Published: Mar 14, 2015, 11:46 AM (IST)
Edited: Mar 14, 2015, 12:04 PM (IST)
Pakistan take on Ireland in a highly anticipated ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Pool B encounter at Adelaide. The fact that Ireland beat Pakistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 is still perhaps in the minds of many players from both sides for different reasons. Ireland will remember the match having secured a memorable seven-wicket win and Pakistan will always look back at that day as a time when they suffered one of the biggest upsets in international cricket. LIVE SCORECARD: Ireland vs Pakistan ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 match
Coming back to the current World Cup, Pakistan and Ireland are tied with six points, having secured three victories in their five matches. Pakistan currently occupy the third the pool B table, ahead of Ireland on net run rate. Ireland started the campaign by chasing down a 300-plus total against West Indies in their opening game of their campaign. They then managed to beat Zimbabwe and United Arab Emirates (UAE) as well, but suffered big defeats at the hands of India and South Africa between all this. READ: ICC World Cup 2007: Bob Woolmer found dead in his hotel room; possibly murdered
Pakistan, on the other hand, did not have the best of the starts to the World Cup as they lost their opening two ties against India and West Indies. They have ever since found their feet and stitched three back-to-back victories starting with Zimbabwe. They then comprehensively beat UAE, but the win that would give them the most confidence is against South Africa. Their batting and bowling clicked beautifully and despite AB de Villiers hard-hitting in the end, Pakistan prevailed and thus kept themselves alive in t he competition. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: SCHEDULE & MATCH DETAILS
Pakistan seem to have gotten their combinations right in their previous game against South Africa where they decided to bring in young wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed, who scored a valiant 49 runs with the bat and took a record-equalling six wickets behind the wickets. Younis Khan, who played in place of Haris Sohail might just retain his place in the playing XI, but Misbah-ul-Haq might go with Haris considering that he can also chip in with a few off breaks in the middle overs. Otherwise, it looks to be a settled Pakistan side and more importantly they seem to be winning lately and it’s not advisable to change a winning combination. READ: Pakistan remembers Bob Woolmer ahead of clash against Ireland in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
Ireland for all their hype in this tournament have a shambolic bowling attack. They have conceded over 300 runs against all the teams except UAE and India. India were set a target of 260, when at one point it looked Ireland will go well past 300. Their strength lies in their batting, especially when they’re chasing. They might concede 300 runs or more, but they have the ability to chase them down as well as they did against West Indies. They bat very deep and have some hard-hitters like Kevin O’Brien and Gary Wilson in their ranks, who can take a game away from the opposition at a blink of an eye. Ireland will want their bowlers to step it up a notch. CC Cricket World Cup 2015: POINTS TABLE
Pakistan, on paper look a more settled team. They’re finally winning matches and seem to have gotten their combination right in every department. But, Ireland will take inspiration from their previous World Cup meeting and try to put in a similar performance. After all, a place at the quarter-finals at the biggest cricketing event is at stake and no team will want to miss out on a spot. Top 10 bowlers in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
Squads:
Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Haris Sohail, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Irfan, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil, Sohaib Maqsood, Yasir Shah, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz
Ireland: William Porterfield (c), Andrew Balbirnie, Peter Chase, Alex Cusack, George Dockrell, Ed Joyce, Andrew McBrine, John Mooney, Max Sorensen, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien (wk), Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Gary Wilson, Craig Young
TIME: 3.30 AM GMT | 9 AM IST
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)
