Sports Desk :
All eyes are now on Sydney, Australia on account of the 11th edition of the World Cup Cricket’s first quarterfinal match between South Africa (SA) and Sri Lanka (SL) beginning today. On paper SA are favourites because of batting depth and bowling fierceness and superb fielding. But they are such team that crumbles under pressure at any time. Still the South African supporters think that their team will win the world title for the first time in their history. However, much of successes depend on Hashim Amla, de Villiers, Morkel, Imran Tahir and Stein.
Contrarily, SL’s supporters want Sangakkara to score fifth century in a row in the World Cup regardless of the result in the match. The Asian team’s successes depend on how Sangakkara, Dilshan, Jayawardane, Mathews and Malinga. There is no doubt about SL’s good performance in their last four group matches, but it may not be possible against SA’s fierce bowling.
In cricket, psychology plays an important role in deciding the fate of a match. Fair umpiring is also a vital factor. Just one wrong decision may deprive a team of certain victory.
In the other three quarterfinals, defending champions India and emerging power Bangladesh face each other in the second quarterfinal match on Thursday in Melbourne. Former Bangladesh captain Ashraful Islam said, if Bangladesh batting first score 280 plus, it will be difficult for India to supercede. He reminded that both Zimbabwe and Ireland piled up 280 plus, transpiring Indian bowling weakness. So, the Bangladesh batting line-up consisting of Mahmudullah, Rahim and Saquib have the qualities to face Indian bowlers spearheaded by Mohammad Shami.
Compared, the Indian batting strength is taken to be the best in the current WCC though Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Dhawan and Raina were subjected to severe criticism a month ago for India’s dismal result in the two nations’ one day series with hosts Australia.. India’s bowling side is not so strong. Judging all points, it will be the most amazing cricket semifinal in the history of the World Cup Cricket.
The 3rd semifinal will be played in Adelaide between the hosts Australia and Pakistan, who rose like a colossus after lamentable defeats in the first two matches. They lost to the West Indies by 150 runs, reminding the cricket world that Pakistan were shattered by the same team by 10 wickets in 1992.
The fourth quarterfinal will be played between co-hosts New Zealand and the West Indies in Wellington on March 21.
Four years ago in 2011, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka cruised into the semifinals, and in 1992 hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the four semifinalists were England, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa.
