Everything was in India’s favour, with the hosts winning the last three World Cups. India reached the final after winning 10 matches in a row, India’s bowling and batsmen were in good form. Just one more win, India would have won the World Cup after 12 years. But the provisions of the Act allow something else.
I am here in this podcast to cover the cricket activities of the week, please accept greetings from Sanjay Banerjee. Everything was in India’s favour, with the hosts winning the last three World Cups. India reached the final after winning 10 matches in a row, India’s bowling and batsmen were in good form. Just one more win, India would have won the World Cup after 12 years. But the provisions of the Act allow something else. Defying all speculations and defying all coincidences, Australia won easily and became world champions for the sixth time.
The hopes of crores of cricket fans were dashed. In a country where cricket is a religion, one must be patient to bear such consequences. Why not only India, former champions England, title contenders Pakistan, strong performers New Zealand and South Africa also missed out on the title. Apparently only one country could win the World Cup, which the Kangaroos won.
Now India has to keep an eye on the T20 World Cup to be held after a year. For Indian captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid, this was a chance to fulfill the World Cup dream, while for Kohli it was a chance to be more ‘Virat’. But this could not happen. For the first time in many months, India’s top-order batting looked reliable in the first ten matches of the World Cup. Almost all leading batsmen have scored centuries, be it Rohit or Shubman Gill. Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Lokesh Rahul also kissed their helmets after scoring centuries. The bowling performance was also excellent. Mohammad Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj took many wickets. Mohammad Shami needs special praise. Despite not being included in the team for the first four matches, Shami emerged as a threat in the later matches.