ICC World Cup 2015: Expected quarter-final line-up

The teamwise quarter-final scenarios analyzed by Sportskeeda went for a toss the moment Pakistan beat South Africa in Auckland, and Bangladesh knocked out England from the World Cup yesterday. Only New Zealand and India (after the latter's win against Ireland today) are assured of finishing in their current position.We take a look at the expected quarter-final line-ups and of course, owing to these massive and unexpected changes, a look at what would happen if the bizarre would happen once again at the World Cup:

#1 Sri Lanka vs South Africa

Date: 18th March, 2015

Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney

The first quarter-final of the ICC World Cup 2015 will be played between the Proteas and the men from the island nation of Sri Lanka. After losing to Australia on Sunday, its unlikely that Sri Lanka will end up anywhere else but at the 3rd position in Pool A.

South Africa, on the other hand, sit pretty at 2nd position in Pool B with 6 points from 5 games despite their loss to Pakistan recently. South Africa’s last game is against UAE, and going by UAE’s current form, its unlikely that they’ll be able to win against the African nation. Sri Lanka face a struggling Scottish team in their last league outing, a match that will go in Sri Lanka’s favour in all likelihood.

Devil’s advocate: If India would have lost both their remaining games against Ireland and Zimbabwe, and South Africa had managed to beat UAE with a comfortable margin, the Proteas could have pipped India to the top spot thereby altering this line-up and making it an India-Sri Lanka clash. But Ireland’s defeat today means that can’t happen, bringing relief to Indian fans.