Underdogs in the movies start out of their depth, find the happy knack of winning, and then start liking what they feel. Exhibit 2: New Zealand are outclassed by South Africa on a true Centurion pitch. Then Sri Lanka, fooled by the earlier two pitches at the Wanderers, put New Zealand in, and discover they have given their opponents first use of a batting beauty. Against England, New Zealand get a spitting beauty of a pitch, call right at the toss, and run through the batting.

Underdogs in the movies are hit by injuries, handicaps, and miseries, but every setback inspires them. Exhibit 3: New Zealand lose Jacob Oram before their campaign starts. Jesse Ryder pulls his left abductor muscle during the Sri Lanka game, but before leaving plays the kind of innings that must have led to the coining of the phrase “beware the wounded batsman”. Then Daryl Tuffey, at the time looking their best bowler, breaks his hand while fielding and is ruled out for the rest of the tournament. Next up, Grant Elliott, hero of the win against England, breaks his thumb, but braves the injury to score a heroic unbeaten 75 in the semi-final.

The real villains start appearing only in the later stages of underdog movies. Exhibit 4: On paper Pakistan have everything they need to end this underdog tale, but their occasional overconfidence and exceptional play from the underdogs take New Zealand to the final.

Underdogs in the movies meet the biggest, scariest villain right at the end. Exhibit 5: It is always Australia’s fate, or that of any champion team, that their excellence, consistency, their hard work, will always be seen as villainous in romantic underdog stories. We can also conveniently forget that they too lost three of their most important players – Nathan Bracken, Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin – in the lead-up to the tournament. Champions, though, don’t deserve such considerations. Every good underdog story needs a mean villain, and Australia have rarely failed to oblige at world events.

If more context is needed, New Zealand have historically seen Australia as big brothers, and have always sought to bring their best against them. Moreover, New Zealand are yet to beat Australia in a tournament final, and have lost six times (tournaments with more than one final have been considered as one). Centurion will not provide them with a freak pitch either. It’s all stacked up against New Zealand this time, and no self-respecting underdog story would have it any other way.

How good this story is will be known by Monday evening, or rather early on Tuesday morning in Australia and New Zealand.

ICC Champions Trophy final cricket match between Australia vs New Zealand (Aus v NZ) in ICC Champions Trophy is scheduled at Centurion from 14:30 local time (12:30 GMT). Watch free high quality online tv streaming on Live Cricket Match and Hasan Online Sports. Please allow 1/2 minutes to download the streaming and press Play to start the video. If the video is not playing, please refresh the page and start downloading the video again.

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The weather in South Africa has been different, and so have been the results. New Zealand extracted swift revenge, knocking Sri Lanka out. But with every passing match they seem to be losing one player to injury. During their must-win game against England, Grant Elliot joined Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder and Daryl Tuffey on the injured list, and Scott Styris has been flown in as a stand-by. Their travel agent won’t mind flying another man in, if that means making it to the next stage.

Their opponents have no such problems. Unlike their famous triumphs, the 1992 World Cup and the World Twenty20 earlier this year, Pakistan have looked solid from the off in South Africa. They have looked more like the Pakistan of the 1999 World Cup. Their bowling attack has appeared the most settled, the most varied, and the most skilful of the lot in this tournament. Their batting is the weak link – it has fluctuated from very good, against India, to circumspect, against Australia and West Indies. If Pakistan lose the toss and are put in at the Wanderers, that passage of play will be New Zealand’s best chance of making this a close contest.

On paper Pakistan are favourites, and over the years they have used New Zealand as a stepping-stone in big tournaments. In 1992, New Zealand’s first defeat in the World Cup opened doors for Pakistan’s progress to the semi-final, where they were beaten by the same opposition. The semi-finals of the 1999 World Cup and 2007 World Twenty20 were a repeat. In the World Twenty20 in 2009, it was against New Zealand that Pakistan discovered momentum, and never lost it. New Zealand supporters, though, would want to look back at the semi-final of the Champions Trophy in 2000, when they beat Pakistan, and went on to win the final too.

ICC Champions Trophy semi final cricket match between Pakistan vs New Zealand (Pak v NZ) in ICC Champions Trophy is scheduled at Johannesburg from 14:30 local time (12:30 GMT). Watch free high quality online tv streaming on Live Cricket Match and Hasan Online Sports. Please allow 1/2 minutes to download the streaming and press Play to start the video. If the video is not playing, please refresh the page and start downloading the video again.

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For a while it looked as though Australia would blow their chance of progressing as the batting came to a screeching halt in their chase against Pakistan. However, Brett Lee and Nathan Hauritz did just enough – Australia were through when they levelled scores off the penultimate ball – and another meeting with the old enemy was an added bonus.

Australia will bring with them memories of the 6-1 win in the recent one-day series, while England will say that result doesn’t matter anymore. “We thrashed them the last time we played them,” said Graeme Swann, England’s team joker. The truth, as is often the case, lies somewhere in the middle. Australia clearly have the upper hand in recent contests, but England’s resurgence since arriving in South Africa means they have a good chance of extracting revenge.

England may secretly be relieved that Australia scrambled the final bye, which meant they wouldn’t have to face Pakistan’s mixture of spin and reverse swing on a slow, wearing Centurion pitch. Not that Australia’s attack will be easy, but at least there won’t be any of the unknown. In fact, it’s just the opposite. The teams probably know each other a little too well at the moment.

ICC Champions Trophy semi final cricket match between Australia vs England (Aus vs Eng) in ICC Champions Trophy is scheduled at Centurion from 14:30 local time (12:30 GMT). Watch free high quality online tv streaming on Live Cricket Match and Hasan Online Sports. Please allow 1/2 minutes to download the streaming and press Play to start the video. If the video is not playing, please refresh the page and start downloading the video again.

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It means that there’s a lot riding on this day-night encounter and neither team enters the match in peak form. India have the advantage of familiarity with the conditions at Centurion, where they lost to Pakistan on Saturday. Australia are coming off a win but it was a scratchy and in parts unconvincing victory against an under-strength West Indies in the different conditions at the Wanderers. It’s hard to predict a winner, though the bookmakers favour Australia.

Australia will be most concerned about breaking India’s opening partnership early; Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar have troubled Ricky Ponting’s men in the past and Australia’s fast bowlers lacked penetration against West Indies. The presence or absence of the stiff and sore Michael Clarke looms as another potential key. Unlike India, Australia aren’t automatically out if they lose but it will be a hard road back. The teams meet for seven one-dayers in India in October and November but none will matter as much as this game.

ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between Australia vs India (Ind vs Pak) in ICC Champions Trophy is scheduled at Centurion from 14:30 local time (12:30 GMT). Watch free high quality online tv streaming on Live Cricket Match and Hasan Online Sports. Please allow 1/2 minutes to download the streaming and press Play to start the video. If the video is not playing, please refresh the page and start downloading the video again.

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What’s helped is the tight draw in the tournament format. Pakistan, who have been more vocal in setting up the match (Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul and Younis Khan have been quoted on how badly they want to beat India), will know only net run-rate can keep them out of semi-finals if they win this match. India, blighted by injuries to Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, have a year and a half of good work done in ODIs to defend. A loss in their opening match will leave them needing to beat Australia and possibly run-rate calculations to go their way.

The build-up for this match, though, has been different from the last time the two teams met at the same venue, in the 2003 World Cup. Sachin Tendulkar then lived the match a year in advance. Everywhere he went, he was reminded of the match. He said he couldn’t sleep properly for 12 nights leading into the game. March 1 was a day people of two countries lived for. If you had asked Tendulkar of this match six months ago, he would have – rightly – not known of any such fixture. Before March 1, 2003, the teams had not played each other for three years. In last three years now, they have played 17 ODIs, six Tests and two Twenty20s.

Hype or no hype, once the match begins, Centurion – and the rest of world, wherever the match is telecast – will be engrossed. Albeit slowly, the atmosphere will build. It can’t be such a bad thing if a cricket match is a cricket match and not a war.

ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between India vs Pakistan (Ind vs Pak) in ICC Champions Trophy is scheduled at Centurion from 14:30 local time (12:30 GMT). Watch free high quality online tv streaming on Live Cricket Match and Hasan Online Sports. Please allow 1/2 minutes to download the streaming and press Play to start the video. If the video is not playing, please refresh the page and start downloading the video again.

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Australia have just beaten England 6-1, so their form is impressive. However, they have only just arrived in South Africa and without any warm-up matches they must resist the temptation to treat this game as a centre-wicket practice. A resounding win is required to give them momentum ahead of their matches against India and Pakistan – the teams are competing for two semi-finals spots. Weariness could be a factor and Ricky Ponting said this week the squad featured a lot of tired bodies after a four-month tour of England. Australia are also without their one-day specialist Nathan Bracken, although there is plenty of pace-bowling backup in the squad.

For this replacement West Indies side it’s business as usual – they enter the game as severe underdogs with no expectations on their shoulders. Gavin Tonge, who starred against Pakistan, forms part of a handy attack along with Darren Sammy and, if he plays, Kemar Roach. But the batting is fragile and West Indies’ best hope could be to bowl first and hope for early-morning swing and seam to upset Australia’s top order.

ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between Australia vs West Indies (Australia vs West Indies) in ICC Champions Trophy is scheduled at Johannesburg from 14:30 local time (12:30 GMT). Watch free high quality online tv streaming on Live Cricket Match and Hasan Online Sports. Please allow 1/2 minutes to download the streaming and press Play to start the video. If the video is not playing, please refresh the page and start downloading the video again.

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And now, with respect to an Australian side that may be the reigning Champions Trophy champions but are still in an undeniable rebuilding phase, England prepare to face a team that really knows how to play one-day cricket. Sri Lanka simply hammered the much-fancied tournament hosts, South Africa, in the opening match on Tuesday. Tillakaratne Dilshan’s majestic hundred put the match out of reach, as the wiles of Ajantha Mendis proved too canny to allow a 300-plus target to be pursued with any confidence – even for a team stacked with the sort of power-players that England can only dream of.

In the absence of Kevin Pietersen (who has scored two of England’s three ODI hundreds since January 2008 – a tally that even Scotland has surpassed) and latterly Andrew Flintoff and even Luke Wright, England lack batsmen who can break the shackles, and raise the tempo. Strauss has been batting like a dream all summer, but even at his most imperious, he is still a man for whom an 80.00 strike-rate is a pacey tempo – hence his unfortunate habit during the Australia ODIs of getting out when well set, usually while attempting a reverse-sweep or similar, shots that his colleagues ought to have been producing while he continued to anchor the innings.

Strange results are possible in 50-over cricket – let’s not forget, when England were last humiliated by Australia in a one-day campaign, in Australia in 2006-07, they somehow emerged with the CB Series trophy in their luggage, after Paul Collingwood stitched together back-to-back victories in the finals. But they’ve never yet won an ICC global event, and they’ve rarely looked less ready to break that habit. The rarefied atmosphere of the Highveld is no place for weary cricketers.

ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between Sri Lanka vs England (SL vs Eng) in ICC Champions Trophy is scheduled at Johannesburg from 14:30 local time (12:30 GMT). Watch free high quality online tv streaming on Live Cricket Match and Hasan Online Sports. Please allow 1/2 minutes to download the streaming and press Play to start the video. If the video is not playing, please refresh the page and start downloading the video again.

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Both teams have a 20% success rate in ODIs held in South Africa against the top eight teams; this tournament presents an opportunity to change that statistic. Pakistan will look to ease themselves into the tournament with what should be, in theory, an easy outing. Their captain Younis Khan, who won’t be featuring in tomorrow’s encounter, has already raised the stakes by announcing that he wants to win the tournament in honour of Bob Woolmer, their former coach who died during the 2007 World Cup.

It won’t be that easy, though. Pakistan haven’t had the best of the years in ODIs, losing eight of the 13 games played; their batting has floundered repeatedly and they have been bowled out for less than 175 five times. It’s a team in the rebuilding stage and instead of opting for an all-youth policy they have added a healthy bit of experience. They have been beefed up by the return of the ICL players in Mohammad Yousuf, Imran Nazir and the solid Naved-ul-Hasan.

If West Indies, derailed by controversy in the recent times, are desperately seeking some positive signs, they need only look at their history in this tournament. They have been runners-up twice and won it once so memorably in 2004. They lack even a single star but, freed of the weight of expectation, they can be a thorn in the flesh of the other fancied teams in their group.

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