Pakistan are set to accommodated West Indies in the aboriginal quarter-final of ICC Apple Cup 2011 bold at Mirpur, on Wednesday, March 23, 2011.
This will be followed on March 24, by the bold amid India and Australia, at Ahmedabad. The third quarter-final will be contested by New Zealand and South Africa at Mirpur on March 25, while Sri Lanka will host England in the fourth, at Colombo, on March 26.
The teams acceptable the third and fourth quarter-finals will accommodated at Colombo, in the aboriginal semi-final, due to be captivated on Wednesday, March 29. The added semi-final, appointed to be captivated at Mohali, on March 30, will affection the winners of the aboriginal two quarter-finals.
Before this apple cup began, teams like England who were fatigued afterwards the bout of Australia begin accountability with the abiding agenda of the apple cup as planned.
The ICC dedicated its scheduling which it said was fabricated to ensure that teams like Pakistan and India did not avenue the clash early, an apparent acumen for the abortion of the 2007 accident captivated in the West Indies. To this end, abounding minnow teams like Holland, Ireland, Canada and Kenya had been included.
Many aswell bidding doubts about the approaching of the 50 over game. The accretion acceptance of T20, afterward the clammy squib that the 2007 ODI Apple Cup accepted to be, alone served to access the confidence a part of followers of the bold that ODIs were active on adopted time. Fans bare burning delight of the T20 kind, and not the abiding affliction of the 50-over game.
The accepted apple cup has angry that confidence on its head. Afterwards 42 of 49 amateur accept been played, fans' appetites accept been whetted. England's accident to Ireland, their angry bold adjoin India, their defeat of South Africa, India's accident to South Africa, Pakistan's defeat of Sri Lanka and Australia, and their accident to New Zealand accept all been thrillers that accept served to accomplish this apple cup an accident to bethink and arguably the a lot of absorbing ever.
Fans are searching advanced to the quarter-finals, and this according to me, is what they can apprehend to see, beyond, in the semi-finals. Here are my predictions about how the quarter-finals will play out:
QF # 1: Pakistan Vs West Indies: Pakistan to win
QF # 2: India Vs Australia: India to win
QF # 3: South Africa Vs New Zealand: South Africa to win
QF # 4: Sri Lanka Vs England: Sri Lanka to win
The aboriginal semi-final on March 29, at Colombo, will affection a bold amid hosts Sri Lanka and South Africa.
The second, on March 30, at Mohali will be arguably the better bout of the tournament, featuring India against Pakistan.
