I just realized that India and Sri Lanka got 2 carry-forward points each from the group stage. My simple reaction was...WTF??? Why???

CF points are normally used in lieu of playing the same team again in the next stage. But in this tournament, each team plays each other again anyway. What were the organizers smoking when they put the rules together???

So thanks to the pointless CF points, Sri Lanka has to beat India for Pakistan to have a chance (assuming Pakistan beat Bangladesh). Without CF, even if India beat Sri Lanka, it would come down to NRR between Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka (again, assuming Pakistan beat Bangladesh).

Last time it was some obscure bonus point that screwed Pakistan. This time it very well could be CF points.

However, if you do look at it from the angle that CF points were carried forward and the relevant teams didn't play each other again, then you'd have the following situation after today's match:

SL: 4
Ind: 2
Pak: 0
Ban: 0

So in that way, SL would have to beat India anyway for Pakistan to have a chance.

Regardless, I think the best would be to have everyone play each other as happened, but no CF points. Combining the two makes no sense.

grumble...mumble...