Originally posted by numcru It is really befitting that Australia have been sore winners and losers have lost after a 34 match winning streak to Pakistan. Using the most uncouth and uncivil language (Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee) against Srilankans and Pakistans does not make them good champions. I casted my vote for Pakistan. I will probably go wrong in predicting the winners of QF but here goes:   Pakistan Vs West Indies Srilanka Vs England Australia Vs India New Zealand Vs South Africa.   Pakistan, Australia, England and South Africa will make the cut with Pakistan beating South Africa and Australia beating England in the semi-finals.

Numcru

Everything depends on today's game between Ind and WI. If India wins they remain in 2nd place which means they play Aus in the QF. If they loose by a huge margin they slip to 3rd or 4th place based on NRR which will give Eng a chance to remain in 3rd place to play against Sri. So the equation could still be

New Zealand Vs South Africa

Its a tight game today. What does your number calculation / numerology say today ?

Looking at today's match it seemed that both teams wanted to lose the match and it seems West indies had the stronger will power to lose, collapsing from a strong position to a losing position.

Originally posted by rinkumalpani    hmm...are they afraid of facing australia???

Given a choice, most teams would like to avoid facing Australia in the first match of sudden death play off.

Coming to positives from the match against West Indies, Yuvraj's form seems to be getting better. And Kohli seems to be filling the shoes of Rahul Dravid lending solidity to the Indian batting line up. I wouldn't be surprised if Kohli were to captain India someday. He has all the attributes of a good cricketer and a good captain. He has that intensity in his eyes which was there with Kapil Dev.

Batting line up wise, India seems to be very top heavy with Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Yuvraj being in good form. Problems begin after these players depart. Dhoni, Pathan and Raina etc need to make their mark.

Bowling still seems to be the weaker link for the Indians with only Zaheer looking likely to take wickets each time he bowls. Maybe its time for Harbhajan to pull up his socks and stand up to the task. What better time and opposition to do so than the Australians whom he has tormented time and again.

According to the poll here, Australia polls higher than India. Does that mean a number of Teddies are not betting on men in blue reaching semis?