Colombo: A series of mouth-watering contests are in the offing as the International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty20 World Cup’s Super Eights stage begins on Thursday.
Pakistan became the last team to reach the Super Eights after beating Bangladesh on Tuesday night. They join India, Australia and South Africa in Group Two, with all matches being played in Colombo.
Sri Lanka, New Zealand, England and West Indies make up Group One in Pallekele.
Traditional rivals India and Pakistan will meet on Sunday. India, riding on the confidence of their emphatic first group stage win over England, will aim to avenge their defeat to Pakistan in a warm-up match. But first up for India is a match against Australia on Friday.
Hosts Sri Lanka begin their Super Eights campaign by taking on New Zealand on Thursday (2pm UAE), followed by England against West Indies (6pm).
All the teams who won two group stage matches are in the same Super Eights group — Group Two — while the other group is made up of teams who had one win and one loss in the early round. The top two teams from each group will reach the semi-finals.
All the teams trained hard on Wednesday, making the most of their final rest day before the Super Eights begin.
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said: “We will have to do well in the three matches of the Super Eights. When we take on bigger teams, the most important factor that a team should have is to be consistent.”
West Indies captain Darren Sammy warned of the importance of being psychologically prepared for later stage matches. “We have strong belief in ourselves and in the team. We believe that we can overcome anyone in the Super Eights. We play England first and should start off well,” he said.
Australia are unsure about how they will play against India, especially their spinners, in the light of England being bowled out for 80 by India in the group stage.
“It will be a challenge when the ball turns the other way. It is up to the batsmen to pick that up and I don’t think one should focus too much on just one bowler,” remarked skipper George Bailey.
Many believe that spin will play a vital role for the rest of this tournament.
However, when Ireland skipper William Porterfield was asked about this factor, he said that spin alone may not bring victory.
“A team that has a strong batting line-up and a mystery spinner in their side will emerge the strongest,” he said.
One of the big reasons why spinners can be effective here is the fact the grounds in both Pallekele and Colombo are huge, so big shots that would go for sixes at other venues can land up being caught.
Doubts remain as to whether rain could severely disrupt the Super Eights matches. It seems two things are tough to predict in this World Cup right now — who will be among the last four and whether or not the rain will ruin the contests.
