Pakistan's first encounter in Super 8s

Yesterday after Australia winning the match against the Bangladeshis, Pakistan automatically qualified for Super 8 stages. Yesterday the group matches ended with expected results i.e. Australia beat Bangladesh and South Africa beat Afghanistan.

Now today 6th of May 2010, the first match being played is of defending champion Pakistan with England, two good and equivalent teams with combination of youth and experience with England have the upper edge as they have their players available else Pakistan is limited in players like Malik, Younis Khan etc.

Tonight's encounter would be a worth watching game as winner of tonight's match will confirm their seat for the semis, and especially the first match of any tournament, group or series has worth mentioning importance as they get psychological advantage in their later matches.

Pakistan has the tough group ahead, as its to play against England, New Zealand (Don't under estimate them, they are group leader from Group B beating last year's runner ups Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, so it'd be stupid assumption to take them for granted) and South Africa (can't even dream of taking them for granted as like last year the way Pakistan took their momentum in the later part of the tournament, similarly the case I'm seeing with South Africa and New Zealand this time)

Lets hope how Pakistan tackles with this group of death, Group F consisting of Australia A2, Sri Lanka B1, India C2, West Indies D1 is also a hard group and one can't predict who'd be the two teams qualify from this group to the Semis.

My prediction for Group E is Pakistan and South Africa (if there isn't any upset, like Kiwis beating Pakistan and England beating South Africa), and for Group F is Australia (don't underestimate Aussies, they are emerging as a tough team in T20 as well), and India (their batting is an example for others to adopt).