Indian Premier League (IPL) Thread - (or general cricket thread)

[FireGilbert]

Originally Posted by ClubFlames

My prediction:

Sri Lanka
India
Australia
New Zealand

Sri Lanka vs South Africa should be the best game of the quarters. Both teams went 4-2 in the group stage and at times looked brilliant but at other times looked very beatable. I picked the Proteas because they were the higher ranked team going into the tournament, have the better bowling, and have the best batsman in the world in de Villiers. South Africa does have a reputation for choking and Sri Lanka has a reputation for pulling off upsets though so this could really go either way.

[FireGilbert]

Well I was right about South Africa winning but completely wrong about it being a close game. It was the Proteas first ever win in a World Cup elimination game and it came by the greatest margin of victory ever in a World Cup elimination game (192 balls to spare!!!).

[ClubFlames]

Sri Lanka totally got destroyed by the SA bowling. Good for them to finally win an elimination match.

India vs Bangladesh tonight.

[oilyfan]

India dispatches Bangladesh easily, moving on to a semifinal against the winner of Pak-Aus, should be a tight one.

Tonight - Australia vs Pakistan, on paper Australia will take this easily but I have a feeling Pakistan will put up a fight.

[endeavor]

Pakistan wont the toss and batted first - putting a total of 213. No good partnerships in their innings besides the Misbah-Haris one.

Australia comfortably chased it by around the 30th over with 6 wickets to spare.

So Australia will face India in the semi-final.

The other semi-final will be either South Africa vs New Zealand or West Indies.

I'm cheering for an Australia-New Zealand final. That would be amazing.

[ClubFlames]

Australia with a dominant allround performance knocking Pakistan out.

New Zealand vs West Indies tonight and the semis will be set. Anything even a fight from West Indies would be a surprise for me, Kiwis are just too good.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by ClubFlames

Australia with a dominant allround performance knocking Pakistan out.

New Zealand vs West Indies tonight and the semis will be set. Anything even a fight from West Indies would be a surprise for me, Kiwis are just too good.

Wasn't so dominant for a while there.

Pakistani fielding as usual did them in. Wahab was bowling brilliantly at Watson, 2 dropped catches. It was 74/3 when Rahat dropped a dolly. Then Sohail drops Watson again off of Wahab bowling at 98/3. Hold on to those and you're into the tail with Wahab having plenty of overs to spare.

Dropping catches is one thing but Pakistani fielding is mediocre and will always cost them. The bowling creates enough chances but the pathetic fielders never hold on. Easily the worst fielding side, if they converted their chances they'd easily be a consistent top side.

[endeavor]

Yeah, their fielding leaves a lot to be desired. Also, this was likely the last match for Misbah and Afridi?

[ChuckieNZ]

Last ODI matches for Misbah & Afridi. Misbah will still play Test cricket and Afridi T20. Game looked like it was turning in Pakistan's favour until Rahat dropped that sitter.

Gonna be a late night tonight.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by ChuckieNZ

Last ODI matches for Misbah & Afridi. Misbah will still play Test cricket and Afridi T20. Game looked like it was turning in Pakistan's favour until Rahat dropped that sitter.

Gonna be a late night tonight.

Can't wait for the Misbah nightmare to be completely over. Most defensive player ever. That is not Pakistan cricket. Hopefully next captain is an aggressive one.

Afridi definitely looked finished in this world cup. Could take a wicket and didn't click with the bat either.

I hope they make Wahab the next captain.

[ClubFlames]

Pakistani batsmen crumbled in front of Aussie bowlers as they dominated the field. Yes Wahab bowled brilliantly but a good score of 260-270 plus would have put a lot more pressure on the Aussies who chased down the total set for them with ease in the end.

Misbah plays defensively because he always has to rebuild the innings coming in 3/4/5. The worst of the lot is Afridi, no technique, no patience, no strokes in his armor - just swing at every ball.

[Imported_Aussie]

Originally Posted by ClubFlames

Australia with a dominant allround performance knocking Pakistan out.

New Zealand vs West Indies tonight and the semis will be set. Anything even a fight from West Indies would be a surprise for me, Kiwis are just too good.

I would expect the Kiwis to win as well, but don't overlook the Windies power hitting. Depending on which version of that team shows up, it will be close, or the Kiwis in a laugher...

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by ClubFlames

Pakistani batsmen crumbled in front of Aussie bowlers as they dominated the field. Yes Wahab bowled brilliantly but a good score of 260-270 plus would have put a lot more pressure on the Aussies who chased down the total set for them with ease in the end.

Misbah plays defensively because he always has to rebuild the innings coming in 3/4/5. The worst of the lot is Afridi, no technique, no patience, no strokes in his armor - just swing at every ball.

Even the 213 would've looked daunting had Rahar held onto that catch. That would've put Aussies at 74/4 with Wahab bowling his heart out and having 6 overs left still and Haddin and Maxwell coming on.

Misbah doesn't care what the score is or how many are out he'll come in and play the same style. See one of the round robins games, the score was 91-2 at around 15-16 overs, when he came out and the run rate was close to 6. He came in and brought the run rate to 4 something.

Afridi really is a bowler the fact is he's scored some big run in the past so people think of him as an all-rounder. I'd like to what other team expects its 7th batsman to have proper technique and score runs consistently. At least he plays to win. Misbah plays not to lose.

[FireGilbert]

The Aussies were never going to have trouble chasing a total in the low 200s in Adelaide. Even if Watson lost his wicket the Australian batting lineup is still far too deep to miss a total that low. Pakistan really needed to post something above 250.

The dropped catch on Watson was definitely the reason the game ended so lop sided though. Once he got settled in and became comfortable with the short ball it was game over.

The Windies and NZ is just starting. The Kiwis are at bat.

[Party Elephant]

McCullum has just been too reckless lately. Out after facing only 8 balls today.

[ChuckieNZ]

Guptill playing a great innings after being dropped early. Kiwis have a good platform to launch from if they keep this going. Gotta be looking at 320+.

[GirlySports]

this is a slaughter, might be 350

[ChuckieNZ]

Pure domination from Guptill. What an innings.

[FireGilbert]

200 for Guptill! The Black Caps are about to set a massive total.

[GirlySports]

well this is over, i'll listen on the radio to Gayle batting and that's about it