Tag Archives: Pakistan

[Stats] India vs Pakistan in World Cup Matches

India has beaten Australia in the ICC World Cup 2011, Quarterfinals to move set up their semi-final clash with Pakistan. Most India fans (for that matter even Pakistan fans) will know that India has never lost to Pakistan in a World Cup as yet.

I thought why not dig out some stats on how India and Pakistan players have performed against each others.

Ind Vs Pak in World Cup: Top 5 batsman

Name M I Runs Avg S/R
Sachin Tendulkar 4 4 228 76.00 87.35
Saeed Anwar 3 3 185 61.66 91.58
M Azharuddin 3 3 118 39.33 80.27
Aamir Sohail 2 2 117 58.50 82.97
Rahul Dravid 2 2 105 105.00 63.63

Ind Vs Pak in World Cup: Top 5 bowlers

Name M Overs Runs Wkts Econ Rate
V Prasad 2 19.3 72 8 3.69
J Srinath 4 35.1 176 7 5.00
A Kumble 3 30.0 142 5 4.73
M Ahmed 2 20.0 115 5 5.75
Waqar Younis 2 18.4 138 4 7.39

Trivia

  • India and Pakistan have played 4 matches in World Cup history and India has won all four.
  • Sachin Tendulkar, Javagal Srinath and Inzaman Ul Haq are the only players to have played in all the four games.
  • Sachin Tendulkar will play the fifth time against Pakistan in World Cup tournament on 30th March 2011.
  • The only match played in India during a World Cup was in 96, in Bangalore. That match was also a Quarter-Final and a knockout.

If you have more details or trivia stats do drop them in your comments. 🙂

Afridi quitting Test cricket again!

Afridi is a bit of a wild card for Pakistan. He has lost of talent which is evident when he scores big runs in a hurry once in a few years but more or less he has always been a talented cricketer with very little to show in terms of performance. He has been fined a few times and had run ins with opposition players and was caught on tape in one of the most bizarre cases of ball tampering. Afridi bit the ball to tamper with it. Yes! He actually did bite it.

If Afridi has been inconsistent as a performer, it seems that his thinking or decision making is also inconsistent. He has been threatening to quit Test cricket for ages. He quit it finally and strange ended up being the T20 captain and also ODI captain. Then he came out of retirement form Test cricket and captained the Pakistan side in England against Australia.

Afridi is quite representative of the state that Pakistan cricket is in right now as it also has been changing its mind quite often. So the latest news in the cricket world is Afridi has quit Test cricket once again. I won’t be surprised if he comes back out of retirement in a year and then retires again.

What do you think? Is this the final time for Shahid Afridi? Do let me know through your comments.

Image Link: Flickr

What will a World cup win mean to each of the semi finalists?

Cricket is a game that always has romance behind it. Small teams beat big teams, reputations are lost and made and teams find themselves in the dumps and manage to rise up from the ashes to become champions. That what a cricket tournament is all about and this ICC T20 World Cup is the same. Here is a bit on the four semi finalists and their prospects and what might drive them to become champions.

Australia has won 4 world cup tournaments in the ODI format along with winning the Champions Trophy twice. They were ranked the no 1 in Test cricket for pretty much the last 15 years until recently when India and South Africa have started to outshine them. There is on silverware Australia has not won and that is the T20 World Cup trophy. So Australia would be desperate to win this time around when their side is probably the most complete and consistent running upto the semi finals.

England has been a surprise in this tournament. They always had talented players but always ended up losing tournaments. When it came to major ICC tournaments unlike Australia which has won almost everything England has a empty trophy cabinet. So this would be a fantastic chance for them to start winning something on the world stage.

Pakistan has had its cricket battered and injured. Sometimes by terrorists who fired bullets at visiting teams and at other times with their captain trying to bite the cricket ball. They are a group of rag tag team which play like champions one day and the next day play worse than a school team. Sometimes they play like both on the same day so they are unpredictable at best but they are defending champions and would love to show the world that they rule T20 cricket again.

Sri Lanka is a fine unit. If you think about their performances they featured in T20 World Cup final last year. They also were runners up in the ODI world cup in 2007. It is obviously talented and have probably the best T20 bowler in Malinga. They would love to win this World Cup and usher in a new era in Sri Lankan cricket like Ranatunga did way back in the late 90s when they won the World Cup.

So that finishes my views on what this T20 World Cup victory could mean to the four finalists. I have a feeling the Australia will end up winners in this edition. So who do you think will win the T20 World Cup?

13th May 2010 21.00 IST England vs Srilanka, Gros Islet – First Semi Final

14th May 2010 21.00 IST Australia vs Pakistan, Gros Islet – Second Semi Final

16th May 2010 21.00 IST Final – Georgetown

Fascinating Test cricket battles in the week ahead

cricket_ball_test

The week that lies ahead will see some fascinating Test cricket action. It is quite a unique time as all Test playing nations except Bangladesh are involved in a test series. England is touring South Africa, West Indies are touring Austrialia, Pakistan are playing in New Zealand and closer home Sri Lanka will play the final Test of the three match series tomorrow against India.

India play Srilanka at the historic Brabourne…

India takes of Sri Lanka tomorrow at the Brabourne Stadium. It is a stadium that has been known to be the bastion of culture and legacy when it comes to cricket in India. The association which runs the stadium (CCI) had a falling out with the Mumbai Cricket Association back in the early 70s. This led MCA to construct a new stadium called the Wankhede. The two associations have gotten closer now a days and with the Wankhede stadium undergoing a major re-building exercise Brabourne gets its chance to host one more Test match after 36 long years. Last time Test cricket was played at the Brabourne, Sachin Tendulkar was not even born!

India will be keen to win this Test match as it will haul it upwards to being the No 1 ranked Test team in the ICC rankings. This will be quite an achievement for the Indian team who are not particularly hailed for their ability in Test cricket.

New Zealand host Pakistan…

Not sure if New Zealand will have their confidence high after last weeks win over Pakistan. The Pakistan team came very close to an unlikely win over the Kiwis. But I still feel Pakistan have some inherent technically challenged opening batsmen along with some sparkling yet not reliable batting lineup. They have a great bowling line up too but I still feel it would not be able to match up to New Zealand’s usual dose of resoluteness and professionalism. The Test match between New Zealand and Pakistan begins on 3rd December 2009. If you are in India you should be able to catch the action on Ten Sports in early morning around 430 am.

Australia host West Indies in Adelaide…

In the first Test Match Australia declared their innings at 480/8 and bowled out West Indies twice in less than 2 days. The match was over on the 3rd day itself and was one sided more of less from the first day’s first session. This sort of a defeat does not speak very highly of West Indies’ chances in the second Test at Adelaide. This match starts on Friday morning at 5.30 in the morning. Indian viewers should be able to catch the game on Star Cricket.

How can Pakistan qualify for the Super8?

clip_image002The 8th team that will qualify for the Super8 will be either Pakistan or Netherlands. In case, Netherlands wins the match against Pakistan or the match ends in a Tie or No Result, Netherlands will qualify for the Super8.

However, in case Pakistan wins the match, there will be a three way tie between England, Pakistan and Netherlands. In such a situation, Netherlands can not improvise on its current net run rate of +0.05. Thus, England in a way would have already qualified for the Supr8.

The decision on which team out of Pakistan and Netherlands qualifies for the Super8 will depend on the net run rate of both the teams after the match.

Group B standings:

Have a look at the Group B standings for more clarity:

Group B

P

W

L

T

NR

PTS

NRR
B2 – England 2 1 1 0 0 2 +1.175
Netherlands 1 1 0 0 0 2 +0.050
B1 – Pakistan 1 0 1 0 0 0 -2.400

Net Run Rate

A team’s net run rate is calculated by deducting from the average runs per over scored by that team, the average runs per over scored against that team during the group matches.

If a team gets all out in less than its full quota of overs, the full quota of overs to which the batting team would have been entitled are used for calculating of the net run rate of both the teams and not the number of overs in which the team was dismissed.

Permutations for Pakistan

Now, let us try to see how Pakistan can beat Netherlands such that it ends up with a better net run rate than Netherlands, so as to qualify for the Super8.

Scenario 1: Pakistan bats first

Suppose Pakistan makes 180 runs in the allotted 20 overs. In that case, Pakistan should restrict Netherlands by 155. In short, what ever Pakistan scores, the margin of victory shall be more than 24 runs.

Scenario 2: Pakistan bowls first

Suppose Netherlands makes 180 runs in the allotted 20 overs. Pakistan would now need to make 181 runs in less than 17.2 overs.

In case Netherlands makes 150 runs in the allotted 20 overs. Pakistan would now need to make 151 runs in less than 17.0 overs.

Quick calculation:

If Y is the number of runs made by Netherlands in the first innings then Pakistan should make Y+1 runs in less than (2540 + 20Y) / (174+Y) overs