The collective seven-time champions Australia and India were sent packing from the semi-finals in the ICC 2019 Cricket World Cup by England and New Zealand respectively, with both the qualifying finalists having never won the title in the Cup’s 44-year history.
Indeed, upsets of sorts! That’s the way the cookie crumbled! Here are 10 similarities between the two knock-out games:
1. M.S. Dhoni and Steven Smith missing the crease by a whisker – Both are stalwarts of the game and could have taken their respective teams home, but for the freaky yet spectacular run-outs that changed the game at crucial moments.
2. Scoreboard pressure in knock-outs – Only four batsmen each from India and Australia could get into double digits. While Indian batsmen succumbed to the scoreboard pressure, Australian innings never really took off to put runs on the board.
3. Exemplary fielding – Jadeja was amazing for India,and so were Bairstow and Stokes on sweeper boundaries for England, but it was Butler for England and Guptill for New Zealand who struck with crunch moment run-outs.
4. Lacklustre openers and poor starts – Australian and Indian openers heavily underperformed. India’s top three got out at 1, 1, and 1. That was the knock-out punch in a knock-out game!
5. Low scoring affairs – Not surprisingly, the pressure of the knock-out games got to the teams. All four semi-final innings ended between 220 and 240 runs. Moreover, there were no century by any batsman in these matches.
6. Supposed match-winning “emperors had no clothes” – Virat Kohli and David Warner are both destructive match-winners, but both are now consistently showing butterflies in their stomach when they head out for knock-out games. Virat has 9, 1, and 1 in his last three ICC trophy semi-finals. Warner too has made only 12 and 9 in the last two World Cup semis.
7. Bowlers won the games – India and Australia were both title contenders and were bowed out cheaply. While the maximum individual wickets were three for 20 runs by Chris Woakes, many more bowlers such as Jofra Archer and Rashid Patel for England, and Matt Henry, Boult and Santner for New Zealand made a mark on their team’s win.
8. Wicket-keeper batsmen sheet anchored, but couldn’t finish – MS Dhoni and Alex Carey did well to try and anchor the respective innings, but that didn’t prove to be enough.
9. Troublesome middle orders proved to be the undoing – Dinesh Kartìk, Marcus Stoinis were unimpressive, and Pandya and Maxwell flashed to their peril. Need we say more?
10. Guaranteed a new winner – Both semis were won by teams searching their maiden title, and one of England and New Zealand would emerge as the winner for the first time!
10 Reasons Why the Cookie Crumbled the Way It Did 