Two losses in a row would weigh down most teams but with Pakistan there is always the chance of a magical follow-up.
This is what Peter English wrote on cricinfo before the Pakistan-New Zealand game when Pakistan had faced two back to back defeats against Australia and England.
A lot of fans had lost hope after the NZ game (I am glad I was not among them as I was doing my calculations of England team beating Saffies, Pakistan beating Saffies and then England beating NZ). If being a Pakistan fan gives you stress, it also makes you optimistic. This is what I have learnt over the past 20+ years.
But seriously did Pakistan really deserve to be in the semi finals? If the answer is no then I’ll say that none of the teams in the tournament with the exception of Australia and England deserved to be in the Semi final because all of them had performed inconsistently. We think Pakistan played poor just because we follow Pakistan and thus tend to be more critical. Ask the same question to a South African or Kiwi fan and they will say the same about their team.
The fact is that Pakistan lost their games against England and Kiwi but the games were close enough to allow Pakistan an easy entry into the semi final once the points were equal. I think Kiwi and Saffies were even worse because their averages were not good enough.
We are peaking at the right time and hopefully will give Aussies a tough fight. Looking back at how others have performed against them, tell me honestly, didn’t we do well against them in the pool game?
Agree with your comment though about our performance against Australia, that we did not fare as badly afterall as the others...so there is still some hope
And I will just copy and paste my comments else-where
GA - they have to fill the semi finals spot somehow. If India somehow manage to get into semi finals then how can you say that they didn't deserve it? Do you think Srilanka with their one win against Windies or Windies with their one win against India deserve it more?
With a format which includes semi finals, stronger teams do get knocked out even with their impressive record in their earlier rounds. This is how it works and there is nothing wrong with the set up. I would prefer this system over a system which will knock out a team as soon as they lose one game which is unfair.
If they really want to allow the two stronger teams compete against each other then they have to eliminate semi finals and then they can have final between the two top teams. Otherwise you have to accept that teams like Pakistan, India can sneak through.
But seriously did Pakistan really deserve to be in the semi finals? If the answer is no then I'll say that none of the teams in the tournament with the exception of Australia and England deserved to be in the Semi final because all of them had performed inconsistently. We think Pakistan played poor just because we follow Pakistan and thus tend to be more critical. Ask the same question to a South African or Kiwi fan and they will say the same about their team.
As soon as we beat SA I said that we do deserve to be in semi-finals. Its not like SA, NZ, SL or India managed more victories than us. Its only Eng and Aus who managed 2+ victories and we played fairly well if we compare how other teams fared against Aus. So yes, we DO deserve to be in semi-finals :)
Simple answer is NO
And I will just copy and paste my comments else-where
I already replied to this comment in the other thread. If laws of the game allow us, if there are ONLY two teams better than us in the tournament then why do we not deserve it? If ICC or tournament organizers are concerned about such 'bad-performers' proceeding to semi-finals then they better come up with some other rules... until then if luck with us then we shall march to semis!!
Maybe teams should be allowed to carry forward points from the group stage (cf. 1999 World Cup in England)
But that system has loopholes too. Because a team could theoretically still qualify for semis by just doing well in their group games without winning any of their three super8 games!!
Don't really know what the answer is?
Maybe discard super8 and have two groups of 6 teams each with the top two in each group making the semis.... this method rewards consistency
And I will just copy and paste my comments else-where
In this group maybe we deserve to be in the semi because we played England and NZ very close but when you look at the overall tournament we won ONLY TWO games and we are in the semi and that doesn't look deserving to me. We haven't really achieved anything yet. if we win semifinal and the final then definitely there will be no doubt that we have the best team. Anyways I'm not complaining! I will take this type of luck any day any time and any where :D
I don't think we deserve to be in Semis's frankly. After winning only 2 games in the whole tournament so far..... Come on, you 've gotta be kidding me.
To me, more than anything, it is is a miracle.....
What do you mean by we deserve or not? its a game and winning n losing is part of it. someone deserves it or not cant be a question asked from any team at all. Cant believe ppl are not happy in any case. stop pondering over this question and get back to praying harder for Pakistani team.
I am happy we have qualified for semi final. InshAllah we will make to the Final as well
Actually cricinfo is banned here but i think in 1992 we only won 1 match and reached quarter final ....
Not true, and there were no quarter-finals. We beat Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Australia, and New Zealand to reach the semis, but lost to West Indies, South Africa, and India. The rain helped Pakistan with a crucial draw against England.
At one point though, Pakistan had only one win (against Zim) and a draw (with Eng), and was in a do-or die situation where they had to win their remaining games (against SL, Aus, and undefeated NZ), and then hope for Aus beating WI to reach the semis. And that's exactly what happened with Imran's cornered tigers.
