#721 Virat’s 4th consecutive 50 plus score and all round bowling performance helps India thrash WI; Australia too good for England; Shakib cant do anything wrong in this world cup; Pakistan pick up momentum to put England under pressure; Federer and Djokovic start as favorites for Wimbledon and more..:-)
Fifties by Babar and Haris Sohail pushed Pakistan score to 308-7 against out of sorts SA. Rabada and co looked out of steam again. SA never looked like chasing this as they were always behind run rate. They eventually lost by 49 runs. Till this match, none of SA batsmen had gone beyond 70 in this world cup which was shocking to see. Bangladesh continued their strong run in world cup by beating Afghanistan by 62 runs. Shakib scored a fifty and grabbed 5 wickets which only 2 other players had done in world cup. Yuvraj Singh was the last to do it. Afghanistan were on course at 102-2 but Skahib grabbed 2 wickets in 3 balls which turned the match.
England vs Australia was supposed to be a cracking contest. But it ended up being a one sided one. Opening stand of 123 runs between Finch and Warner gave Australia a great start. Finch scored his 3rd century of the world cup. England did well later to restrict Australia to 285-7. Once Starc and Behrendorff reduced England to 26-3, match was as good as over. Stokes kept the fight going but England lost by 64 runs. Starc dismissed Stokes with a stunning Yorker for 89. He grabbed 4 wickets. Behrendorff grabbed his career’s first 5-fer. England have never lost 2 matches in a row at home since 2015 world cup. They have done now. They would be under tremendous pressure to beat India now. They literally need to beat India and NZ to confirm their spot for world cup SF.
Shaheen Afridi and Amir excelled as they reduced NZ to 83-5 with some great swing bowling. Neesham-Grandhomme had 132 run stand to give NZ some score to defend. Though Pakistan were reduced to 44-2, Babar Azam scored a classy century to give Pakistan a resounding 6 wicket win. With this, India remained only team yet to lose a match in the world cup. India faced WI in Manchester. Rohit was unlucky to be given out by 3rd umpire early on. Rahul and Virat had 69 run stand to steady the ship for India. Rahul again wasted opportunity as he was dismissed by Holder for 48. India were reduced to 140-4 from 98-1. Shankar failed again and Jadhav didn’t score much either. Against the run of play, Virat was dismissed for 72. This was his 4th consecutive 50 plus score. He couldn’t convert to century this time as well. India 180-5. Hardik and MS Dhoni then rescued India with a 70 stand which started slowly and picked up pace later. MS Dhoni was 23 runs from 42 balls at one point of time but ended up with 56 from 61 balls. India made a decent score of 268. Though it looked 15 short, pitch had something in it for the bowlers. Once Shami removed Gayle and Hope early on, match was as good as over. All bowlers grabbed wickets as India won by 125 runs. This was an emphatic victory for India. SA finally played with all guns on as they beat Lanka by 9 wickets with over 12 overs to spare. Lanka are virtually knocked out of the world cup with this loss. Pretorius grabbed 3 wickets and was the star performer for SA. Unbeaten 175 run stand between Faf and Amla ensured SA won the match with ase. Had they shown this hunger early on, they could have made great strides into world cup.
Wimbledon draw was announced. Federer could potentially clash with Nadal in SF. Nadal has a tough draw as he potentially could clash with Kyrgios in 2nd round Tsonga/Shapovalov in 3rd,Cilic in 4th and Thiem in QF. Federer has an easy draw. He could potentially face Coric in 4th round and Nishikori in QF. Djokovic could clash with Anderson or Zverev. Djokovic could clash with Monfils in 4th round and Tsitsipas in QF.
