I. Sri Lanka vs Australia
Key features –
1. Aaron Finch played a perfect Captain’s knock for Australia and scored a 153(132). On the other hand, Dimuth Karunaratne also played a Captain’s knock for Sri Lanka and scored a fighting 97(108). Hence, it won’t be wrong to say that the captains led from the front for both the teams! Finch now is the leading run scorer in the World Cup 2019.
2. Mitchell Starc once again proving his death over skills picking up wickets yet again to be the top wicket taker in World Cup 2019. His spell was 4/55(10). He was supported well by Kane Richardson in those middle overs who bowled a spell of 3/47(9).
3. Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell again proving to be the middle order saviours and helped to take Australia to a 334 in 50 overs by scoring 73(59) and 46(25)* respectively.
4. Kusal Perera and Dimuth Karunaratne broke their record of 79/0 by scoring 87/0 in the first 10 overs (Powerplay 1). This is currently the highest powerplay1 score in World Cup 2019.
5. Isuru Udana played a huge part in Australia’s collapse towards the end of the innings restricting them to a total lower than 350 which was expected by the way they were going. He took 2 wickets and had 2 direct run-outs to his name, all coming in the final 10 overs of the innings.
Post-Match Analysis –
1. With another win, Australia now has 4 out of 5 and seems to be one of the top favourites to qualify for the playoffs, which will be dangerous for the other three teams who do since they’d be aiming for their 6th title!
2. Sri Lankan batting is highly dependent on the start given by Kusal Perera and Dimuth Karunaratne and the batting after that is failing to score and build the innings through the foundation given to them. Hence, inclusion of Avishka Fernando seems a must for the management now.
3. Mitchell Starc is again proving to be an unplayable bowler and has already taken 13 wickets in 5 matches.
4. Aaron Finch, David Warner and Steve Smith are all in the TOP 5 run getters of the World Cup 2019 till now and this top order is surely a terror for every opposition.
5. Australia is now positioned 1st on the points table with 8 points and Sri Lanka is placed 5th with 4 points.
6. Australia take on Bangladesh next and Sri Lanka face the hosts, England, next.
II. South Africa vs Afghanistan
Key features –
1. Imran Tahir and Chris Morris made sure that Afghanistan do not even touch a 150 and bundled them up for a 125 with spells of 4/29(7) and 3/13(6.1) respectively.
2. South Africa finally fetch their first victory and Afghanistan are still going point-less in this World Cup after playing 4 matches.
3. Rashid Khan gave a quick cameo with the bat towards the end with a 35(25) making sure the team atleast crosses the 100-run mark.
4. Quinton De Kock made sure South Africa recovers the Net Run Rate they’ve lost against all the teams and even in a target of 126 ended up scoring a 68(72). Hashim Amla on the other hand ended up playing a test match knock of a score of 41(83).
5. Rahmat Shah, who’s supposed to be the pillar of the Afghanistan’s middle order again fails to score big and yet again continues his string of low scores.
Post-Match Analysis –
1. South Africa finally wins their first game after 5 matches which they’ve played, still opening the tournament for them. Though it’s pretty late for them to finally play like this, they now have 3 points and still have 4 matches to go so they might have an outside chance to qualify, technically. But, we are all certain Afghanistan and South Africa are logically out considering the way Australia, New Zealand, India, England and West Indies are playing.
2. Afghanistan are surely missing the services of Mohammad Shahzad even though Noor-Ali Zadran and Hazratullah Zazai did give a good start. Also, resting the in-form and consistent Najibullah Zadran who always saves their middle order from collapsing was a huge surprise. And, Mohammad Nabi doesn’t really seem to show why he is considered to be a class all rounder and has just been failing continuously.
3. South Africa is now positioned 7th on the points table with 3 points, finally going up the ladder of the points table. And on the other hand, Afghanistan are still placed 10th on the points table with 0 points after 4 matches for them.
4. South Africa play their next against New Zealand. And Afghanistan play their next against England. I don’t think it would be wrong to say that the result of both their next matches would declare them officially eliminated from the tournament unless some miracle happens.
5. South Africa were the dominant side throughout the 63 overs which were played in the whole match and never really seemed like going in Afghanistan’s favour in any phase of the game.
6. Kagiso Rabada has not been at his best in this World Cup after an excellent IPL, taking just 5 wickets in the 4 completed matches for them. And, with Lungi Ngidi injured and Dale Steyn ruled out, their bowling department looks pretty weak considering the fact that they came with a strong one. This was one of the major reasons for South Africa’s failure in this tournament.
Up Next –
It’s the biggest rivalry of cricket! The match whole world waits for! The match which has the highest buzz throughout the world and the game which has always had the fiercest rivalry in the history of cricket!
It’s INDIA vs PAKISTAN!
And remember, it’s FATHER’S DAY tomorrow as well! I guess now we know why this particular fixture is happening tomorrow 😉!
With Shikhar Dhawan injured and Rishabh Pant’s availability for the game isn’t certain, the spot of No.4 is back on cards with KL Rahul who was fit for that spot having to go back to his originally decided spot of an opener, with the No.4 option available to Dinesh Karthik, Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav and Haardik Pandya.
Pakistan go with 3 Left-Arm Seamers which has always been a threat to the Indian top order batsmen especially the two most important players, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. It will be their test tomorrow to play them well and score big cause if they don’t, it will be the middle order test again with the fact that the No.4 spot isn’t a certainty and whosoever plays in that spot will have a huge task up ahead his sleeves and hence might have to deal with the pressure situation.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have both been in a good touch out there with the bat in the two matches they’ve played yet, but Shikhar Dhawan’s absence will be a huge concern for the Indian management ahead of this crucial encounter.
Ravindra Jadeja and Vijay Shankar were given a longer run in the nets, probably ensuring a spot for both of them in the Playing XI against Pakistan.
Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Imam Ul-Haq have all been consistent players for Pakistan and Fakhar Zaman would like to recall his Champions trophy finale knock and try to redo it in the encounter tomorrow. And hence, they won’t let India win so easily unless Bumrah, Bhuvi and Chahal show them the class Indian bowling attack has.
Not difficult to say that India are the favourites and have the upper hand in tomorrow’s encounter. They are ranked 2nd on the ICC ODI Rankings, just below England, have been undefeated in this tournament and have won ALL 6 previous encounters against Pakistan in World Cup Cricket.
Probable XIs –
PAK – Imam, Zaman, Babar, Hafeez, Shoaib, Sarfaraz, Asif, Hasan, Wahab, Shaheen, Amir
IND – Rohit, Rahul, Kohli, Shankar, Dhoni, Pandya, Jadhav, Jadeja, Chahal, Bhuvi, Bumrah
Possible Replacements –
1. None for Pakistan unless they’d want to bring back of their regular leggies in the form of Imad Wasim or Shadab Khan in place of Asif Ali or one of the seamers. It seems a bit unlikely though knowing that the Indian top order is vulnerable to left-arm seamers and they have 3 of them.
2. Vijay Shankar and Ravindra Jadeja are highly expected to come into the XI in place of Shikhar Dhawan and Kuldeep Yadav respectively. Vijay Shankar was given a longer practice session with the bat in the nets and might have a higher selection chances than Dinesh Karthik for the encounter tomorrow.
Analysis of various cricket matches 