Half Way Stage Done, Half to Come.

 

Thrillers, Upsets and Rain that’s the WC so far

 

When the World Cup started the anxious cricket fans all over the World have expected it to be the much exciting and thrilling than the previous ones. And it has given results upto the expectations. We have seen some really thrillers games already like, India vs Pakistan, Pakistan vs Zimbabwe in most common. There were some upsets also happened which was not expected. Just like we saw Namibia beating Sri Lanka & Ireland beating West Indies in the qualifiers, here in super 12s Ireland have beaten mighty England and Zimbabwe have beaten Pakistan in a close encounter by just 1 run.

 

However, this world Cup also created some unwanted records like- We have already witnessed most washed out games in a single edition of an ICC event. Already 4 matches have been abandoned due to rain and there are more expected in coming matches, which is ruining the craze of this WC. The teams that are being part of this games were suffering in terms of points. Where some teams have been lucky to get shared points from their game, like- Zimbabwe against South Africa and Afghanistan against New Zealand.

 

In these games South Africa and New Zealand were clear favorites, so we can say that both might have lost 1 points each. Yes we can’t ignore the fact that Cricket is a game of un-certainty and particularly in this format upsets happens but in normal circumstances Zimbabwe and Afghanistan will feel they were bit lucky. While two other games which were expected to be really exciting, Afghanistan vs Ireland and England vs Australia have also been ended with a draw. A win or loss would have made a team move upward and other downward but shared points have made all them standing at same situation.

 

Group Scenarios:-

The rain have mostly affected Group1 where barring Sri Lanka all other teams have suffered from it. Particularly Afghanistan, who fought very well against England but their next two games have been washed out. While Ireland have got good results from the rain interruption. While their game hasn’t been washed out but in the game against England, rain came at a point where they were 5 runs ahead of England in DLS method. Since the match wasn’t possible after that break so Ireland was declared winner of that game and they made an upset there.

New Zealand from this group is looking at most comfortable position having won 2 games and 1 washed out game from 3. With 5 points and an excellent NRR they have certainly placed a foot in knockouts. While England, Ireland and Australia are each at 3 points from 3 games and Sri Lanka & Afghanistan have 2 points each from 3 games. Unless and until some dramatic situation arises New Zealand is looking the 1^st team to enter into Semi-finals, from this group and the rest of the 5 teams will fight with each other for 2^nd position.

 

While the Group 2 hasn’t been much affected by rain, still South Afica will surely feel they have lost 1 crucial point. Current table toppers India have been outstanding in both the games they have played. They have beaten Pakistan in a thrilling encounter and won comfortably against the Dutch. With 2 out of 2 wins and 4 points they are looking 1^st contender for Semi-finalist from this group. In other hand South Africa have also played excellently well and so does Zimbabwe. They both have won 1 game and shared points in the clash between them. Currently they both have 3 points from 2 games and 4^th team Bangladesh is not far behind, they have 1 win and loss each from 2 games. With 2 points they are neck to neck with above two teams.

 

Surprisingly Pakistan having dominated both their games in most parts have lost both the matches by very slight margin in very last ball. They got heartbreaks in both games against India and Zimbabwe. They are currently standing with Netherlands with 0 points in the bottom part but have still some outside chances but will depend on other team’s results.

 

The next few days are going to be real fun. Hope the rain doesn’t play the role of show spoiler. With India and New Zealand looking two contenders for Semi-finalist other two might be clear in few days.