India suffered its first defeat of World Cup 2019 at the hands of England. Some lamented the loss; some saw it as a welcome leveller and were relieved that the loss was now and (hopefully) not later. In the other big tussle, the Australians beat the New Zealand team. Predictably, Pakistan won against Afghanistan. As usual, the memes from the match (and about the new Indian jersey) told the story:
Afghanistan set up a target of 228 for the Pakistanis to win and the men in green made rather heavy weather of it. In the end, the Pak team needed 46 runs from five overs. Gulbadin Naib conceding 18 runs in one over that was the turning point and then the batsmen needed just 6 off the last over. So finally, Pakistan won by three wickets with two balls to spare.
Skipper Naib taking the bowling at the most crucial juncture and failing to stem the scoring earned him a lot of trolling from the tweeple – including former players and experts. Pak fans did not mind, however.
Pakistan got a reprieve thanks to this win; which kept their hopes of a semifinal berth alive. However India’s loss to England yesterday almost puts paid to those hopes.
It seemed as though the New Zealanders had done a good job by curtailing the scoring of the Australians to just 243/9. Trent Boult’s scored a hat-trick to get rid of Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Starc and Jason Behrendorff; however this was in vain.
The Kiwis were outplayed on the day however; Australia cleaning up the opposition’s batting in the 44th over; the kiwis collapsing for just 157 runs.
The Indian team sported this dark blue and orange colour combination for the big Sunday match versus England.
The tweeple had many views about the colour combination. ‘Indian Oil guys’ said some. ‘Surf Excel’ said others. ‘Swiggy delivery’ said yet others.
The colour scheme is very much like some products that we regularly use. Could it be subliminal messaging?
For Pakistan to keep their semifinal hopes alive, India had to win. It was an unusual scenario with Pak fans rooting for India; one Pak fan tweeting the Indian national anthem to demonstrate his support. However, England had other plans and posted a big total of 337 runs.
The Indian batsmen never looked to hit their stride throughout their innings. The hopes of Indian fans to remain unbeaten in the competition – and those of Pak fans were dashed.
M S Dhoni and Kedar Jhadav were expected to take India over the finishing line. When they couldn’t, there was predictable baying of blood. As usual there were voices saying that Dhoni is now a shadow of his former self and that Jadhav is not deserving of a place in the national team.
There were those of course, who put forward the silly view that India lost deliberately so as to stymie Pak’s chances. As of now, there are no confirmed semifinal teams; though several clear contenders. The fact is that things could still go in unexpected directions. There are still six qualifier matches left and the situation can change signficantly.
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