Some groups are easier than the others, while there are teams better than leaders of other groups end up being second or even third because they end up in a harder group. Like for example in group D, Turkey is great, Croatia is great and Wales is great, only two of the three will go out, whereas group H for example, Slovenia seems like the best one? That doesn't make sense, any of the three in the group D would lead that group easily if they draw the groups better.
This is why I keep saying that we need to have like some big league, like one league that everyone plays each other just once, I know that would be a lot of games but that would make it fair and everyone would show their true talents and nobody would be going up with just pure group draw luck.
Looks easier than they should be, because many of the teams are out of form. But there is no doubt that Groups A (Spain/Scotland/Norway), B (France/Netherlands/Greece) and C (England/Ukraine/Italy) are extremely tough. On the other hand, competition is not that great in groups J (as a result of poor form from Iceland and Bosnia), I (only Romania and Switzerland are strong teams), E (Albania/Czechia) and H (Only Slovenia and Danmark as strong teams). The only solution for this is to have a second-tier qualification through playoffs for those teams who are ranked 3rd in all the groups (they have this system, but for Euro 2024 only three teams qualify from playoffs). |
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Are you all envious of Singapore with its mere 5 million inhabitants? It's a far cry from India with its staggering 1.4 billion.
Being a resident of India, I need to say that ours is a very large and diverse country. Population growth rate is not the same in all the regions. The TFR (children born per woman) ranges from 1.1 in Sikkim to 4.0 in Bihar. The state with maximum population growth (Bihar) is the state with lowest HDI. On the other hand, states with sub-replacement fertility such as Sikkim, Goa, Kerala, Himachal, Uttarakhand, TN, Punjab and Andhra do have much higher HDI. That said, a lot of migration occurs from the states with high population growth towards states with higher HDI. |
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South Africa - 1.27
Bangladesh - 3.93
Netherlands had odds of 10-12 against South Africa, and yet they won that match. And here Bangladesh is being given odds of 3-4. I don't think that these odds are closer to reality. At the most, they should be given the same odds as that of Netherlands, or even worse. So far the only win for Bangladesh came against the weak Afghanistan and they don't stand a chance against South Africa. Their batting is in really poor shape, and the bowlers are being inconsistent. Today, given the odds I would rather pick South Africa. |
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It was possible but I am thinking that how the Afghanistan played with a good management and were playing in a good way. So they could chase 300 digits too. But fortunately Pakistan didn't go up 300 runs and Afghanistan played and easily chase the target of 282 runs. This defeat broken many hearts and the nation was not expecting this loss by the way.
Both Pakistan and Afghanistan are having 4 points each from 5 matches. Australia is having the same points, but they have played one match less. And their next match is against Netherlands. At this point, India, New Zealand and South Africa are having maximum chances of qualifying to the semi-finals. The question is about the fourth team. IMO, it is going to be Australia. But Pakistan fans can expect for a miracle and if they can win 3-4 of the remaining 4 matches then it maybe possible for them to overtake Australia in points table. |
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The first T20I match between Zimbabwe and Namibia will be played today at Wanderers Cricket Ground in Windhoek. It should be interesting because two sides are almost of equal strength, although Zimbabwe receives around 50x more funding from the ICC compared to Namibia. The series consists of 5 T20I matches, and all of them will be played at the same venue. Zimbabwe will be lead by Craig Ervine, and experienced players such as Brad Evans, Ryan Burl, Wellington Masakadza and Blessing Muzarabani are also included in the squad.
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Never expected Pakistan to get defeated by an underdog team like Afghanistan. This defeat will leave a psychological scar in the minds of the Pakistan team, already after their defeat against India they have been losing matches. Until yesterday they have won 2 matches and lost 3, In order to qualify for the semifinals they need to win a minimum of 6 matches. Out of the 4 matches left for them to play in the World Cup, they will be playing against South Africa on the 27th of this month at the same stadium. It won't be an easy game considering the powerful batting lineup South Africa has then they will be playing against Bangladesh followed by NZ and England. If they manage to win two matches out of the four left their chance of qualifying looks bleak for now.
A small piece of advice to the Pakistani team - they should rather focus on playing instead of doing all that drama on and off the field. They were complaining that someone chanted "Jai Shree Ram" towards one player in Ahmedabad and that was the reason why they couldn't focus. At Chennai, the vast majority of the crowd was chanting "Pakistan Zindabad" and yet they lost the match. Stop complaining first. And then remove the captain. He is good for nothing. His tactics have failed in almost all the matches. |
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@Sithara007 for now both Argentina and Portugal coaches have to include them in their squad because their citizens will revolt if these player’s say that they wanted to play but they were not allowed to play and I believe if they’re fit then sadly the coach will have no option but to add them to their World Cup squad. Even if these two are included in the world cup squad, there is no guarantee that they will figure in the starting XI. Take the case of Cristiano Ronaldo. He was dropped by Fernando Santos during Qatar 2022. Things didn't worked out well, and the younger players who replaced him were unable to perform well. So he was reinstated shortly after. But this can repeat during the FIFA World Cup of 2026. In case of Messi, the chances are even higher. Argentina is not overdependent on any one player, and there are a lot of youngsters coming through the ranks. |
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If Afghan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi had a tactical mind in the death overs then Afghans could have been chasing 260 instead of 283, don't forget he under bowled Mujeeb.
Pakistan did deserve to lose this due to various reasons but seriously Babar is a bad leader and it shows on his post match events, this dude never takes responsibility and throws everyone under the bus.
Not sure whether Hashmatullah Shahidi did a mistake there. Mujeeb Ur Rahman was quite expensive yesterday, and three other spinners had already completed their full-quota of 10 overs (Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad Lakanwal). During the last few overs, Afghan captain went back to his two seamers (Naveen-ul-Haq and Azmatullah Omarzai), but it didn't worked out that well. Even then Naveen bowled a very good final over. Picked up the wickets of Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed, and conceded just 3 runs. I don't think Mujeeb would have done any better. BTW, Pakistan scored 58 runs in 4 overs prior to that (46th to 49th). |
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Messi and CR7 are probably going to be retired by the time the next world cup comes.
They are now just trying to get as much money as they can before retirement. It's not like they are playing for the fun of soccer, it is just money for them.
They could also stop playing and they would be earning more in ads. Pirlo and others are making a lot of money appearing in ads in Dubai for example.
All the players, in their last 2-3 years of the career try to amass as much as money as possible. It is their retirement package. In case of Messi, he has a deal with Inter-Miami and for Cristiano Ronaldo, the contract is with Al Nassr. Both of them are still taking part in world cup qualifiers at the moment, so we can't accuse them of ignoring the national duty. But 2026 World Cup is a long way off. I am not sure either of these two will be included in the national squads for that tournament (irrespective of whether they are interested or not). |
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While other teams take a long time to become a good team after gaining status in ODIs and other formats, Afghanistan have been able to improve very quickly. Afghanistan will probably achieve the highest in this World Cup tournament compared to other World Cups. Afghanistan may not be able to play the semi-finals but it will cause big teams to drop out of the tournament. Afghanistan have two matches ahead where I will see Afghanistan as favourites. Afghanistan will go ahead with wins against Sri Lanka and Netherlands. If they can win against the Netherlands and Afghanistan, they will make it four matches and if they crash in either of the next two matches, Afghanistan will have a chance of making the semi-finals. In the last few years, Afghanistan has made great progress in the Test T20 and ODI 3 formats.
Even if they win against Sri Lanka and Netherlands, it will be difficult for Afghanistan to qualify for the semi-finals. As per my calculation, in order to enter semi-finals each team need to win at least 6 matches. Afghanistan has so far played 5 matches and they have won only 2. That means that they need to win all of their remaining 4 matches, including the next one (vs Sri Lanka). I am not sure whether it will be possible to enter semi-finals with 5 wins. But if there are a few upsets in the coming matches, then even that maybe possible. |
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Kennedy's entry as an independent has complicated things. Recent polls have shown him with support ranging from 9 to 22 points. The most important thing is that Biden is leading in almost all the polls where Kennedy is also there. Only one poll from Harvard-Harris has shown Trump in the lead. The most recent poll from USA Today/Suffolk has Trump and Biden in tie, when Kennedy and West are also given as option. When only Kennedy is there, then Biden is having a clear lead. All that said, I am not sure whether these trends are going to hold.
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Exactly. There were a decent start and when they were playing I was thinking that they can pull the runs above 300 but unfortunately they didn't remain on pitch. Noor Ahmad took 3 wickets and these 3 wickets were the strong pillar for Pakistan team. He collected Abdullah Shafique Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan's wickets and they are the main players of Pakistan's team.
Afghanistan won with just 6 balls to spare. This one was the closest match in the tournament so far. If Pakistan had made another 10-15 runs, then it would have been really tight. But then, Pakistan has only themselves to blame. There is still a chance that they could qualify for the semi-finals. But in order to do that they need to win almost all of the remaining matches. I guess it is the absence of Naseem Shah that is creating problem for Pakistan. The other three pacers (Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Hasan Ali) are not able to trouble the opposition batsmen. |
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Afghanistan's celebration shows how important this win is to them in the World Cup. Afghanistan played a total of 17 matches against Pakistan in World Cup excluding yesterday's match where only two matches were won by Afghanistan and remaining 15 matches were won by Pakistan. Afghanistan's win over Pakistan by 8 wickets in yesterday's match has changed the equation a bit now that they have won three of their last 18 matches.
From the players to the coaching staff, everyone in Afghanistan was very excited about the win. By defeating Afghanistan in this match, Pakistan may have pushed Pakistan far away from their semi-final dreams. It will be very difficult for Pakistan to make a comeback in the semi-finals from the position they are in now.
These stats need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Aghanistan received their test status only in 2019, and therefore most of the matches were played when they were still an associate. Now their funding is comparable with that of Pakistan, but earlier that was not the case. As you mentioned, Afghanistan have won only 2 out of 17 matches against Pakistan, but this trend will not stand in the future. Despite difficulties arising as a result of the Taliban takeover, at present Afghanistan is one of those teams making most rapid improvement in international cricket. |
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I agree with you. Batting first, Pakistan set a target of 283 runs. And that was enough to win. But opponent Afghanistan batted well today. Every batsman in the top order played very well. We can blame the Pakistan bowlers, but when the opposition batsmen are batting very responsibly, it becomes much more difficult for the bowlers to pick up wickets.
Pakistan squad does not have good spin bowlers, this is their weakness. Apart from Afridi, other pace bowlers are not doing very well. And crucially Pakistan's fielding was poor. I would say this is one of the reasons for their defeat. We have seen Pakistan's fielding bad against Australia as well. This team really needs to improve their fielding. They have to be more diligent.
LOL.. I don't think that 282 is a decent total at Chepauk. Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam gave Pakistan a decent start. But the middle order batsmen could not use that as a launching pad and wasted a lot of balls during the depth overs. Saud Shakeel and Shadab Khan failed to accelerate and only Iftikhar Ahmed towards the end boosted the run rate with a few boundaries. Even then, a total of above 300 would have been decent. For Afghanistan Noor Ahmad was the pick of the bowlers, and he picked up 3 crucial wickets and made sure that Pakistan doesn't manage to cross 300. |
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Two of the favorites are now almost out of the world cup - England and Pakistan. For England, the only win came against Bangladesh and their misery is not going to end anytime soon. Pakistan has so far won 2 out of the 5 matches they have played, but one of those wins came against the Netherlands. And the other win came against a weak Sri Lanka. Their next match is against South Africa. BTW, Hotstar is making good revenue from the live streams. Yesterday for the Pakistan vs Afghanistan match, the peak viewership was 20 million.
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In cricket, if you have a good batting line, it is important to have good bowling to support that batting line.Nepal team has been unbeaten in all their matches so far.Nepal batting start was also very disappointing .Chasing 165 runs, three players of the Nepal team were out for just 11 runs, but then Aasif Sheikh and Rohit Kumar put on a brilliant 99-run partnership.
The outstanding performance of these two players played an important role in Nepal victory. Taking the team out of pressure and winning the match is definitely a sign of strong batting. The performance of the Nepali team shows that the Nepali team will continue to be unbeaten and will beat the UAE team easily. Nepal has won all of their matches and they have qualified for the finals. The only question is regarding their opponents. Tomorrow we have a match between Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates. If UAE wins it, then they will go to the final. Hong Kong needs a big win, as they lost the first match against UAE and their run-rate is quite low. Anyway, this series was the perfect warmup that Nepal needed before the Asia T20 World Cup qualifiers. For Nepal, qualifying for the 2024 world cup is very crucial, as it will provide them with additional funding. |
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Today is the 5th match of Nepal Tri-series UAE vs Nepal. So far Nepal has played 3 matches and won all 3 matches. Nepal is number 1 in the points table with 6 points after winning 3 matches. On the other hand, United Arab Emirates played 2 matches, won one match and lost one match. United Arab Emirates is number 2 in the points table with 2 points. Today's match is very important for UAE. If the UAE win today's match, they can play the final directly. If they lose today's match, they have one more match against Hong Kong. Even if they don't win today's match, UAE can easily win against Hong Kong. If I have to predict today's match then I will definitely support Nepal. The chances of Nepal winning today's match are very high. Nepal and United Arab Emirates will participate in the final match.
Always good to see teams with native players winning matches instead of those with imported players from India and Pakistan. This matters a lot for Nepal, as they receive less amount of funds when compared to the other two teams from the ICC. The Asia qualifiers for the ICC T20 World Cup of 2024 will start next week and in case Nepal can qualify for that tournament, then they can expect a considerable rise in their fund allocation. But it is not going to be easy. A total of 10 teams are taking part, and only the top two teams are going to qualify. |
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Yesterday's match was perhaps the most competitive one that we had in the tournament so far. The top two teams battled it out, and in the end the New Zealand target was too small to give them a win. Another 10-15 runs on board would have definitely made the difference. But then the Kiwis can blame only themselves. They were 205/3 after 37 overs. In the next 13 overs, they could only score another 68 runs. At this point, they had several big hitters with them, including Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell.
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LOL.. Netherlands in very poor condition in the very next match after their upset win against South Africa. They were 91/6 after Scott Edwards got out. Now Sybrand Engelbrecht and Logan van Beek have helped them to reach 130/6. The first target for the Dutch would be to reach a total of at least 200. I am not expecting much from them in this match, as some of the Sri Lankan batsmen are in great form and also due to the fact that the pitch at Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow seems to be very batsmen friendly.
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Today is the third match of the Nepal Tri-Nation tournament. Today is the match of two small teams which are Hong Kong and Nepal. The most of the people are Muslims from the team of Hong Kong and maybe the Muslim players are from Pakistan or Indonesia because many Pakistani and Indonesian people live in Hong Kong.
Anyway, let’s start to talk about the captains of both teams. Nizakat Khan is the captain of Hong Kong, and Rohit Paudel is the captain of Nepal. If we check which captain is the best so both are good because Nizakat Khan has more experience than Rohit Paudel because Rohit Paudel's age is 21 and he plays almost well and Nizakat Khan age is 31 and they are just ok.
Most of Hong Kong players are not the citizens of Hong Kong. The vast majority are Pakistani citizens and a few are from India. As far as I know, none of the Hong Kong players have citizenship of that country. On the other hand, Nepal is entirely made of citizens. There is not a single foreigner in their squad. But despite all this, they have performed well recently. At this point, I am watching the Nepal vs Hong Kong T20 match in Fancode. They have made 200/5 after 19 overs, with Kushal Malla out there with 81 from 37 balls. Nepal has scored a massive 95 runs from the last 5 overs. |
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