ensuring a semi-final berth. Pakistan
is most likely to be to be the yet-to-be-beaten top side in Group-2 considering
the fact they have their last match against a listless Scotland.
The picture is still not
clear as to which two teams from their respective groups would fill the other two
semi-final berths. In Group-1 it is most likely to be either of South Africa
with 6 points and one match to go and Australia having 4 points, but with two
matches left. In a possible scenario of South Africa winning against England
and Australia winning against both Bangladesh and the West Indies there would
be a deadlock of three teams with 8 points each; but in that case too England
is likely to seal its top position thanks to their almost insurmountable net
run-rate. The second team would also be decided then based on their net
run-rate with both teams, particularly Australia, needing to improve theirs
drastically. While Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are out of contention the West
Indies still have a fighting chance with only 2 points, but two matches are
left for them, one against Sri Lanka and the second against Australia; if they
win both they will have 6 points reducing Australia too to 6 provided they beat
Bangladesh and if South Africa lose to England there would be a three-team
deadlock of 6 points each.
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| Afghan Captain Nabi |
We have already analyzed the
situation in Group-2 in
an earlier post which needs to be adjusted a little now
with New Zealand crushing India and getting their first 2 precious points. New Zealand
is likely to move rather easily to 6 points in their matches against Scotland
and Namibia. The game-changer match for them, on Sunday, the 7
th
of November, would be against Afghanistan who already has 4 points with two
matches to go. If New Zealand lose that match Afghanistan will have 6 points
and an extremely formidable net run-rate, and in that scenario India too will
have a chance technically provided they beat all three including Afghanistan
with huge margins. If New Zealand win they will have 8 points and will be
through to either top or the second position depending on the result of Pakistan’s
last encounter with Scotland and respective net run-rates. Therefore, it is
still wide open in Group-2 for the second semi-final berth.
In all likelihood,
considering all the scenarios, the first semi-final should be between England
Vs New Zealand or Afghanistan and the second semi-final should be between
Pakistan Vs South Arica or Australia. Negative body language of the Indians
complaining all the time about the toss or pitches or dew, poor team selection
cum horrible changes in the batting order and the commerce involved in placing
them in the second slot all the time and a huge gap between their first and
second match so that both matches get played on Sundays while all other teams
were playing every alternate days in either of the slots. For the latter factor
the BCCI is squarely responsible, because they shouldn’t have treated the ICC
Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 in the same way as their money-spinning IPL-2021. The cricket
board must be ruing the fact that the IPL-2021 could not continue in the huge
stadiums of India with raving crowds and the same for the World Cup as it was
shifted to India earlier this year.
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