New Zealand are electrifying, but Australia are clinical at home. The visitors are unbeaten, but the hosts have big-tournament pedigree
Scars? What scars? Everyone's talking about scars, but Rohit Sharma sees none. The scars being discussed do not concern cosmetic surgery for a movie star, but the Indian team's memory of what Australia had been like around six weeks ago.
Nine World Cup semi-finals, zero World Cup finals. New Zealand and South Africa are no strangers to the last four, but neither has ever experienced the ultimate shoot-out.
South Africa are not the only country to have struggled with knockout games in previous World Cups. New Zealand have won only one such match.
Contentious-selection riddled, injury-ravaged, have Pakistan limped to this quarter-final, or have they surged?
At the start of the World Cup, defending champions India would have accepted gleefully the position they find themselves in - a quarter-final against Bangladesh
This has already dubbed been "the biggest game we've ever had" by Ireland's key batsman, Ed Joyce. The winner of this game is assured of a quarter-final place.
This is what it has come down to. The group stage of the World Cup will end with two Full Members, West Indies and Pakistan, fighting for their spot
If England thought life would be any easier once they left Melbourne, they had best think again. The Westpac Stadium - The Cake Tin, as it is known to locals - may not have the capacity of the MCG, but 33,000 passionate New Zealand supporters will ensure the atmosphere remains just as hostile.
Mashrafe Mortaza was optimistic of receiving backing from the stands during the match, but Bangladesh's form in the warm-ups has not generated the same confidence. The loss to Pakistan, albeit close, was not unexpected but the defeat to Ireland would have hurt. Bangladesh have trained hard post those losses, and Mortaza appreciated the efforts put in by his players.
After a bumpy ride, Scotland Tuesday meet hosts New Zealand which thrashed Sri Lanka in the tournament opener.
Since their heroics in the Caribbean in 2007, Ireland have continued to sit atop the second rung of international sides, so much so that they now, in ODIs at least, find themselves in a separate little group alongside Afghanistan with an enhanced position in the rankings. That is crucial for the next World Cup in 2019, but their one focus at the moment is to use this tournament as a base to highlight the folly that the game's biggest global event is shrinking and the fact they largely continue to be ignored by the Full Members.
While India would try to seek fortune when it meet old foes Pakistan, the latter would try to break jinx of playing against the rival neighbour.
Match preview of the tournament opener between Sri Lanka and hosts New Zealand
Of the six previous meetings against England in World Cup competition, Australia has won four, including the final in 1987. But as it heads into what is the opening game for both teams, in front of a capacity crowd of 90,000 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, it’s one of those losses that will make Australia wary given its status as pre-tournament favourite.
As New Zealand arrive, wanting only to sustain their success, confident the bowlers will not lose their lines, and lifted by the feeling that someone in the top seven will always find a way to fire, Sri Lanka are scrambling around, searching for that spark that will set their campaign alight. In past world tournaments, the visitors have found it in unlikely places.
Blessed with a heady mix of experience and youth Sri Lanka is among the top sides coming into the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena will join hands for the last time to plot Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign.
