Pakistan play South Africa in what will be the last game for both the sides in the Super Eight stage of the tournament, the game will be played at St. Lucia after all the other games were played at Bridgetown in Barbados.

The situation is like this. Pakistan have yet to win a single game in the two games that they have played, and that means that there is only one way by which they qualify for the semi-finals, and that is by winning the game, and then hoping that the English side beat New Zealand. This will force a three-way tie for the second position and Pakistan has a better net run rate than the rest of them and hence should go through to the next round.

However, if South Africa win the game, they will have four points from three games, and then, their progress to the next round will depend on the result of the next game between New Zealand and England. If England win, South Africa will be through, while if the Kiwis win, this will force a three-way tie between England, South Africa and New Zealand and the top two, based on the net run-rate will go through to the next round.

South Africa had a strangely difficult game against the English side last time around, and that meant that England gave them a thrashing of their life. This also meant that the South African net run rate suffered a lot because of that defeat.

As compared to that, Pakistan continue to grapple with their issues surrounding the lack of hitting capabilities. None of their lower order batsmen ever have had the strength to clear the fence and that has meant that the side has not been able to get through to a good total. This has also meant that the pressure is on the likes of Shahid Afridi and company, who were not able to bat too well. Afridi has continued to promote himself up the order, and that has meant more problems for the side.

Afridi needs to bat down the order, and allow the guys like Abdul Razzaq to go after the bowling given that he can hit the ball real hard at the end of the innings once he has got his eye in.

Between the two sides, one would have said South Africa is the favourite, but the problem is that the South Africans have failed to get much momentum behind their backs and it will be an interesting game.

Tag :- Abdul Razzaq   Pakistan   Shahid Afridi   South Africa