Pakistan Seal Final Place In Super 8's

Pakistan sealed there final place in the Super 8’s with a compressive win over Netherlands, Younus Khan choose the option to bat first which was odd with the situation they were in it would have be easier to chase a score down in 17 overs. The Pakistan innings started off well but it never had the impetuous that it required knowing they would only qualify if they won by a margin of more then 25 runs. The top three did well but once the third wicket of Shoaib Malik went in the 13th over Pakistan were 99 for 3 and it seemed they would struggle to reach a competitive score.

Captain Younus Khan took the responsibility of scoring 36 from 20 balls and scoring 3 sixes which increased there run rate and was helped once again by Misbah and a brief innings by inconsistent Afridi. Pakistan ended up posting a score of 175 knowing they would have to restrict Ireland to 150 to qualify for the Super 8’s starting on Thursday.

The pressure was always going to be on Netherlands and with every wicket that would fall it would only increase. Pakistan picked up an early wicket and then Netherlands had the biggest partnership of 39 runs till Shadid Afridi removed Zuiderent stumps and from there it was one way traffic. The spinner caused all the problems to Ireland with them bowling 10 over and getting 8 for 49 which is very impressive.

Ultimately it was a relative easy win for Pakistan and deserve there place in the Super 8’s and for some reason I was thinking that Netherlands would be a better team for the Super 8’s but I was proven wrong but this convincing win for Pakistan can not be looked at a turning point as they will come up against more stiffer teams.

With all 8 teams confirmed it will be some interesting matches and you can expect the unexpected.

Group E the hardest which consists of India, England, South Africa and West Indies, it is quite hard to predict which way this group will go. After South Africa’s very impressive low scoring win over the Kiwis they look the best team but for England and West Indies if they can carry on there momentum forward anything is possible and the World Champions India they will be quietly confident even with loss of Sehwag.

Group F which is the easiest consists, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Ireland, you will expect Sri Lanka and New Zealand too have too much for Pakistan and Ireland and reach the semi finals with ease. It is unfair on Ireland to discount them immediately but for them to play to there standards to win two matches could be asking for too much but for Pakistan anything is possible and if they believe they can win and there big players perform either New Zealand or Sri Lanka will be bitterly disappointed to miss out on the semi finals.

It is hard to look past South Africa winning the second edition of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup.