Proving its character of the game of glorious uncertainty T20 World Cup reached the business session of knock out round with the elimination of reigning champions and host Australia and one of the tournament favorites otherwise tagged as choker South Africa. 

Battle lines for semi finals are drawn. The contest was so intense and uncertain that it required waiting till the last match of super 12 for deciding the semi final lineup. 

The last day featured three matches. In the first match rank outsider ICC associate Netherlands turned the table upon the tournament favorite South Africa knocking them out of the tournament. 

That upset opened the door for Pakistan and Bangladesh for battling out the spot for the semi final almost like a bolt from the blue. Pakistan winning that contest booked a birth for the semi final. 

India winning big their last match at MCG finished at the top of group 2. Now Pakistan will meet New Zealand in the first semi final at SCG Sydney  India will play England in the other semi final at Adelaide Oval  The winners will meet at the final at iconic MCG next Sunday. 

Group 1 Super 12 Points Table

NRR = Net Run Rate 
NZ = New Zealand, ENG= England, AUS = Australia, SL= Sri Lanka, IRE= Ireland and AFG = Afghanistan 

Group 1 super 12 matches witnessed Ireland upstaging England, New Zealand thrashing Australia while Afghanistan forcing Australia to a marginal win. The main feature was host and reigning champion bowing out. The huge defeat by New Zealand and its failure of beating Afghanistan by a large margin proved their failure. Rain washing out their clash against England at MCG also contributed. In the pre-tournament forecast, Australia and England were favorites from the group. The surprise package was Ireland. They caused a major upset beating their strong neighbors England. Asia cup champion Sri Lanka failed living up to their reputations. 

Group 2 Super 12 Points Table 

NRR + Net Run Rate 
IND= India, PAK= Pakistan, SA= South Africa, NED= Netherlands, BAN= Bangladesh, ZIM= Zimbabwe 
India and Pakistan were pretournament favorites anyway. But till the last day of super 12 matches South Africa playing good cricket was at the top of the table. But minnows Netherland producing one of the best match of T20 International history caused a major upset beating them and knocking their out of the tournament. The chokers again chocked . This created opportunity for Pakistan and Bangladesh locking horn in the contest for a semi final berth as India was sitting pretty as other potential semi finalist . Pakistan wining the match had a sigh of the relief. India winning big their alst match against Zimbabwe stormed into the semi final as group champions. 

The success of India in super 12 was however marked with some controversies. Some 50:50 marginal umpiring decisions in their matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh went in their favor.

Bangladesh must consider themselves hard done as they could have won their match against India had umpires awarded 5 penatly points to them for Virat Kohli faking while fielding. Moreover, umpires through mistake ruled Shakib LBW at a crucial stage of the crunch match against Pakistan. Shakib could play a vital role in the keenly contested match. Otherwise Bangladesh performance was ordinary. They won two hard fought matches against Nederland and Zimbabwe. 

Nederland was outstanding in the group. They were the catalysts of the last stage. Almost from nowhere, they created excitement knocking out South Africa. Finishing fourth in the group they qualified playing directly in the next T20 world Cup.
Semi Finals: 
New Zealand VS Pakistan Venue SCG, Sydney 

New Zealand: 
Kane Williamson (Captain), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (Captain), Shadab Khan (Vice Captain), Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Usman Qadir.

Though miracle caused Pakistan qualifying for the semi final at the very last minute they have resources to reaching the final and even lifting the trophy. In a tri nation tournament preceding the world cup they got better of New Zealand and Bangladesh. They were a bit unlucky losing matches against India and Zimababwe. Their main weapon opening partnership between Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan did not fire yet. But uncertain middle order delivered. Shaheen Shah Afridi with some matches has got back into his acts. Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim and Nasim Shah forms fearsome pace quartet. Shadab is not only a quality leg spinner but also a fiery middle order batsman. Nawaz is also a useful spinning all rounder. 

New Zealand started like champions blasting their Tasman cousin Australia in the very first match. However, they lost against England at Gaba Brisbane and had a match rained out. In Boult, Southee and Ferguson they possess one of the potent pace attack, Ish Sodhi is a competent leg spinner, so is Mitchell Santner. But batting looks a bit uncertain. Apart from Devon Conway, Daryl Mitchell ,Glen Philips others have not shown quality yet. They may struggle against strong Pakistan attack at SCG. New Zealand in the knock out in the recent past has proved hard nut to crack. The match at SCG is expected to provide mouth-watering contest. 

India VS England: Venue Adelaide Oval. Adelaide 

Squads 
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami. Standby Players: Mohammed Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur
England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Ben Stokes, Tymal Mills, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Alex Hales. Standby Players: Liam Dawson, Richard Gleeson

India England semi final is expected to be one of the epic contests of the tournament. Both team possess many individual match winners. They know each other's game to well as many English players play in IPL with pride and passion. The venue at Adelaide will possibly favor India a bit as they have already become accustomed playing their and Adelaide Oval is a happy hunting ground of back to vintage touch Virat Kohli. India however, did not look great against Pakistan and Bangladesh and required marginal umpiring decisions going their way. England is far better prepared team with express first bowlers, quality spinning all rounders’. Hope ICC ensures fair umpiring. Josh Buttler and Alex Hales will have to encounter swings of master Bhubaneswar and young Arshdeep to get going. David Malan may possibly miss the encounter. But England with Brook, Stokes, Livingstone, Curran Moeen Ali bat deep and any one can turn the tide. I am not sure India will play more than two spinners as the ground in one side is small. On the other hand Mark Wood is bowling at express pace. Sam Curran is swinging prodigiously. Woakes is also a clever operator, Moeen and Adil Rashid as well as Livingstone are good spinners. 

India has too many champions. Rohit is struggling a bit. He however is a big match player and fancy challenges. But Rahul is in supreme form. Master batsman Virat is back at his brilliant best. He alone can win match with his uncanny brilliance. Suriya Kuamar Yadab is already being tagged as modern day AB de Villiers for his 360 exploits. Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Kartik/ Rishab Pant can also turn the tide. Absence of Jasprit Bhumra has been felt a bit. But new sensation Arshdeep Singh has already started rocking. Sami is filling the void. I am not sure whether India will play fourth seam bowler or play with additional batsman, as Hadrik Pandya is there to provide able support. The success however will depend on how Indian batsmen play English pacers. They struggled against Pakistan and Bangladeshi pace attack. However, the semi final is expected to be an even contest of two top quality teams. 

If India and Pakistan qualify for the final it will be again a blockbuster event at MCG. But England-New Zealand final cannot also be ruled out. let us keep our fingers crossed.

BDST: 1213 HRS, NOV 07, 2022
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