Top eight teams of ongoing ICC World Cup 2011 to battle it out in quarterfinals
Sunday’s match between West Indies and India was the last group match of the ICC World Cup 2011 and all the eight quarterfinalists have been determined.
The teams to feature in the knockout stages of the tournament are Australia, England, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760. There will be a two-day rest before the action starts at Dhaka in Bangladesh on Wednesday.
There has been plenty of action in both the groups. However, the situation in Group B was more uncertain as compared to Group A because of a few upsets.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 finished at the top of Group A with 10 points. The Men in Green were not considered to be one of the favourites to win the tournament, but the situation has changed now.
The biggest achievement of the Pakistan team was their win against Australia. The Kangaroos were undefeated in 34 World Cup matches since 1999. Their last defeat in the mega event was in May 1999 against none other than Pakistan.
New Zealand were the only team to defeat the Men in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kamran-Akmal-c70122, who dropped several crucial catches in the match.
World Cup hosts http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746, but a better run-rate helped Kumar Sangakkara and his men to finish one spot ahead of the defending champions.
The defending champions Australia finished third, as they were not able to hold onto their winning run. Their game against Sri Lanka was a tie, but they managed to win comprehensively against the Black Caps.
New Zealand were the final team from Group A to qualify for the knockout stage. Their campaign was hampered by injury problems to some of the key players like Daniel Vettori and Kyle http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mills-c76321. However, both players will be back for their team’s next encounter.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 were the dominant team in Group B, as they finished on top with 10 points. They only suffered one defeat at the hands of England, but were brilliant otherwise.
Many cricket experts and former players rated India as hot favourites of the tournament. However, the co-hosts did not find things to be as easy as they had expected. Their bowling proved to be a weakness, as they were not able to defend huge totals against
stronger teams. They finished at number two in their group with 9 points.
There was a sigh of relief in the English camp, as they eventually managed to qualify for the next round of the event. England did not lose against stronger opponents, but they suffered upset defeats against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 and Bangladesh, which almost knocked them
out.
It was South Africa’s win against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747, which ensured a spot in the quarterfinals for the Poms, who ended with 7 points.
The last team to qualify from Group B was West Indies. The Caribbean Kings managed to win their matches against the minnows by huge margins, which helped them qualify with a better run-rate.
Bangladesh were tied at 6 points with the Windies, but the hosts had a poor run-rate, which cost them a chance to advance to the next round.
The quarterfinals will start from 23 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391, 2011 when Pakistan will take on West Indies. Considering the current form of both teams, the Men in Green definitely have the upper hand. However, the Windies have the potential to post a serious threat
to any opposition on their day.
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