For the betterment of future world cups, this is massive and is adding the evidence we need lesser sides in the tournament overall. Well played to the women haters
Technically they auto-qualified in the Super League. But yes, its a big moment for this tournament. Don't think there were any upsets at the last tournament except maybe Windies beating Pakistan (but is PAK losing to anyone really an upset???).
Blows the table wide open now...but there will need to be results along the way. But its a good start a quarter of the way through the group stage.
Afghanistan winning isn't necessarily good for the tournament. It doesn't open it up, rather makes the semi finalists more predictable.
Effectively India, SA, NZ, Aus and Eng are in the race for semi finals... Other teams are unlikely to make it.
Now if one of ENG and AUS quickly fall behind... Then that is it... We may know the 4 semi finalists and we may only be half way through the league stage... That's how dead it can become...
Yes, if Bangladesh and Sri Lanka can win some games against SENAI... Then it can become interesting.
Yeah one major upset won’t change anything in a tournament of such duration. But if you look at it right now, India, NZ, SA, PAK, England and AUS are all still in contention. A few wins from BD and SL and then it’s wide open with 6-7 sides fighting for the knockouts.
You will never have a situation where 8-9 sides are in the hunt for the semis.
the most subcontinent of all the subcontinent fixers those Pakistan boys.