Cricket
2023 ODI World Cup digest: India hand out a drubbing in front of 100,000 plus; injuries hit NZ and Sri Lanka
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The Men’s 2023 ODI World Cup is underway in India and runs from October 5 until November 19. Each morning we will round up the latest action and news from the event and bring you the insights from our reporters on the ground.
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Top Story: Bumrah and spin do the trick as India hand Pakistan another World Cup beating
India 192 for 3 (Rohit 86*, Iyer 53*) beat Pakistan 191 (Babar 50, Rizwan 49) by seven wickets
The game that always promises and rarely delivers came and went once more, promising plenty at various stages, and ultimately delivering what a blue mass of humanity had come to see: a crushing India win. A stunning middle-overs collapse from Pakistan which had them lose eight wickets for 36 runs turned what should have been an enthralling run chase into a dull formality. Each India bowler played a part in their own way, five different players splitting the ten Pakistan wickets evenly.
Match analysis: The Bumrah slower ball that bent time
Bumrah pretty much bent time with that ball. Or at least the batter’s perspective of it. And this was Mohammad Rizwan at the crease. Well set. Fresh off a match-winning century that had shepherded the highest-ever chase in the men’s ODI World Cup. It needed something special to dislodge him. And Bumrah spent the whole over cooking it up.
The vibe: An atmosphere like never before, but it could have been so much more
The Narendra Modi Stadium is built to be imposing, a nod to muscular exhibitionism and a symbol of Indian cricket’s pole position in the sport. It beats the Melbourne Cricket Ground by at least 20,000 seats, and though not as tall and colosseum-like as the MCG, its vastness makes it feel as gladiatorial. And it’s safe to say that cricket has never seen as many blue jerseys at a venue as it did today.
Every inch of this stadium was packed for the last IPL final despite it being pushed by a day on account of rain but never had this ground hosted an India match of this magnitude. The previous ODI games here were played during the Covid era, and the Test match during Border-Gavaskar Trophy, despite the pomp of two prime ministers making a grandstand appearance, was thinly attended. So here it was, the real deal, the day this stadium you hope was built for, to be bathed in cacophonous blue. And when the moments came, it produced the noise so quintessentially organic to the Indian cricket experience.
Must Watch: How good is Bumrah?
News headlines
Match preview
Afghanistan vs England, Delhi (2pm IST; 8.30am GMT; 7.30pm AEST)
Much like gap year students, England left Dharamsala having found themselves, arriving in the sprawling metropolis of Delhi on Wednesday with a self-regard more in step with their white-ball dominance over the last eight years.
Their “crisis” lasted all of five days. A nine-wicket battering at the hands of New Zealand led to much introspection, but an equally dominant victory over Bangladesh has eased more than just Net Run Rate woes.
Team news
England (possible) 1 Jonny Bairstow, 2 Dawid Malan, 3 Joe Root, 4 Harry Brook, 5 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Mark Wood, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Topley
Afghanistan (possible) 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), 5 Azmatullah Oarzai, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Najibullah Zadran, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi
Analysis: What is holding Rashid Khan back?
It was the latest installment in Rashid’s unusual and underwhelming World Cup career, which is now 11 matches old. At 25, he already holds elite status as a white-ball bowler: at some stage next year, he will overtake Dwayne Bravo as the leading wicket-taker in T20 history. And yet, that success has generally eluded him in 50-over cricket.
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