Batting holds the key as Australia face Pakistan

The first day of quarter-finals had two extremely one-sided matches: India crushed England by seven wickets after dismissing them for 146 while Wayne Parnell took 6 for 8 to skittle Bangladesh for 41 as South Africa secured a 201-run victory. Both teams are awaiting the results of Monday's matches, which will decide the semi-final line-up. Cricinfo takes a look at the remaining quarter-finals.

Australia and Pakistan have faced similar problems in the lead-up to their quarter-final clash at the Kinrara Oval: the batsmen of both teams have failed to fire.

Australia had one impressive showing against Namibia when captain Michael Hill's brutal 124 off 71 balls led them to 312 but even in that match their lower-middle order collapsed. In the next two games, Australia were restricted by Nepal to 206 and Sri Lanka's spinners dried up the runs so effectively that Australia could muster only 172. Several of their top-order batsmen - Phillip Hughes, Hill and Steven Smith - have got off to aggressive starts but they haven't been able to carry on. The bowling attack has been the main reason for Pakistan's unbeaten run in the league phase and will severely test Australia's batting.

Pakistan's batting has struggled even more than Australia's. They are yet to pass 200 in the tournament, having been dismissed for 156 against New Zealand and restricted to 173 for 8 by Zimbabwe, a team that lost to Malaysia. Their opening combination has failed to click, with Umar Akmal, the younger brother of Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran, yet to reach double figures.

The encouraging aspect for Pakistan, however, is that their bowlers - led by Adil Raza, a right-arm fast bowler, who has taken eight wickets at 7.75 apiece - have been red hot, managing to defend whatever target their batsmen have set. They ripped through Malaysia for 75, dismissed New Zealand for 129 and allowed Zimbabwe only 86.

At Monday's knockout, it could come down to which batting side performs on the day to set up a semi-final clash against South Africa.

The nature of the pitch at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur could play a significant role in the outcome of the quarter-final between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Both teams have in-form bowling attacks but the strengths are very different. While New Zealand have relied on their new-ball attack to pick up bulk of the wickets, Sri Lanka's forte is their battery of spinners.

New Zealand's Trent Boult has the best figures of the tournament, taking 7 for 20 against Malaysia, while Tim Southee also has a five-for against Zimbabwe. Between them, they've taken 19 out of the 30 opposition wickets to fall. Sri Lanka's fast bowlers haven't been very impressive so far but their left-arm orthodox spinners Sachith Pathirana and Navin Kavikara, and offspinners Umesh Karunaratne and Roshen Silva have bowled their overs economically and taken wickets as well. They did a fabulous job of quelling Australia - who had got off to a solid start - during their Group C match in Penang.

As with most of the teams in the tournament, barring India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka's batting hasn't been solid so far. New Zealand could not dominate against Zimbabwe, scoring only 221, and were bowled out cheaply by Pakistan, while Sri Lanka also failed to post imposing totals against the minnows in their group - Namibia and Nepal.

Whichever team makes it through will face an acid test against India in the semi-final at the Kinrara Oval.