Key Features –
1. A sad and an unfortunate way for Rohit Sharma to get out early on in the innings.
2. Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Haardik Pandya the reasons for their score to reach a 268 in 50 overs. Their individual scores were 72(82), 56(61)* and 46(38) respectively. MS Dhoni was once at 20(40) and scored 36 runs in just 21 deliveries to show why is he considered to be the best finisher. Lokesh Rahul gave a good start, but missed his well-deserved half-ton, and ended up scoring a 48(64).
3. A great spell by Kemar Roach and Jason Holder to put pressure on the Indian batsmen with wickets early on and conceding at an economy rate of less than 4. Their spells were 10-0-36-3 and 10-2-33-2 respectively.
4. Early wickets by Mohammad Shami of two key players, Gayle and Hope, always kept India on the upper edge from the very start. His spell was 4/16(6.2).
5. All the Indian bowlers just demolished the West Indian batsmen ranging from Shami to Bumrah to the spin twins and Haardik! Bumrah continues to bowl his double-wicket maiden overs to change the fate of the game. First did it against Shahidi and Rahmat, and today against Brathwaite and Allen. Number 1 ODI bowler for a reason it seems!
Post-Match Analysis –
1. India, with this win, are the only team to stay undefeated in this tournament and have equalled their level of points with New Zealand, even though they’ve played a game less than them.
2. India is now a step closer to the qualification for the playoffs and just need one more win in their remaining 3 games against England, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, those teams which are fighting for a spot in the playoffs and are very close to each other in terms of the points table.
3. West Indies have already been eliminated from the tournament and they are yet to play Sri Lanka, so they have all the chances to damage their chances of qualification without anything affecting theirs.
4. India are now placed 2nd on the points table and they play their next against England on Sunday. This would also be their first game where they would wear an orange jersey.
5. Mohammad Shami has now taken 8 wickets in 2 matches, with 4 in each. I don’t think Bhuvi is really being missed with such an exceptional piece of bowling by this lad out here! He probably could’ve been on the top wicket-takers list as well if he had played all the games.
Up Next –
Sri Lanka vs South Africa
Sri Lanka would be looking forward to grasp their chance to win this battle and stay in the light of making it to the playoffs. On the other hand, South Africa have no pressure on playing this game and are just coming off a huge loss against Pakistan, which would make them more threatening to play against, than before.
It’s just been Karunaratne and Kusal Perera’s opening partnership which has been heavily depended on by the Sri Lankan side, but somehow Fernando and Matthews both proved their worth in the middle order and they would be looking forward to continue this form for the battle up tomorrow.
South Africa having no pressure and Sri Lanka having alot of it is what is going to be the key battle for the Sri Lankan players and they would have to tackle with this pressure in a positive way so that they stay in the chase for the ticket to the playoffs.
Probable XIs –
SL – Karunaratne, Kusal Perera, Avishka, Kusal Mendis, Matthews, Thisara, De Silva, Siriwardana, Udana, Malinga, Pradeep
SA – De Kock, Amla, Markram, Faf, Miller, Dussen, Phehlukwayo, Morris, Rabada, Tahir, Ngidi
Possible Replacements –
1. NONE for South Africa unless they would like to try their benched players, Shamsi, Duminy, Pretorius or Hendricks, which is unlikely but possible since they are not in the race to the playoffs now.
2. Milinda Siriwardana should be likely to replace Jeevan Mendis who has been off-colour with both bat and ball whenever got the chance.
Analysis of various cricket matches 