India booked their place in the semifinals of the Cricket World Cup with a 28-run win over Bangladesh at Edgbaston on Tuesday. Victory saw two-time former champions India join reigning title-holders Australia in the last four with a match to spare, while this result ended Bangladesh's slim hopes of advancing to the knockout phase. For the second match in a row, India's Rohit Sharma was dropped in single figures and made a hundred. Sharma's 104, his fourth century of the World Cup, helped take India to 314-9 despite Mustafizur Rahman's 5-59. That proved too much for the Tigers, who were dismissed for 286 with two overs to spare, India spearhead Jasprit Bumrah taking 4-55. With this win, India reach to 13 points and become the second team to qualify for the semifinals.
India fail to chase down 338
India lost their first match of the 2019 Cricket World Cup when they failed to chase down 338 against England at Edgbaston on Sunday. India's 31-run defeat has also made the race for the semi-finals interesting. It was a strange run chase as India lost KL Rahul to Chris Woakes in the 3rd over. Virat Kohli joined Rohit Sharma and just when it looked like the pair was ready to accelerate score, Virat Kohli fell to Liam Plunkett for 66. Kohli's exit brought Rishabh Pant to the middle. Rohit Sharma, meanwhile, reached his 25th ODI hundred. But the pressure was building and he fell to Chris Woakes. Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya gave India hope. But then Pant fell to Plunkett for 32. With 112 needed off 10.5 overs, MS Dhoni joined Pandya. But as Pandya tried hard, Dhon was unable to up the ante and the asking rate climbed sharply. Hardik fell to Plunkett for 45 in the 45th over and that was the end of India's challenge. Earlier, England won the toss and chose to bat and scored 337 for 7 in 50 overs.
Lanka beat West Indies
Nicholas Pooran's maiden ODI century went in vain as Sri Lanka beat the West Indies by 23 runs in Chester-le-Street on Monday. West Indies got off to a poor start as they lost Sunil Ambris and Shai Hope early in the tough chase. Chris Gayle once again failed to put up an impressive show and lost his wicket for 35. Nicholas Pooran batted positively from one end but the wickets kept falling from the other end. He got some support from Faben Allen. Allen completed his maiden ODI half-century, while Pooran scored his maiden ODI ton. A mix-up between the two batsmen resulted in an unfortunate run out. Sensing the game is slipping away, Lanka brought former skipper Angelo Mathews into the attack and he dismissed Pooran on his first ball. Earlier, Lanka posted 338/6 in 50 overs. Avishka Fernando scored his maiden hundred.
Pak win a thriller
Pakistan survived to fight another day – for a semifinal berth – as they scraped past a spirited Afghanistan by three wickets at Headingley on Saturday where the fans invaded the ground and threw bottles at each other amid heated arguments and clashes. Chasing 228 on a turning wicket, they looked headed towards an upset when skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed was run out while going for a needless second run, and the team slipped to 156 for six in 39 overs. However, they found a hero in Imad Wasim, who cracked a match-winning 49 not out to take them to a win in the final over. Pakistan needed six off the final six balls, and then two off the last three, when the left-hander smashed the winning boundary off Afghanistan skipper Gulbadin Naib to pull off an amazing win.
Australia beat Kiwis by 86 runs
Australia have won seven out of eight matches and became the first team to seal a semifinal berth. They crushed rivals New Zealand by 86 runs on Saturday to consolidate their position at the top of the points table. “Since the India game, we’ve taken wickets through the middle fairly regularly… May be we are attacking more… I think the biggest part was the execution,” left arm pacer Mitchell Starc said after the victory against New Zealand. Starc believes the 36-run loss against India led to the improvement in their game. Talking about the win against New Zealand, the 29-year-old said the best is yet to come for Australia. Starc’s 5 for 26 against New Zealand was a record-breaking third career World Cup five-wicket haul. Just five players are now ahead of his haul of 46 World Cup wickets.
India end Windies hopes
India ended West Indies' slim hopes of qualifying for the semifinals with a 125-run thrashing at Old Trafford. West Indies, chasing 269 for victory, were dismantled by India, with pace bowler Mohammad Shami taking 4-16 and Jasprit Bumrah 2-9. Virat Kohli made 72 as India worked hard in front of a vociferous crowd, and MS Dhoni's unbeaten 56, which saw him take 16 runs from the final over, propelled them to 268-7. West Indies were ultimately dismissed for 143 with 94 balls remaining and will be left to rue a impatient batting performance on a slow pitch.
South Africa dent Lanka hopes
Five days after stunning hosts England, Sri Lanka came up with an insipid performance against South Africa at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street on Friday. The Proteas, who are already out of the semi-final race, have dented the Islander's last-four chances with a 9-wicket win. South Africa picked up only their 2nd win of the tournament and ended a two-match losing streak with a dominant performance that has come a bit too late for them. Sri Lanka now have 6 points from 7 matches and are sitting 7th on the 10-team points table. Sri Lanka now need to not only win their next 2 matches (West Indies on July 1 and India on July 6) but hope England lose both their remaining matches and Pakistan and Bangladesh lose at least one of their next 2 to make the semi-final.
Finch puts Aussies in semis
Powered by Australian captain Aaron Finch’s second hundred (100) and a superb show with the ball by their leftarm pacers Jason Behrendorff, who took his maiden five-wicket haul in the ODIs, and Starc (4-43), the defending champions outplayed England by 64 runs to become the first team to make the semifinals berth with their sixth win in seven games. Though Ben Stokes slammed his third half-century, Behrendorff and Starc dismantled England, who folded up for 221 in 44.1 overs. The hosts’ World Cup campaign, which looked pretty much on track till only a few days back, now looks in serious danger. After defeats to Sri Lanka at Headingley and now Australia at Lord’s, England now need to win at least one, ideally both their remaining games, against India and New Zealand, to have any chance of making it to the semifinals.
