To be fair, I'd imagine that Pakistan knew that rain was forecast and went hell for leather in the run chase in order to get well ahead of the DLS par.
Virat Kohli put on another masterclass in batting again. 101 n.o., enabling India to post 326-5 on a wicket that is apparently difficult to score runs.
His century, coming on his 35th birthday, sees him equal Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 centuries in ODIs.
You'd imagine that if any current team had a hope of beating India, it would be South Africa. That was some hammering. Maybe the improving Australia are the only one now capable of causing an upset.
Maybe I misred Guy's guide (Guyde?) about what decides when teams are on level points. He said wins, I presumed he meant head-to-head? In that case Pakistan would go through assuming they beat England. On form and conditions advantage, SL will be much harder to beat than Eng. Ideal SF mix would be two favourites (India, Australia), at least one other team from the region (Pakistan ideally), and one smaller nation, which with my obvious 'bias' would be the Blackcaps, who also happen to have their strongest squad possibly ever, from what I've learned anyway.
As it happens SA have become one of the favourites, their form trajectory had almost put them slightly ahead of India who you'd have to wonder if they can keep it going right through. Then came yesterday's game, which I find quite incongruous, all things considered, perhaps the Sarfers had decided to take a break having qualified for the semis? Aus whilst remaining one of the favourites have had a mixed bag of form though again their trajectory looks good. Now as a neutral I'd love to see a rank outsider in the SFs, Afghanistan can make it on paper but in reality they won't, two games against two of the favourites and already the lowest scoring rate of any of the top 6. So all they need to do is win both games!
The pitch for the Pak-NZ game had absolutely nothing for bowlers in fairness.
Some innings from Maxwell. Aussies were 91/7 at one stage!!
Fuckin Eejit 
England in danger of finishing bottom of the table at the world-cup now, 196-6 after 36 overs against the Dutch.
Some innings from Maxwell. Aussies were 91/7 at one stage!!
It was an amazing innings but the afghans absolutely fucked it away
Some innings from Maxwell. Aussies were 91/7 at one stage!!
Such a shame for the Rugs. Very good tournament for them
Looking good for Noo Zullund with SL only 128/9. The Lions have only pride to play for. At this rate Pakistan will need to annihalate England to have a chance to reach the SF
I think England will guarantee themselves a Champions' Trophy spot (2025) if they beat Pakistan. They will want their younger players to get some tournament experience there ahead of the 2027 WC.
👀
England going very well in their innings against Pakistan, probably get around 300. With Pakistan needing to beat them by about 300 in the regulation 50 overs, the only way I can see them doing it woukd be on countback rule in the event of rain.
So England's RR will be 6. That means that if only 10 overs was played for example, they woukd score 60.
Pakistan woukd have to beat that by 300 but in 10 overs they would have to get a run rate that woukd have got them to 360 if 50 overs were bowled. That would mean a RR of 7.1
But as Eng score 300 in 50, then it would have to be a run rate that would have got Pakistan to 600, ie 12. So if rain stops play & Pakistan only get to bat 10 overs, they would need around 120 to get close to or overtake the NZrunrate.
I think!
So not even a sniff of anything exciting there. India Vs NZ, SA-Aus. Talking to a couple of Indian guys at work here, they're very confident.
It's been a disappointing WC so far bar a couple of games and the performances of Afghanistan. Only one Sub-Continent team left in it.
Can India keep trucking on? If not i fancy the Sarfers based on most of their recent form, though Aussies have come on strong overall too.
SA to overturn surprisingly heavy group defeat to India in final, double World champs. Am up for Blackcaps, they've lost the last 2 finals.
It’s a wonder Klusner didn’t kill someone after that.
It's been a very long drawn out affair to get to the last four.
As I said a few weeks back, two groups of six teams and a Super Six series followed by two semi-finals and a final would have fewer dead rubbers and fewer games.
You should have warned us then.
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