The world cup just became interesting

After two weeks of not-so-interesting action, the world cup became interesting again with Pakistan defeating Australia and ending their unbeaten streak of 34 matches in the world cup. It is remarkable that Pakistan was the last team to have defeated them in the 1999 world cup. This will make tomorrow's match between India and West Indies very interesting. If India wins, they will play Australia in the QF, if they lose they'll play either Sri Lanka or Pakistan, depending on their net run rate after the match. This makes for an interesting situation - India has never lost to Pakistan in a world cup and has had a pretty good record against Sri Lanka. However, they have defeated Australia only twice in the world cup and the last victory against them was in 1987. The last time India played Australia in a world cup match was in the finals of 2003 world cup where they lost badly. Given this history, will India be better off losing tomorrow's match?

Hats off to the Pakistan cricket team. They have had a horrible past few years in Cricket - international teams have stopped visiting Pakistan after the attack on Sri Lankan team's bus in 2009; they have been mired in one controversy after the other - death of Bob Woolmer, ball tempering charges, doping charges, spot fixing charges and the subsequent suspension of their three top players just before the world cup. No one had given them a chance when the world cup begun but they have finished at the top of Group A. This team continues to surprise me.

Like I said, the world cup just became interesting and the real action begins tomorrow. I am confident that India will win tomorrow. If that happens, I fear for them in the QF against Australia ;)