India Vs Pakistan Cricket: The Zing Seems to be Missing!

 

The cricket matches in all three formats of the game between the arch-rivals India and Pakistan have become a rare variety in the recent years with the ardent discerning cricket lovers waiting for their matches at neutral venues. The matches between them in the one-day World Cup, the T-20 World Cup, and the Asia Cup have always been eagerly awaited. However, in the last two years the fan enthusiasm seems to be dwindling with a sense of listlessness seeping in as regards both Team India and their matches. And risking being rough or grossly unjust I have to point the finger at the Head Coach Rahul Dravid who was appointed in the job in November, 2021. No doubt, he had taken over with the ripe legacies of India—not able to break the jinx of not winning a single ICC title since 2011; India’s group-stage exit in the T20 World Cup played in 2021; Team India management blinded by too many choices of young cricketers (courtesy IPL) thus ushering in the mindless and endless experimentation in the run-up to any international tournament; and the unshakable trust and dependence in the Team India veterans despite their continuous poor show on the field. But Rahul Dravid was appointed with high hopes that being player of legendary status he’d bring in the necessary changes and rejuvenate the team. Unfortunately, the opposite happened.

India lost the Series against South Africa; India’s group-stage exit in Asia Cup-2022; India got ousted in the semi-final in the T20 World Cup played in 2022 and India lost the World Test Championship again this year. What the team managed to do was to win a few scattered matches, mostly against the much weaker teams. All the legacies we mentioned above were continued with unabated energy or even further emboldened. For example, the experimentation-laden team was administered more severe shock treatment bringing in or dropping or inexorably sticking to key or non-key cricketers at mere will or whims or prejudice or favoritism or clout, so much so brazenly that nobody in the Dravid-led management even bothered to justify or make a bid to defend the decisions in some way. The ageing Captain Rohit Sharma followed by the record-breaking Virat and the shifting openers kept on failing the team while the Head Coach kept on looking the other way. The most notable player to gain unjustified faith, apart from the untouchables, is Shardul Thakur while the most-axed but trustworthy players to suffer are Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal at times and even Mohammad Shami and Surya Kumar Yadav who got dropped during the ensuing Asia Cup, in the most crucial league match against none other than Pakistan.

Well, I cannot represent the fans spread globally for Team India, but I can say for myself that I had lost interest in Team India matches played inside or outside, including the most-awaited Indo-Pak encounters. For example, I never even bothered to find out when India was going to meet Pakistan in Asia Cup-2023 that had moved back to the 50-over format which should’ve been matter of keener interest. No doubt, the weather gods too didn’t like the way India prepared to meet Pakistan and the match had to be abandoned. Of course, India successfully moved to the Super-4 stage by defeating Nepal (a Dravidian achievement?). Now, tomorrow, the 10^th of September 2023, India is set to play the arch-rival again, and I’m not seeing any kind of keen interest, far from the usual hype, demonstrated in the fan-fares or in the media for the match. And feeling the guilt somehow I’ve decided to write out my or our agonized frustration.

There is another crucial factor though for the seeming lack of interest—the obstinate rains there in Sri Lanka. Today, I read what Sunil Gavaskar wrote about the organizers not willing to consider changing the venues despite the looming rain threats. He indicated the organizers must be under acute pressure that is most often exercised by the influential players, not just Team India players, but others too. Maybe, this is being my guess; some team would like to play it safe by sharing a point with their rivals rather than working it out in the field and hope for the best. For example, if the Indo-Pak match in Colombo washes out despite having a reserve day Pakistan will get to three points having already vanquished Bangladesh and India just getting one which would mean that to qualify for the Final India will have to beat both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the coming matches, no minnows by any standard.

I never imagined even in my wildest of dreams that one day I’d not only be upset with Dravid, but would also write about his wrong ways, conclusively in my way only; because I always loved and admired that great Wall of a cricketer who stood for the pride of the nation in the most adverse conditions, more often in the Test arena. If you search for him here in this blog you’re sure to find at least one piece written about Rahul Dravid in his glorious years. Ultimately, this is a matter of sadness only, that, a player of that level of excellence should fail the national team so utterly, so miserably. I was never a pessimist, particularly in my cricket writings. But at the moment, I feel no surge of optimism as regards Team India’s progress in this Asia Cup, or much more importantly in the upcoming One-day ICC World Cup-2023—a tournament that is to be played in the subcontinent, and the Head(ache?) Coach prepares well by axing out Ashwin and Chahal, although it’s presented as only a provisional team which, in a more monstrous way, would mean that experimentation is still a far way off from being finally over.

India Clean Sweep Paytm T20I Series 3-0 As Their Bowlers Help Annihilate New Zealand By 73 Runs In Kolkata!

We mentioned in the last piece about the new T20I cricket captain Rohit Sharma winning the toss in contrast to Virat Kohli! And what a funny irony that in the third and last T20I match in Kolkata today in which India annihilated New Zealand by 73 runs Rohit made a hat-trick of winning the toss in sharp contrast to Kohli’s hat-trick in losing the toss in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021. Now, this phenomenon is set to haunt the hardcore Indian fans with the eternal question: had Virat retired from the captaincy before the World Cup and Rohit taken over, perhaps, the scenario and the excruciatingly painful results would have been different. Perhaps, again, the demotion of an opener of Rohit’s record to the No.3 position in the crucial match against New Zealand could have been prevented, and the Pandya-obsession could have been avoided. Wishful thinking, you may say so! But, these are important observations that you cannot deny!

 

Anyway, after winning the toss this time Rohit decided to bat first—a decision perhaps prompted by the new head coach Rahul Dravid who knows the Eden Gardens pitch very well crafting there the historic partnership of 376 runs with VVS Laxman in 2001 against Australia winning the Test Series 2-1and maybe Rohit wanted to experiment with batting first as he may have thought that he could not expect to go on winning the toss forever—because the Eden pitch could be turning more later in the evening. However, India team management decided to rest Ashwin and brought in the nearly-forgotten leg-spinner Yazvendra Chahal in his place; India also rested KL Rahul in view of the coming Test series and gave another chance to opener Ishan Kishan. New Zealand rested its standing skipper Tim Southee on workload management ground and brought in Lokie Ferguson. For this match Mitchell Santner was assigned the captain’s duty.

 

The opener duo of Rohit-Ishan made an explosive start putting up 69 runs in the powerplay of 6 overs with Rohit scoring most of the runs racing to his second consecutive half-century (56 in 31)) in just 27 balls with three towering sixes. Unfortunately, apart from the skipper no other recognized batsmen could contribute much as three quick wickets fell to spinner Santner (3/27) in the forms of Ishan (29), Suryakumar Yadav (0) and Rishabh Pant (4). Soon, with the fall of Rohit Sharma to spinner Sodhi India were reduced to 103 for 4 in the 12^th over. After a brief partnership between the Iyer-duo—Shreyas Iyer (25) and Venkatesh Iyer (20)—India seemed to be in the same pattern of the batting-first side ending up at less than 170-180 runs as their 6^th wicket fell at 140 in the 17^th over. But thanks to the bowlers Harshal Patel (18 in 11) and a big-hitting Deepak Chahar (21 in just 8 balls) India could finally put up 184/7, the highest team score of the series.

 

As Rahul Dravid would have expected the Indian spinners made mincemeat of the Kiwis. After a briefly breezy start in the first two overs wickets started falling in heaps as left-arm spinner Axar Patel took over and struck in his first ball getting the prize wicket of the danger man Daryl Mitchell (5), then the scalp of Mark Chapman for a duck in the last ball of the same over and then striking again in his second over clean bowling Glen Phillips for a duck again. The backbone of the visitors thus crushed, New Zealand could never recover. Chahal proved to be a little expensive, but he took the valuable wicket of Guptill. Watching the ball turning Rohit tried part-time spinner Venkatesh Iyer who also rewarded him with a wicket. Harshal Patel, continuing from his previous debut-match, captured 2 wickets apart from his batting performance. Finally, New Zealand folded up for a sorry 111 runs all out, meekly giving India a huge victory by 73 runs and whitewashed 3-0 in the series. Apart from Guptill (51), Tim Seifert (17) and Ferguson (14), no other New Zealander could cross the double-digit mark.

 

Now, over to the classic and the original format of cricket, that is Test Cricket. The first of the 2-match Test Series is going to start from the 25^th of November 2021 in Kanpur. And naturally, there will be lot of changes in both the teams with the short-format specialists leaving the teams to a much-deserved rest. While the regular Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson is coming back to join his team Virat Kohli is not available for at least the first Test in and Ajinkya Rahane will lead India. With Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel the third spinner is most likely to be bowling all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

T20I Cricket: Rohit’s India Hiccup Their Way To Beat Southee’s New Zealand, Lead 1-0!

India, under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma and in the new coach Rahul Dravid’s first match, India have defeated New Zealand in the first T20 International match in Jaipur on 17^th of November 2021 by 5 wickets with just two balls to spare, and taken 1-0 lead in the 3-match T20I series. India without ex-captain Virat Kohli and several key players being rested, and similarly, New Zealand without their regular captain Kane Williamson opting out have fought out the match almost as equals despite India having the advantage of winning the toss. The progresses of the two team’s respective innings also have some similarities that we will mention as we go on, though briefly.

 

Put into bat New Zealand started badly losing Daryl Mitchell in the very first over for a duck to Bhuvaneshwar Kumar who seemed to have found his form as India’s strike bowler. However, from that point a healthy partnership between Guptill and M Chapman grew and at 110/1 in the 14^th over New Zealand seemed to be aiming at a 190+ total. At that point R Ashwin who was notoriously not included in the Indian squad in the vital first two matches of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021, struck two vital blows removing both of Chapman (63) and G Phillips for a duck reducing the visitors to 110/3. Guptill (70) fell to rookie pacer Deepak Chahar in the 18^thover as the Kiwis lost the momentum and could set up only a fighting target of 164 for India to win in 20 overs.

 

In the Indian chase, the hosts, in a similar way of the visitors, lost KL Rahul (15) relatively early (of course, after a 50-run opening partnership) and then a good 3^rd wicket partnership grew between Rohit (48) and Suryakumar Yadav (63) who was also dropped in the crucial World Cup match against the Kiwis, and at 109/1 in the 14^thover India seemed to be cruising to an easy victory. But then, Trent Boult struck two vital blows removing both of them as the hosts started struggling to get the runs flowing. Rishabh Pant kept his end safe with fits and starts even as Shreyas Iyer (5) and the IPL-found Venkatesh Iyer (4) fell cheaply with India finally needing 5 runs from 4 balls thanks to a wide by Mitchell and with Axar Patel for company Pant (17) finally hit the winning boundary to see India home in a prestige match for both new captain Rohit and new coach Dravid, also in view of India’s humiliating loss to the Kiwis at the Group-B league of the T20 World Cup. Rohit was in full flow continuing from the World Cup, but his not crossing the half-century mark created all the hiccups for India’s win. This is an area of concern for India with their batsmen yet to find a clue to tackle the NZ pacers, even in the much friendlier home turfs.

 

New Zealand, the runners-up of the World Cup and without Kane Williamson plus a pacer for this T20I series, is still a very tough team and the re-grouping India is not going to find it easy to overcome them in the remaining two matches in Ranchi on 19^th and in Kolkata on the 21^st of November. This is good news for Indian cricket lovers to watch some competitive matches live in the stadiums after being deprived of the same for nearly one and half years as Cricket New Normal took over. Both Kohli and Williamson are likely to join their teams for the 2-match Test Series to follow.

 

In the meantime the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2022 has been announced with Australia as the host and Melbourne to stage the Final on 13^th of November 2022 and apart from Sydney four more cities including Brisbane and Perth have been added as the 6 venues. The back-to-back World Cup tournament in the shortest format is set to start from 17^thof October 2022. Eight teams including India have already qualified for the Super-12 stage and the rest 4 teams will have to be selected from the qualifying round. Unfortunately, there is no indication of making any changes in the format and the number of games to be played. The toss remains too. Changing ‘batsman’ to ‘batter’ is only of etymological interest. 

The Warner-Marsh Duo Gifts Australia Their First Ever T20 World Cup, New Zealand Remains Runners-Up Again!

Australia added to its feathers the first ever T20 World Cup by prevailing over New Zealand by  8 wickets in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 in Dubai today. The final match has also turned out to be not as absorbing as the two semi-finals with the Australian chase seeming quite easy and the inevitable ‘toss advantage’ seemed to have sealed the match in their favor. As we have seen the team winning the toss invariably chooses to field first, restricts the opposition to less than 180 and wins the match by hauling up the target chasing with the dew or any favoring factor. Of course, in the semi-finals it was Daryl Mitchell’s charge at the death that won it for New Zealand against England and a similar finishing act was carried out by Matthew Wade for Australia upsetting a shocked Pakistan at the death. However, we had said earlier that the chasing team always overhauls the target, somehow, as has been observed throughout this tournament. This important final of a World Cup truly turns out to be another strong cause for tossing away the toss. This is not to deny Australia the credit for its professionalism and aggressiveness  whenever needed in crunch matches.

 

As in the semi-final against Pakistan Australia lost captain Aaron Finch early in the final too, but the team accelerated thanks to some real hitting by David Warner and Mitchell Marsh. Australia hauled up the first fifty runs in the sixth over while New Zealand took as many as nine overs. Thanks to the duo the ‘big brother’ fully dominated the proceedings as no Kiwi ‘kid’ bowler could control the free flow of runs all around the park. Warner raced to his 50 with a towering six off Neesham in 34 balls at the team score of 95/1 in the 11^th over, almost cruising to victory at that stage. As a huge relief for the Kiwis Warner (53, declared the Player of the Tournament) fell soon to Boult in the 13^th over, perhaps a tad too late for a comeback. Mitchell Marsh (77 not out in 50 balls) joined by Glen Maxwell (28 not out in 18 balls) treated the Kiwi bowlers with disdain hauling up the target with 7 balls to spare, Maxwell hitting the winning boundary.

 

Earlier, put into bat and thanks to Williamson’s masterful innings of 85 off 34 balls, the highest individual score by a captain in this World Cup, New Zealand set a target of 173 runs to win for Australia, and it was only a fighting total which their bowlers were miserably unable to defend. Except for Guptill (28) and Phillips (18) no NZ batsmen could contribute much while they had the launching pad for a 190+ total; the hero of the semi-final Daryl Mitchell could only score 11 runs in 8 balls and was the first to go. The last two overs were real dampeners for NZ despite the big-hitting partner of Mitchell in the semi-final, James Neesham, being very much around, finally remaining not out with just 13 runs. For Australia Hazelwood found his touch and captured three wickets for only 16 in 4 overs while all other Aussie bowlers were hit around the park, most surprisingly strike bowler Starc was hit for 60 runs in his 4 overs.

 

The jinx of ‘so close yet so far’ remains for the most deserving and the World Test Champion team of New Zealand still without any of the ICC World Cups in the shorter formats. They came very close to winning the ODI (one-day international) World Cup Finals of 2015 against Australia and of 2019 against England, but finally losing under controversial circumstances in the latter. Today, in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 final too New Zealand failed to prevail over big brother Australia. They again turned up as the runners-up yet again in an ICC World Cup tournament.

 

Thus, curtains on the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021, a tournament scheduled to be held in Australia in 2020, venues changed twice and finally unfolding in Oman and UAE, after nearly a month of competitive cricket involving national pride, but impacted to some extent by low-scoring slow pitches and the advantage for the toss-winning team. There’d be another T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022, and hopefully, the pandemic permitting, that will be much tougher, competitive and absorbing. For the moment New Zealand is coming to India this month for 3 T20I matches and 2-match Test Series. Rohit Sharma will lead the team, several star players rested including Kohli, in the T20I matches starting from the 17^th of November 2021. It is not yet clear about the captain of the Test series; if Kohli continues to be rested then Ajikya Rahane who led India to a spectacular victory against Australia in Australia is likely to be given the cap.

T20 World Cup Final: Australia Vs New Zealand!

After many twists and turns and tosses the two neighbors down under have come around to meet each other in the Final of the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup-2021 to be held on Sunday, 14^thNovember in Dubai. Australia, the Group-1 second-spot holder today became the first team of the tournament to beat Pakistan by 5 wickets with one over to spare in a thriller of a second semi-final match in  Dubai. Pakistan captain Babar Azam lost the toss to Australia captain Finch this time in this crucial encounter and was naturally put into bat. The Pakistan fans crowding the stadium in huge numbers were in tremendous spirits witnessing their team winning all the matches with ease and brilliance with good consistent batting and having perhaps the best bowling attack of the tournament.  

 

The in-form opener duo Azam and Rizwan made an electrifying start firing all cylinders as Pakistan tried their best to neutralize the loss of the toss and the possible dew factor later in the evening. There were three good knocks: 67 runs by Rizwan, 55 not out by Zaman and 39 by Babar. They put up a challenging 177 target to win for Australia, but perhaps not enough. A target of 190+ looked possible as Pakistan had wickets in hand, but failures of Asif and Malik made the total fall short by at least 15 runs. The Aussie bowlers were delivering too many loose balls, no-balls, wides and mostly not able to maintain tight length helping Pakistan accelerate. The way Hazelwood and Cummins were hit around the park with a lot of ease reflected the determination of the Pak batsmen to set up a challenging target and enter the final where they were to meet New Zealand whom they had beaten already in a Group-2 match.    

 

The Aussies started badly, losing captain Finch in the first over to the fiery Shaheen Afridi and Pakistan prevented them from racing away to a good powerplay score. Only from the 4^th over David Warner and Marsh started playing attacking shots achieving the 50-run mark in the 6^th over. Marsh soon fell for 28 runs to Shadab Khan and the latter (4/26) with his deadly spin went on to capture the quick wickets of Smith (5), Maxwell (7) and Warner (49) reducing Australia to 96/5 in the 13^thover turned the match almost conclusively in Pakistan’s favor. And then, the incredible partnership happened between Stoinis (40 not out in 31 balls) and Matthew Wade (41 not out in just 17 balls) which was rather slow in the beginning, but picked steadily bringing back the momentum. Needing 18 runs from the last two overs Wade finished the match in the 19^th over by hitting three intelligent sixes off the bowling of none other than Shaheen Afridi. However, the initial charge and anchoring of David Warner must be credited.

 

Pakistan who finished the group stage unbeaten lost the semi-final, but not without a great fight and a strong will to reach the final and win the Cup for the second time. India needs to learn from Pakistan as their batsmen focused on attacking the bowlers fearlessly while the Indian batsmen were mostly on the defensive which was made worse by poor team selection. Australia never won the T20 World Cup, and now they have a big chance of winning by prevailing over their kid brother in the Final on 14^thNovember in Dubai. However, New Zealand is no pushover. They were the runners-up in the ICC World Cup-2019 and unfortunately lost to England in that controversial final; but in the first semi-final they avenged it by preventing England reach the final this time.

 

So, Matthew Wade took his team into the final at the death like Daryl Mitchell did for New Zealand against a very good team of England with his incredible late charge of 72 runs off just 47 balls. This has been the advantage of winning the toss, because the chasing team somehow gets to the target after restricting the opposition to less than 180 in most encounters. However, in this match the Aussie tactics were a bit inexplicable: first, their famed fast bowlers kept on bowling wayward, never bowling to their potential and about the spinners the less said the better; second, several Australian batsmen surrendered meekly, never looking like taking efforts; and thirdly and most prominently, Warner did not ask for a review of his caught behind decision as the replays later showed the ball did not touch the bat at all.

Cricket: Should The Toss Be Tossed Away?

Although the practice of tossing the coin before a cricket Test match by the two captains is as ancient as the game, in recent times we have seen a huge lot of cases where the toss winning team puts the losing team at distinct disadvantages, including an evolving negative mindset. In some cricket playing nations like England, Australia, the West Indies and New Zealand where the focus is on grooming fast bowlers pitches with grass are prepared and once the host team wins the toss in a day match they put the opposition into bat, particularly if the morning is cloudy apart from the moisture fresh on the grass, and obviously the visiting team suffers not at all due to their fault or their weaknesses. The reverse of this is true in countries, particularly India or Sri Lanka, where the focus is always on the spinners, grassless slower-flat pitches are prepared and the toss-winning team naturally bats first, because in most cases the pitch begins to turn dangerously from the 3^rd or the 4^th day onward; the grotesquely turning pitches in India are, no doubt, in some decline after the advent of the shortest-format Indian Premiere League (IPL) in 2009 for obvious reasons. Even in that case of the IPL the toss-losing teams are at a disadvantage, because the winning teams always prefer to chase and as seen in India, anything above 300 also can be chased successfully at the flat batting tracks.

 

This explains why India had been losing most of the away series in the past decades and winning most of the home series, of course in recent years only, due to more thought and efforts being given to groom more fast bowlers. In the seventies and the eighties in home Test series we had witnessed the unique spectacle of watching the one or at most two medium fast bowlers in the Indian eleven bowling just one or two overs at the start of the fourth innings with even the living legend Sunil Gavaskar at times coming in to bowl the early overs and always hitting the ball hard on the ground so that the famous spinners could take over as soon as possible. Such a scenario has been getting extinct since the late nineties; however, the toss disadvantage remains as ever, in all formats of the game.

 

The day-night games, introduced for express commercial purposes, the scene of the toss disadvantage gets more serious. As the autumn season starts, the traditional cricket season through to the winter, dew forms later in the evening. All cricketers/commentators/cricket lovers know very well that the dew makes the ball slippery, making it very difficult for the bowlers, both pacers and spinners, to grip the ball well and direct its trajectory as the bowlers would want. Therefore, the toss-winning team always puts in the opposition to bat first, as is most disturbingly witnessed in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 in Oman and UAE. From the matches of the IPL-2021 shifted to UAE midway we had seen the slow pitches there that makes batting difficult in the first innings and makes bowling difficult in the second innings, invariably favoring the toss-winning-chasing teams, particularly if the match involved two top competitive teams and not the weaker teams or the minnows as opposition, and most of the matches ending as low-scoring and often one-sided ones.

 

Many disappointed fans from India, for that matter for South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh too, would have loved to watch what their teams could have done had they won the toss and chased in those crucially important matches they lost perhaps due to, to some significant extent, the loss of the toss. Since it involved India, a team from the richest cricket board of the world and its strategic business interests globally, the hue and cry over the ‘toss’ is getting noisier and nastier. However, as we have illustrated earlier the toss does affect the matches and does do harm to the toss-losing teams, more if they are almost equals as per the International Cricket Council (ICC) indices and rankings. Now, we’ll see if the toss can be done away with totally or at least partially.

 

Interestingly, doing away with the toss would be the most easier option in the IPL itself, irrespective of my or your opinion about its utility, because the tournament engages 8-10 teams where each team plays each two times on a double-robin basis; in a 8-franchise IPL each team plays 14 matches in all at the league stage. Therefore, at the league stage one competing team should be allowed to choose fielding or batting in the first match and the same option to the opposing team in the second match and so on. In the elimination round the choice can be given based on the respective net run-rates of the two rivals. We have argued many times earlier that the ICC should adopt a similar format ideally with a double-robin where the Super-12 would be just one group like in IPL and each team would play each at least twice.  The toss can thus be tossed away as we have shown. In fact, this standard should be adopted in all ICC tournaments in all formats.

 

In Test series too that we started this piece with, the elimination of the toss is entirely possible. For example let us take a five-match Test Series between India and say England in any country of the two as a host; either India or England should be allowed to opt for bat or bowl first in the first match, followed by India having the choice in the second and till the fourth match. In the fifth and the last Test, may be the deciding one in some cases, the team with the best ICC ranking should be given the option of the choice. In 2 or 6-match Test series there is no problem at all. This can very well work for all bilateral and international Test and ODI (one-day international) tournaments. And naturally, for both Men’s and Women’s cricket.

 

Tossing away the practice of the toss would pave the way for a more egalitarian encounters in the glorious gentlemen’s (gentlewoman’s too) game of cricket. This would never put any team at a disadvantage about which they can do just nothing. This is to make all teams equals in terms of choice, and definitely not in performances which is the game of cricket on the field based on application, dedication and mental calm demonstrated by the players. Countries have been long trying to end the stark inequalities present in both developed and underdeveloped countries and to eradicate poverty. Therefore, why not try the same in the most popular and expanding game of cricket to end the inequalities generated by the toss of a mere coin?  Why not let the coin do what it’s actually meant for?

T20 World Cup: India Gone With The Windy Kiwis As They Clean Up The Afghani Chicken Dish!

The most eagerly awaited match between New Zealand and Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi today came as an anti-climax for millions of Indian fans as the Kiwis made mincemeat of the Afghans   winning by 8 wickets, thus eliminating India from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021. This super Sunday in terms of viewership turned out to be a spoilsport the same as the previous two ‘super’ Sundays for the hugely disappointed fans. Realistically speaking, it was quite unreasonable to expect a team that was demolished by India just three days back to bounce back and defeat a team that has been very dominant in international cricket for the last few years. Afghanistan won the toss and reverted to their original tactic of batting first. When asked about the reversal of decision captain Nabi said that that evening in the match against India the dew was a factor which actually was not ultimately, but today’s  being a day match with a good batting surface and three Afghan spinners the decision was made. However, the decision misfired again.

 

The Kiwi pace battery proved to be too much for Afghanistan as the trio fast bowlers, Southee, Boult and Milne, shared the three wickets that fell very early on. Thanks only to Najib Zardan’s lovely innings of 73 runs in 48 balls Afghanistan was able to cross the 100-run mark and finally posting a feeble total of 124/8; a target that even the super spinners would find very hard to defend. No other Afghani batsmen could make significant contributions. They were also handicapped by super fielding and outstanding catches take by the Kiwis. New Zealand, happy to restrict the opposition to a highly attainable score and totally focused on ensuring a semi-final berth, progressed slowly and steadily losing Daryl Mitchell to Mujeeb early on. Martin Guptill fell to Rashid Khan after scoring 28 runs. Then Captain Kane Williamson (40 not out) and Conway (36 not out) took charge of the chase guiding their team home with 11 balls to spare. New Zealand is now in the top position with a better net run-rate than Pakistan which may change after the latter’s last match against Namibia later today.

 

Semi-finalists of the T20 World Cup are now finalized: England and Australia in Group-1; and New Zealand and Pakistan in Group-2. Who will meet who in the two semi-finals will be clear after the Pakistan-Namibia match. If the game of cricket were a hurdle race then New Zealand would be the greatest hurdle in India’s progress in the title race in World Cup tournaments in recent times, always defeating India in crucial matches including the ICC World Cup-2019. India must find a way to handle the NZ fast bowlers fast. In any case, there is going to be much introspection and soul-searching with the new coach of Team India, Rahul Dravid, taking over from Ravi Shastri after the tournament. Hardly a soul would be interested enough to watch what India would do to Namibia tomorrow, except perhaps the die-hard fans of the Indian ‘superstars’.

PS: Pakistan defeated Namibia by 72 runs and topped Group-2, remaining unbeaten. First Semi-final: November 10, England Vs New Zealand; Second Semi-final: November 11: Pakistan Vs Australia. 

T20 World Cup: Australia Edge Out South Africa On Better Net Run-Rate To Enter Semi Final In Group-1, India Await The Afghani Verdict!

Australia beat the West Indies by 8 wickets and ensuring a better net run-rate ousted South Africa even as the latter beat England, ending their unbeaten streak. In the crucial last match in Group-1 for Australia in Abu Dhabi today, the defending Champions West Indies, for whom the match was of no consequence after being eliminated owing to their loss against the already-ousted Sri Lanka, came out with the right intentions of playing for respect put into bat; but after a few lusty shots by Gayle the same old story unfolded as three wickets fell in quick succession. Chris Gayle, the oldest playing international cricketer at 42 years of age, made only 15 in probably his last appearance in international cricket. A partnership promised to grow between Evin Lewis and Hetmyer, but Lewis getting out for 29 at the team score of 70 ended that. A partnership again seemed to bloom between Pollard and Bravo, but it happened to be only a brief one. Captain Pollard (44), this time, stuck on and helping his team post a respectable total, and Andre Russell remaining not out at 18 off 7 balls hit two lusty sixes in the last two balls as his team crossed the 150-run mark and posted a target of 158 runs for Australia which is a fighting one, but fell short of perhaps by at least 20 more runs. Russell finally seemed to find his touch, but unfortunately he was sent in this time a tad too late. For Australia, fast bowler Josh Hazelwood captured 4 wickets for 39 runs with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa taking one each.

 

The key to the disastrous performance of the West Indies in this ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 is the consistent failures with the bat of their all-time greats like Gayle, Pollard, Russell and Bravo, the latter coming out of his announced retirement to play for repeating national glory. Almost in every innings, it fell on the shoulders of Hetmyer to do some repairs to the nearly irreparable damage done by the top order. Their bowlers too did nothing in particular to put the oppositions under pressure and were freely hit around most of the time. The once-mighty West Indies, known for their fiery fast bowlers in particular, managed to beat only the down-and-out Bangladesh who lost all their matches.

 

Dwayne John Bravo got out after making only 10 runs and perhaps we had seen the last time he came in to bat; he also made emphatic goodbye signs as Christopher Henry Gayle did earlier to the viewers. Bravo remains as the highest wicket taker in T20 internationals at 553 wickets. For a rather ironical goodbye Gayle took the wicket of Marsh when Australia were just one run away from victory. At the end of the match every player on the field embraced Gayle and Bravo warmly. Sad moments indeed! Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi recorded these moments forever as a live witness.

 

Australia with 6 points, after a deadly blow from England, bounced back strongly routing Bangladesh completely and knew their job well against the West Indies: to win the match with a good margin of victory so that it becomes impossible for South Africa, also with 6 points, to overcome the former’s net run-rate even if even they win against England in their last encounter later today. With today’s win Australia made it sure that they occupy the second spot indeed. The total of 157/7 finally offered by the West Indies was not intimidating enough for the professional Aussies. David Warner (89 not out off 56 balls) clicked for the second time in the tournament, and he along with Mitchell Marsh (53 off 32 balls) put up a 124-run partnership taking the match away from the West Indies, and more importantly kept up the run-rate momentum despite the relatively early loss of Captain Finch at the team score of 33 runs. And Australia won by 8 wickets at 161/2 with 20 balls to spare, further improving their net run-rate.

 

Now, over to Sharjah for the second crucial match. South Africa was desperate for a semi-final berth facing perhaps the impossible task having not only to win against England but win by a significant margin to overcome Australia’s net run-rate (for example, if SA score 200 runs, they’ll have to win by a margin of 67 runs), and as a dampener their captain Temba Bavuma lost the toss to Eoin Morgan and was, expectedly put into bat. South Africa fielded an unchanged team while England replaced an injured left-arm fast bowler Tymal Mills with right-arm fast bowler Mark Wood. South Arica needed to post a huge total on board and indeed had a splendid start despite the early loss of Hendricks thanks to a blooming partnership between the now-knee-taking de Kock and Van Der Dussen. But it was cut short when de Kock fell to Adil Rashid at the team score of 86/2 in the 12th over. Moeen Ali consumed the first wicket. A definitive  rollicking partnership between a brilliant Dussen (94 not out off 60 balls) and Aiden Markram (52 not out in 25 balls) helped South Africa post a challenging total of 189/2, their highest of the tournament and the highest by any team against England in the round-robin stage. However, the margin of victory that has to be at least 60 runs if they win was the point of concern. For the first time England showed chinks in their armor through too many loose deliveries and rare misfields.  

Chasing the highest target of 190 runs so far in the tournament England got off to a solid start putting up 50 in 5 overs with Jason Roy retiring hurt after scoring 20 quick runs even as South Africa started the attack with Spinner Maharaj straightaway. South Africa tasted the first blood as Buttler, fresh from his century in the previous match against Sri Lanka, fell to Nortje for 26 in 15 balls. Shortly after South Africa got a huge wicket as Bairstow was out LBW to spinner Shamsi, England reduced to 59/2 in the 7th over. With good contributions by Moeen Ali (37), Dawid Malan (33)  and Livingstone (28) England crossed the magic figure of 131 runs thus ousting South Africa from the World Cup, and the latter's frustration could be felt in their body language as Rabada who, unfortunately, could not pose any threat to England batsmen was hit for three consecutive sixes by Livingstone in the 16th over. As England wickets fell in quick succession at the death South Africa finally won the match by 10 runs with none other than Rabada achieving a hat-trick. Brave South Africa gave a tremendous fight, but finally lost out on the net run-rate race with all three teams of England, Australia and South Africa ending with 8 points each. 

England have retained their top spot, but this defeat and the probable loss of Jason Roy due to injury may hurt them just before the elimination stage starting 10th of November. Australia is most likely to meet Pakistan in the semi-final unless the latter lose to Scotland tomorrow. Whom England is going to meet in the semi-final will also be decided tomorrow unless New Zealand lose to Afghanistan. 

 

For India in Group-2, everything depends on Afghanistan spinners delivering a death blow to New Zealand in the encounter tomorrow. In the improbable scenario of New Zealand losing, if the little tottering displayed by them against Namibia was any indication, India would exactly know what to do as they’ll be playing the last Gropu-2 match on Monday against Namibia, because in that case they’ll be locked with New Zealand in terms of points and the net run-rate would come into consideration. As per the requirements India have demonstrated glorious cricket in the last two matches against Afghanistan and Scotland, routing them in incredibly one-sided encounters, as if finally abandoning their ‘death wish’ after being struck with the two near-fatal death-blows in their first two matches by Pakistan and New Zealand. At the moment India is the top team in Group-2 in terms of net run-rate. Whatever happens finally, the NZ Vs Afg match is set to generate one of the highest TRPs, perhaps after the India-Pakistan match, tomorrow. Hope the rampant betting, a usual occurrence particularly during the IPL tournaments, does not come out victorious.

T20 World Cup: England and Pakistan Enter Semi Finals!

England and Pakistan, the unbeaten teams so far in Group-1 and Group-2 respectively, have earned 8 points each with one match each remaining and have sealed their places in the semi-finals. England is probably the best team of the tournament defeating all tough rivals easily and busting the myth that teams winning the toss and bowling first go on to win the matches which, in fact, have been a trend in the sluggish pitches and the dew factor later in the night at Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai. However, England in particular and also Pakistan have proved that any good team can always win under any circumstances. It had been really tough for England to bat first against Sri Lanka, particularly handling the Lankan good spinners; but their in-form batsmen took up the   challenge and Buttler went on to hit the first century of the tournament remaining unbeaten thus helping the team to put up a healthy total of 163 runs. And then, their bowlers and fieldsmen delivered as in all previous matches to restrain Sri Lanka to 137 runs. This win took their points to 8 and ensured a semi-final, and in all probability to be the top team of the group, of course subject to their last match result against the tough South Africa.

 

Pakistan has been the unbeaten team in Group-2 so far beating all the tough contenders including India, Afghanistan and New Zealand, and then negating the myth of the toss too by beating Namibia, although a weaker side, when Pakistan lost the toss and were put into bat, and notching up 8 points ensuring a semi-final berth. Pakistan is most likely to be to be the yet-to-be-beaten top side in Group-2 considering the fact they have their last match against a listless Scotland.

 

The picture is still not clear as to which two teams from their respective groups would fill the other two semi-final berths. In Group-1 it is most likely to be either of South Africa with 6 points and one match to go and Australia having 4 points, but with two matches left. In a possible scenario of South Africa winning against England and Australia winning against both Bangladesh and the West Indies there would be a deadlock of three teams with 8 points each; but in that case too England is likely to seal its top position thanks to their almost insurmountable net run-rate. The second team would also be decided then based on their net run-rate with both teams, particularly Australia, needing to improve theirs drastically. While Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are out of contention the West Indies still have a fighting chance with only 2 points, but two matches are left for them, one against Sri Lanka and the second against Australia; if they win both they will have 6 points reducing Australia too to 6 provided they beat Bangladesh and if South Africa lose to England there would be a three-team deadlock of 6 points each.

 

Afghan Captain Nabi

We have already analyzed the situation in Group-2 in an earlier post which needs to be adjusted a little now with New Zealand crushing India and getting their first 2 precious points. New Zealand is likely to move rather easily to 6 points in their matches against Scotland and Namibia. The game-changer match for them, on Sunday, the 7^thof November, would be against Afghanistan who already has 4 points with two matches to go. If New Zealand lose that match Afghanistan will have 6 points and an extremely formidable net run-rate, and in that scenario India too will have a chance technically provided they beat all three including Afghanistan with huge margins. If New Zealand win they will have 8 points and will be through to either top or the second position depending on the result of Pakistan’s last encounter with Scotland and respective net run-rates. Therefore, it is still wide open in Group-2 for the second semi-final berth.

 

In all likelihood, considering all the scenarios, the first semi-final should be between England Vs New Zealand or Afghanistan and the second semi-final should be between Pakistan Vs South Arica or Australia. Negative body language of the Indians complaining all the time about the toss or pitches or dew, poor team selection cum horrible changes in the batting order and the commerce involved in placing them in the second slot all the time and a huge gap between their first and second match so that both matches get played on Sundays while all other teams were playing every alternate days in either of the slots. For the latter factor the BCCI is squarely responsible, because they shouldn’t have treated the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 in the same way as their money-spinning IPL-2021. The cricket board must be ruing the fact that the IPL-2021 could not continue in the huge stadiums of India with raving crowds and the same for the World Cup as it was shifted to India earlier this year.

T20 World Cup: New Zealand Crush India As If Fulfilling The Hot Favorites’ Death Wish!

For the second time in a row India captain Virat Kohli lost the toss, this time to New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and the latter unhesitatingly decided bowl first. In Dubai, the venue of this crucial encounter, in all the six matches played so far the chasing teams have won all the time. If that was not enough Kohli took Ishan Kishan in place of a supposedly injured Suryakumar Yadav and allowed him to open which was somewhat justified as left-right combination. But the biggest shocker came when Rohit Sharma, one of the most successful openers for India in all the formats of cricket, did not come in to open. As I mentioned in an earlier post the dropping of a sound opener Shikhar Dhawan who performed very well in the IPL-2021 was a huge mistake and his absence is now felt at every moment apart from disturbing the right-left combination. Then, the non-bowling, the supposedly non-fit Hardik Pandya still remained in the team. The team lost its balance completely and that effectively ended the match for India, now almost out of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021.

 

Ishan failed after hitting a four; KL Rahul, relentlessly being promoted as an opener while he ideally remains India’s best No.3 batsman in all formats, failed again; Rohit Sharma, probably unable to adjust to his first-time-in-life No.3 position, failed to push on after hitting a few lovely shots; and captain Virat Kohli added to the drama created by him and his advisers by failing too, reducing the hot favorites of the tournament to 48/4 in the 11^th over. It was now up to Pant and Pandya to do all the repair work. Pandya fully vindicated his captain’s faith in him by becoming the second highest scorer of the innings at 23 off only 24 balls and the highest scorer being Ravindra Jadeja at 26 in only 19 balls, and thanks to them India brilliantly managed to cross the daunting 100-run mark, setting an equally impeccable target of 111 to get for New Zealand. Wow! What an achievement! Earlier, Kohli took in Shardul Thakur too in place of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar to strengthen India’s bowling attack, apparently unable to understand the fact that India actually needed at least 10 bowlers to get New Zealand all out, if the wicket-keeper could be spared the trouble.

 

However, the Kiwis were in a merciless mood to fulfill India’s death wish, because they fully realized and were sympathetic that their beloved fellow cricketers have been suffering from IPL-fatigue, bubble-fatigue and all the fatigues imposed on them by an equally merciless cricket board. Therefore, they did not tire the Indians much by sparing the labor of more than 5 overs at 111/2 , winning by  8 wickets. Now the ideal moves would be for Kohli to prepone his stepping down from T20 captaincy, for Ravi Shastri to resign and for the mentor-Dhoni to mentor the team to a healthy mindset of returning home sooner than later.  Anyway, fans need not be discouraged, because the Blues though in the blues can still make it by defeating Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia along with scoring tons of runs to improve their net run-rate and Afghanistan beating New Zealand. Even otherwise, fans can still watch their superstars in the flowing commercials without minding their absence in the field.

 

In other matches South Africa managed to beat Sri Lanka at the death yesterday to keep them in contention for a semi-final berth in Group-1. England, the bulldozer in Group-1, kept on their act by crushing Australia in the other match yesterday amassing 6 points from 3 matches and almost sealing their semi-final berth. Tomorrow's match of England Vs Sri Lanka and the and the double header on November 2 including the match of South Africa Vs Bangladesh are set to clear up the Group-1 prospects a lot. Earlier today, Afghanistan registered their second huge victory by routing Namibia by 62 runs rising to the second position with 4 points and a very healthy net run-rate.

T20 World Cup: Who Will Be The Top Two Teams In Group-2?

Pakistan have almost sealed their berth in the semi-finals as probably the top team in Group-2 winning three out of three matches and notching up 6 points so far. What is more significant is the fact that Pakistan have crossed the main hurdles by defeating the toughest opponents in the group, namely India, New Zealand and Afghanistan. Now they have only two teams to overcome, considered to be weaker rivals. Of course, Namibia, creating another historic chapter by winning their first ever Super-stage match against Scotland, and Scotland are not pushovers. However, considering the roaring form Pakistan are in now winning against those two teams is not likely to be very tough, and in that scenario they will have 10 points—the maximum any team can manage in the group. The Pakistan team has arguably the best bowling attack of the tournament—combining pace and spin—and a very balanced team with someone up or down the line to finish the game. Captain Babar and wicket-keeper batsman Rizwan have shown consistency among quite a few others.

 

Afghanistan earlier trounced Scotland in the way of a champion and gave a tremendous fight against Pakistan taking their 5 wickets with 24 needed from the last two overs. But for finisher Asif Ali’s four sixes in the penultimate over the match could have gone in any direction. Their decision to bat first after winning the toss was probably due to Rashid and Nabi, but they could’ve done better by putting Pakistan in as the latter has not been tested so far in their ability in setting a target in the sluggish pitches. Unfortunately, Afghanistan could not manage to preserve one of their best strike bowlers for the death. The team has arguably the best spinners of the tournament in Rashid Khan and Nabi with the latter almost taking the game away from Pakistan in the 18^th over. Rashid Khan is in the seventh heaven capturing his 100^th scalp in 53 T20I matches. Already with 2 points Afghanistan have at the moment two tough opponents in the form of India and New Zealand apart from Namibia. With their spirit and talent they can really hope to get to 6 points to remain in contention. Their thundering six-hitting prowess has also become an important factor in their favor.

 

For India it is a must-win situation tomorrow against New Zealand; they have to win at least three out of the four remaining matches to get to 6 points to be in contention for a semi-final berth. The depth of their batting is yet to be tested, and Rohit, Rahul and Virat must fire against New Zealand—a very tough opponent with quality fast bowlers and super fieldsmen. As per the first match against Pakistan the Indian bowling attack seems the weakest in the group and there are several niggles in the team selection. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has not shown his strike-bowler abilities either in the IPL-2021 or in the crucial match against Pakistan and he is a prime candidate for being replaced by Shardul Thakur who can also bat. Captain Virat Kohli’s obsession with Hardik Pandya is another hassle, because Pandya has not been bowling at all in the previous matches and his batting of late is also not promising. That puts the team in a crisis of not being able to find a sixth bowler in need. Ideally, Pandya should be replaced by Ravichandran Ashwin who has shown his prowess as a genuine all-rounder recently. But reports suggest that the same eleven will be fielded tomorrow. If India manage to beat New Zealand the future course would be relatively easy, at least to get 6 points.

 

New Zealand must be boiling hot and gearing up for a much-needed win after losing narrowly to Pakistan. If they manage to beat India with their ferocious pace attack then the future course would also be easier for them to notch up the minimum of 6 points to remain in contention. They would hope to overpower Scotland and Namibia, and even Afghanistan if they handle their spin attack successfully. New Zealand beat India in the famous World Cup-2019 semi-final and lost the final against England under controversial circumstances. Their super fielding is an additional asset for all their rivals concerned.

 

Therefore, we can imagine a situation of three teams of Group-2 ending up with 6 points each where the net run-rate would come into consideration to decide the second top team from the group, provided Namibia and Scotland do not cause any upsets. Tomorrow’s India Vs New Zealand encounter is perfectly setup with both teams facing a desperate must-win situation. As per the pitch behavior in UAE we can possibly expect a low-scoring cliffhanger or a one-sided affair if the Indian batting potential gets real with their spinners finding the deadly turn or if New Zealand fast bowlers manage to destroy Indian batting. As usual, the toss would be crucial as the dew factor would come into operation later in the night. For commercial reasons India figure in the second slot in all matches, but the toss and the dew factor may finish off commerce totally if India are unable to make it to the semi-finals.

 

Interestingly, in any world cricket tournament the India Vs Pakistan match is always of tremendous importance for the Indian fans. If India beat Pakistan in the round-robin then the fans feel as if the final has been won and if the opposite happens like in this tournament, although it was for the first time in one-day and T20 World Cups, most of the fans stop caring who goes on to win the final and the Cup. Nevertheless, if India manage to get to the semi-final stage the fans, barring the bigots, are expected to come roaring back to support their team.

Fight Racism Unitedly, No Knee-Jerk Kockish Controversy Please!

It is very unfortunate that the enlivening ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 should get affected by a largely unnecessary controversy. Did any team ever in international tournaments object to singing their national anthem or any team object to their rivals singing their national anthems? Definitely not, it’s being a celebrated customs in almost all such tournaments across various fields of sports. Therefore, the ‘personal choice’ syndrome never comes up here. Then, why this syndrome has to come up in ‘taking the knee’ for a most noble cause? In our school days our teachers ordered us to kneel down on innumerable occasions, obviously to correct our faults, which is why we are better human beings today. Did we even think of exercising our democratic choice on those occasions? The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, started in 2013 ‘as a decentralized political and social movement protesting against incidents of police brutality and all racially motivated violence against black people’ the world over is fully justified. The movement had its ups and downs, but after the brutal police killing of a black protester George Floyd in the US in 2020 it has gained international prominence, and Michael Holding, ex-cricketer of the West Indies, took painstaking efforts to bring it in the cricket arena—unfortunately this gentleman’s game had seen the ugly expressions of racism on quite a few occasions in international cricket, not only involving the blacks, but also the so-called ‘colored’ players.

 

We have seen in most of the matches played so far in this World Cup teams taking the knee before the start to express their solidarity against the evil of racism. The ICC had not issued any official directive for this gesture, but made it voluntary for the teams. Cricket South Africa (CSA), the country that was boycotted by the international community for years for their notorious policy of the Apartheid, has been exemplary in making the gesture compulsory for their team before the start. So, what’s wrong in following that noble gesture and how does the question of personal choice come in such internationally relevant issues? Team India had also taken the gesture as per instructions from their cricket board, and England also expressed the gesture in their match against the West Indies like most other teams.

 

The noble gesture was also made during South Africa’s starter match against Australia; of course, not involving all the players. But suddenly and most significantly as the encounter was against the West Indies, South Africa’s key opener and wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock made an issue out it, calling his refusal to bend his knee due to personal reasons. Not only did he refuse to make the gesture, but also withdrew from the match in the last minutes which was confirmed by the CSA. This is extremely disturbing, because de Kock has also been a key cricketer in the Indian Premiere League (IPL) for years, playing for the Mumbai Indians (the franchise may release him soon due to the impact) that included a lot of black and ‘colored’ players; in fact, India is a country of colored people only. So then, why de Kock never objected to playing continuously with them, as an integral team member? If his ‘personal choice’ is not to support the BLM movement then it stinks of racism, or else de Kock is perhaps a staunch supporter of the ‘white supremacy’ theory so bullishly propounded by the ex-President of USA, Donald Trump. We condemn his action in the World Cup which may ultimately adversely impact his entire cricket career, and South Africa, obviously, would never want to lose such a key player. The CSA has to give the final verdict on the future of Quinton de Kock even as some media reports suggest the player has withdrawn from the entire tournament while others fear that this must the last time we had seen de Kock on the field.

 

We hope for an amicable solution for all the stakeholders concerned holding the noble cause high, respecting the ideals and the movement of Nelson Mandela and suitable punishment for anyone guilty of being a racist. The ICC, in fact, should take this opportunity to make ‘taking the knee’ gesture mandatory for all participating teams. The Council righteously bans any kind of political or religious gestures, but in upholding this noble cause there cannot be any hesitation or the principles of democratic choices.

 

In the match against the struggling West Indies where the controversy had erupted South Africa won easily, without de Kock. In other matches Afghanistan in Group-2 registered a huge victory over the topper of the qualifying Group-B Scotland, even bigger than that of Pakistan's over India. Pakistan continue their exciting run of victories by defeating New Zealand, although they had to struggle to chase a low target of 135 runs. England in Group-1 also have kept their ominous bulldozing act in continuation by routing Bangladesh. Both Pakistan and England are apparently enjoying their toss-luck so far as per the behaviour of the slow pitches and the dew factor later for the bowling side. After creating history by making it to the Super-12 stage for the first time, defeating a well-placed Ireland, Namibia won their first match of the World Cup against Scotland with relative comfort in Group-2.