Teams hunt for momentum before quarter-finals

New Zealand would want Jesse Ryder to get some runs ahead of the quarter-finals © Getty Images Enlarge

The Big Picture

Two days before this match, Mumbai witnessed, at 41.6 degrees celsius, its hottest March day in 55 years, and second-hottest overall. The match itself doesn't quite promise to be as hot as the matches between big teams in the Group B: New Zealand are going easy, not risking either Daniel Vettori or Kyle Mills; Sri Lanka, the pre-tournament favourites, are yet to put up a performance to match that billing.

That said, there is a lot at stake. Not only is this the last league game for both teams, which makes this important for momentum purposes, more importantly the winners here will be assured a place in the top two, which means they will get one of the two bottom teams from Group B in the quarters. Then again, looking at how chaotic Group B has been, that might eventually not count for much: one of the bottom sides there still could be India, and one of the top ones Bangladesh.

Neither New Zealand nor Sri Lanka will be thinking of Group B, though. To finish in the top two, and to give themselves an even chance to win the quarterfinal, will be some progress for New Zealand, who were blanked 4-0 and 5-0 in their last two series in the subcontinent. For Sri Lanka, this is an opportunity to announce themselves in this World Cup. They have been efficient against the minnows, but they lost to Pakistan, and had only fought back to make things even before rain ended their game against Australia.