Sri Lanka could not cash on drop catches

Well despite there being so many drop catches by Pakistan against Sri Lanka, it is a point to wander about by the Sri Lankans who are one of the favorites to at least make it to the semi-finals of the tournament. Having dropped uncountable number of catches against the co-hosts of this world cup, ending up on the winning should be on one side enjoyed to the fullest extent and on the other side worry about their fielding. Pakistan have always been poor fielders especially in crunch games like the world cup knock-outs though this is not one such game for the Pakistanis.

On the other hand as well, for Sri Lanka, being unable to make use of the opponents' poor fielding definitely needs a re-thinking when they are set to face Australia in the days to come. One need not remind me writing earlier about Sri Lanka's chances to beat Australia with their spin potent and Australia's lack of will power. I have to re0thing upon that since the day Australia beat New Zealand a couple of days back in a one sided encounter at Ahmedabad. And, even Sri Lanka's chances look slim after their debacle against Pakistan and so would be Pakistan with their opposition-friendly fielding.

One only can think about the reduction in the power of the Australian team that is found touring this world cup but, hardly anybody is able to sense the caliber of the teams which are set to face Australia-be it Pakistan or Sri Lanka. Of course, New Zealand is a matter of the past. Or else, Canada, Kenya and Zimbabwe can only be a last minute hope for any team which can at least make it to the quarter-finals of the tournament. Coming to the game between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, this was Sri Lanka's fifth defeat to Pakistan in world cups.

Scorecard reflects the team work that the Pakistani team got right when four of their top and middle order batsmen able to contribute along with a little bit from Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi. In the beginning, it looked as though the Pakistani total would go past 300+ and no credit to the Sri Lank bowlers when it was the Pakistani batsmen who made fools out of themselves. Afridi's caliber is seen in the area which he rarely concentrates and seems to fail in that area where he is expected to do a killing. Or else, a dashing batsman is seen scalping 4 wickets something which frontline bowlers couldn't manage.

An apple pie for Pakistan

Well, this is one such match where either all players gear up to show their talent and prove a point or else make a mess of them by underestimating the opposition. Earlier in the tournament, England and India went through all sorts of struggle in their games against Holland and Bangladesh respectively and on the other hand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka defeated Canada and Kenya by a margin in excess of 200 runs respectively. In such games, every player wants to make his name to the record books no matter what their performance has to say in serious games like Australia.

Pakistan is yet to win a game against India in world cups and have now beaten Kenya by 205 runs. In the previous world cup at West Indies, though India failed to make it to the super-eight stage, they made headlines to have scored the highest team total in world cups and the highest margin of victory in one day internationals when they scored 413 runs against Bermuda and won the match by 257 runs surpassing the 398 set by Sri Lanka in 1996 against Kenya and the 256 run win of Australia over Namibia in 2003. Of course, had Pakistan lost yesterday, it would have made headlines.

There were four batsmen from Pakistan who notched up half centuries and a bowler who took five wickets. This was the second time Shahid Afridi has taken a 5 wicket haul against Kenya when he had figures of 5/11 in the ICC champions trophy 2004. If not for some initial hiccups, things went on very smoothly for Pakistan when the middle order took decent charge of the Pakistani innings. Confusion lied in giving the man of the match award when there were four Pakistani batsmen who had scored half centuries and Shahid Afridi who had returned with figures of 5/16.

Even well known bowlers like Zaheer Khan and James Anderson cannot boast of a bowling figure as good as this. Afridi gave away runs at just less than 3 runs an over when he bowled 6 overs. Despite his experience in international cricket Sachin Tendulkar rarely comes out with such a splendid performance with the ball though he has so far had two five wicket hauls. So, as you might have already guessed by now, my man of the match is no one but Shahid Afridi. However, it is not a matter of concern who was awarded the man of the match when there was such a good team work.

South Africa exit yet again

For the third consecutive time, South Africa have given a grand exit from the world cup after losing to Pakistan at Gros Islet by 11 runs. The margin of victory for Pakistan might not seem to be that good but, the match against the Proteas was worth wining for both teams one, for South Africa to make it to the semis and second for Pakistan to keep their hopes alive in making it to the semis. Pakistan has lost both their earlier games to England and New Zealand while South Africa have a win against New Zealand and a loss to England.

With all gates being close for South Africa, Pakistan has a chance of making it to the semi-finals in case England happen to win over New Zealand. In case New Zealand win, the semi-finalists would be the two teams which beat Pakistan in the super eight stage. Coming to the match, the pitch never seemed to favor the batsmen when both Pakistan and South Africa had a bowler in their team who could scalp 4 wickets. Or else, a total of 147 is hard to defend. This is for the 2^nd time that Pakistan have ousted South Africa from T20 world cup.

Last time year, Pakistan had knocked off South Africa (who were until then unbeaten) in the semi-finals of the tournament en route to their successful campaign in England. Looking at the scorecard, After Kamran Akmal's stint at the top, Pakistan had to wait until the entry of Umar Akmal to see their scoreboard ticking once again. It was Umar Akmal's 51 runs along with a 61 run partnership with Shahid Afridi which laid the platform for a decent score on a bowler friendly pitch which went on to become a winning total for them. Shahid Afridi's 30 runs from 16 balls should also not go unnoticed.

Coming to the batting of the South Africans, initial blows from Asif and Abdul Razzaq was more than enough for viewers to come to conclusion of the match. If not for AB deVilliars, no other batsmen really had something to talk about. In the end, South Africa lost equal number of wickets as Pakistan but fell 11 runs short of what Pakistan could put up on the scoreboard. Now, all that Pakistan would want to happen is that England win thrashes the Kiwis which will see Pakistan making to the semis of a T20 world cup for the third consecutive time.