Readers’ Forum

Reaching the last 8

Bangladesh may enter the last eight of the World Cup Cricket Championship 2015, securing at least three wins in six matches. The job is hard but not impossible because anything can happen in sports.
Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand, England, Scotland and Sri Lanka are in Group A while India, Ireland, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, South Africa, UAE and West Indies are in Group B. Each team in the respective group will play maximum six matches on the single league basis, and four best teams from each group will sail into the quarterfinals.
Bangladesh can hope to beat Afghanistan and Scotland, and hope for a third win against any of the other four teams.
The journey summons mental and physical fitness, concentration of mind on pitch, determination and conviction from each member of the fleet. We know that Bangladeshi players can meet our hopes.
In this connection, we would advise the ICC to apply the World Cup Football formula in separating teams of the same continent from each other. Accordingly, Australia and New Zealand, England and Scotland, South Africa and Zimbabwe should have been placed in separate groups. Alas! That has not been done. We hope that the ICC will correct itself from the next time.

Abdullah Akber
Dhaka