Starting right from Sachin Tendulkar to David Warner, everyone had predicted this year’s ICC Cricket World Cup to be an outright run-fest. The idea behind the fact was crystal clear; the pitches are flat, the rain deities are showing mercy and most importantly, Pakistan’s recent five-match ODI series against England was an absolute treat for the fans as well as the neutrals.
England were so brutal that they became the first side to score 340 plus runs in four successive ODIs. It wasn’t that only the home team were battering runs. As far as Pakistan were concerned, they too hammered 340 runs on three out of four occasions. That series was pretty much enough to underline the notion that the fans were up for a treat.
Come the tournament, call it a bowling brilliance or a lack of proper application from the teams, especially during the middle order, the results have been completely contrary to what had been predicted.
Barring the England innings against South Africa in the World Cup opener, the likes of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and even the Proteas have failed to jot down anything positive with the bat. And this, arguably, wasn’t just the bowling brilliance of their opponents, to say the least. It is actually the over-reliance on the top orders. Take Pakistan for instance; ahead of the tournament, their top three batsmen had scored 4066 runs in 33 games at an average of 47.83. Post that, from four to seven, only 2822 runs had been scored at a mere 29.27.
Oli-SCARFF-AFPAnd this is exactly what Windies figured when they won the toss and elected to bowl first. Trent Bridge has been an absolute run-fest of late, but Pakistan failed to prove the fact. Following Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman’s dismissal, the biggest partnership Pakistan managed was between Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir (22 runs), who happen to be out and out frontline bowlers for Pakistan. As far as the middle is concerned, they went from 45/3 to 83/9.
In what can be termed as a state of trance, Pakistan failed to sustain. Or was is that Windies, who have been struggling in ODIs (of course barring the England series), just got the perfect plan on the day? Well, there are always two sides to a coin.
It’s not that, Pakistan were underprepared. In fact, despite the defeat, they had given England a run for their money. But that’s just Pakistan for you; especially in the ICC events. They aren’t known as ‘unpredictables’ for no reason.
Windies, on the other hand, had an easy route towards victory, but unnecessary wickets were thrown at Pakistan’s disposal, leading to the question that what would happen if the likes of Chris Gayle and Andre Russell fail to provide any solidity? Will the other members stay up to take the mantle? Well, if May 31’s game is taken into consideration, Shai Hope and Darren Bravo didn’t provide any.
Come the match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand on June 1, the fixture underlined a similar blueprint as the Islanders depicted, proving why everyone is writing them off the chart. A boundary on the very first delivery was followed by Matt Henry sending Lahiru Thirimanne back to the pavilion in only the second ball.
An abortive middle order was in vain, and if not for their captain Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka’s seventh captain since 2015) and Thisara Perera, the Lankan Lions would have found themselves in an absolute state of tatty. In the second game running, a team – batting first – had no answer to the pace attack. Sri Lanka, who have won just four of their 20 series since the 2015 World Cup, have never really enjoyed a fruitful outing in Cardiff (no victory at the venue in their entire history).
As of now, this World Cup has been more of a treat for the bowlers – especially the pacers – and if the batsmen don’t assert their authority in time, expect this tenure to flow in a similar way.
