How the quarter-finalists measure up
How the quarter-finalists measure up.
By Suneer Chowdhary
In the 1987 edition of the cricket World Cup, the efforts of Jagmohan Dalmiya and his cronies had ensured that the tournament was to be co-hosted by India and Pakistan, the first such instance of it being held outside England. It was then, on expected lines, that the two also went into the World Cup as favourites.
The fans across the border had visualised, hoped and almost cajoled for an India-Pakistan final. It was not to be. Pakistan were blown away by Craig McDermott’s five-for. The heartbreak was complete day later when Graham Gooch swept India out of the World Cup.
The possibility of an India-Pakistan clash at a crucial stage in the World Cup is already abuzz. The quarter-finals pit West Indies against Pakistan on Wednesday at Mirpur and India against Australia in Ahmedabad. The winners of these two games meet each other in the semi-final.
Pakistan look favourites to beat the West Indies, while India had beaten Australia in the World Cup warm-up game and have done well against them better than any other in recent years. The India-Australia game has been billed as a final before the final and it could be anybody’s game.
However, the tendency to surprise has always remained Pakistan’s forte. They did so by topping the Group A after an eminently forgettable year. Their fans would be hoping that Shahid Afridi’s team does not spring unpleasant surprises by losing to a side which has not won a single ODI against a top Test-playing nation since June 2009.
West Indies have the firepower to surprise. Earlier it was only Chris Gayle, now there is Kieron Pollard as well. If one of Ramnaresh Sarwan or Shivnarine Chanderpaul can take it upon themselves to bat through the innings with one of these two strikers, it could be an interesting 100 overs of cricket.
The sad aspect of an India-Australia game is that the losing team will have many questions to answer. There isn’t anything to choose from between the two sides, with both having ended their league standings on nine points – with four wins and one split game.
There are three teams which have yet to win the World Cup: England, South Africa and New Zealand. And all three are the in the same half of the draw. This essentially translates into a small obvious fact; only of them will feature in the final of the World Cup.
The fourth team here is Sri Lanka, the only one to have won a World Cup while being the hosts. Interestingly, theirs is also the only game which will be a repeat of the 1996 quarter-final. England had played and had been outplayed by Sri Lanka in the quarter-finals of the 1996 edition of the tournament, losing the game to a Sanath Jayasuriya blitzkrieg. It is difficult to see the lopsidedness of that contest repeating in this game, though the result may still remain the same. Unless the English can conjure up the remaining, if any, gas in the tank to deliver the killer punch.
Teams have had tendencies to use the excuse of overkill of the game when at the receiving end of a losing streak, but in case of England, it seems justifiable. For a 16-member side to be on the tour of Australia for a period of three months and follow it up with the World Cup is not too dissimilar to what happened with Australia in 1992, where a jaded Aussie side had failed to go through to the semi-final.
The win over West Indies seems to have given them new hope. Where they can hope for an even battle is the existence of two decent spinners in their line-up to go with the possibility of batting first if they did win the toss.
Here are my predictions:
West Indies could upset the Pakistanis if all their players are fit, South Africa will brush New Zealand aside, the team batting first will win in the England-Sri Lanka game while the one between India and Australia is too tough to call.
(Suneer is a Mumbai-based cricket writer and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com and Tweets here: @suneerchowdhary)