Pakistan were given some hope of winning the World Cup, albeit as massive outsiders, while Sri Lanka were given no chance. Sri Lanka were expected to battle with Bangladesh and Afghanistan for last spot, while Pakistan were supposed to be probably just missing out on the semi-finals. While there is not a huge gap between the two sides, Pakistan should be favourites. The problem is that Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan, who in turn, at least in the warm-up stage, beat Pakistan, and that gives Sri Lanka some chance. The fact that Pakistan beat absolute favourites England means that Pakistan should win, but there’s that kind of tricky uncertainty that means that Sri Lanka are a chance. Pakistan’s upset win was a much bigger upset than Sri Lanka’s, and, while a Sri Lankan win here would definitely be an upset, it is not impossible.
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Five Fearless Predictions:
(1) Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz will shine
Did you see the last three overs from Pakistan against England? The bowling had to be seen to be believed. Wahab Riaz took two wickets in an over while Mohammad Amir bowled tightly and took a third wicket. England were probably ahead with three overs to go but these two blew England out of the water. They were not originally in Pakistan’s squad, but were brought in controversially and are now amongst their best players. It was kind of sneaky of Pakistan not to include these stars to start with.
(2) Karunaratne will shine again
While he didn’t quite star in their win over Afghanistan, he is still in some pretty awesome form and against a strong bowling line-up he is expected to do well again.
(3) Pakistan will win
While it is far from a guarantee, and the fear is that their big upset win over England will see them celebrating early, they should win, and surely they will, right? Right?
(4) It’s probably going to be low scoring
Predictions are hard at the moment, and it could equally be high scoring but Sri Lanka have a tendency to fall apart with their batting, and their bowling is pretty weak. We saw against Afghanistan that Sri Lanka were motoring along only to suffer an amazing collapse, so chances are that this will not be a high-scoring match. But it might be.
(5) To predict the unpredictable
I am going to suggest this will be close, and a good match to watch, but it’s just so hard to know right now. We could have a very one-sided match. But I think it will be a close one.
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