Tactics will be more crucial now

The first objective in a World Cup is to qualify for the semifinals The best result then is to meet your preferred opponent in a knockout matchAs we reach the climax of the round robin stage the most likely semifinals are India 1 v New Zealand 4 with South Africa 2 playing Australia 3 For two of the tournament favourites India and Australia this would be their favoured semifinal matchups if that is the actual finishing order of the top fourAlso Read lsquoIncredibly toughrsquo Jos Buttler on Englands World Cup exitEngland were shockingWhilst there have been a number of upsets so farmdashEnglandrsquos utter collapse being monumentalmdashthere are no real surprises about the best way to win 50over matchesTaking early wickets and then maintaining momentum in the middle overs is a surefire way to restrict an opponent If the best batsmen are back in the pavilion during the death overs then you are likely to be chasing a reasonable target Having good wickettaking spinners is importantWhat to do on winning the toss is critical The captain doing so faces a challenging decision One thing you donrsquot want is to send the opposition in and then find yourself chasing a huge total Having a decent score on the board is a positive result especially when the match decides who progresses and who goes homeFor that top four finishing order to occur there are still a few crucial games Indiamdash despite the concern of remaining undefeated in the round robinmdashdid well to stay ahead of South Africa on points Victory over the Proteas in their group match was still a must despite the home side humiliating Sri LankaAustralia are now almost assured of a third place finish which could help them avoid India in the semis as long as they keep winning With the unexpected injury to Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marshrsquos untimely absence this could have been a difficult exercise except that their arch rivals England are playing like headless chooksThe New Zealand versus Pakistan contest was a crucial encounter but the Kiwis do have a net runrate cushion Pakistanrsquos cause is a tough one First they have to win whilst overcoming a major runrate disadvantage which if they let it could be a distraction Pakistan need to exceed their last opponent by more than 200 runs and bowl the opposition out with plenty of overs to sparemdasha tall orderAfghans face uphill battleDespite being easytobarrackfor and producing a clinical win over the Netherlands Afghanistan have a tough job to sneak into the final four Whilst mathematically they could finish ahead of New Zealand on points they have two huge obstaclesFirstly they have a brutal finish with hard games against Australia and South Africa That is a difficult enough task but they are also well behind New Zealand on net runrate which equates to Afghanistan having to both bat and bowl outrageously well in those two matchesNevertheless Afghanistan have won a lot of fans with their aggressive approach and continuing improvement in skill It also doesnrsquot hurt that their spinners maintain line and length under fire and seek wickets at every opportunityNew Zealand find themselves in a slightly precarious position because they had a reasonably gentle early schedule considering the absolute disintegration of England Theyrsquove also suffered some serious injuries along the way but it is their fielding frailtymdashnormally a strengthmdashthat should worry them most in the lead up to the finalNew Zealand need a return to their normal consistent World Cup ways for the remainder of the tournamentSouth Africa stumbled badly against the Netherlands Australia will hope they commit a playoff crime by producing another unexplainable mixup to bow out of the World Cup with a poor semifinal performanceApart from Englandrsquos palpable collapse and South Africarsquos surprising good form the tournament has progressed as the superpowers India and Australia would like This is ongoing headache for the ICC as long they donrsquot resolve the current financial imbalance in world cricket