England Still in the Hunt

When Doeschate and Schiferli scampered for a second run, courtesy an overthrow from Stuart Broad, English Cricket fans would have thought, England was going to exit out of the tournament without a victory to their name. That was the moment, when Stuart Broad became 'Stupid' Broad. Thank God, English Cricket doesn't have a fan following like the English Football club. Otherwise, Lords Cricket Ground would have looked like a Bihar or Uttar Pradesh State Assembly. 

The match against Pakistan was a do or die for England. What they wanted was not just a win, but a convincing one and that too against the last time runners up. Odds were very much stacked against England. But, little did they know that they were also playing against a bunch of guys, who never applied their brains, while going about the chase. 

Pakistan should have worked a clear strategy, for not just beating England, but also a contingency plan to stay in the competition, if their plan A to win backfired. If Pakistan team management spends little more time in strategy making than offering only Namaz (I don't want to offend anyone), they could have made England's staying in the competition much more tougher. But they just squandered an opportunity. A close finish or a finish closer to the English target could have ensured that a win against Netherlands is enough. By losing in a big way to England, Pakistan have found themselves in the hot seat, with fire already in their butts. 

I remember a match of Australia Vs South Africa, were South Africa required to deny Australia a bonus point so as to ensure a place in the final of a tournament. They set the target, which would deny Australia the bonus point, instead of going for a full fledged win. By having such a strategy, they lost the game, but not the tournament. They reached the finals, which was their motive. 

Now England has to do, is to sit back and watch Pakistan take up Netherlands and even if Netherlands lose, the margin by which Pakistan lost, would definitely haunt them from going to the next level. Remember in 2007 T20 world cup South Africa lost just one match and they were out. Pakistan has to now work out, what should be the rate at which they should defeat the Netherlands. I hope they have the algos installed in their laptops to do a simple calculation, which actually is more complicated to them .