Isaac Schrödinger

Trophy overload

Bumrah was truly exceptional but even the number one bowler on Earth is not enough to stop the combined Aussie juggernaut:

This series marked the end of Australia's decade-long wait for a Test series win against India; their previous victory came at home during the 2014-15 season. Since then, Australia have played four four-match Test series against India, two at home and two away, with all four series concluding with a 2-1 margin in favour of India.

Until this series, India were the only opposition against whom Australia did not hold a series trophy. This marks the third instance of Australia holding the series trophy against all nine Test nations simultaneously. Australia also hold the ICC World Test Championship title alongside series trophies against all nine opponents.

Plus, they're the ODI champions. They only big one that's missing is the World T20 title.

All out, again.

Beating the World Champions in their backyard 2-1. The famous bowling showed up.

204/8, 163, and 140. Given those three total scores by Australia, one could easily think that this was a T20 series. There was no anchor; not a single half-century by the Aussies. This bodes well for the Champions Trophy.

A rare defeat

The most shocking aspect of the match was that Pakistan didn't lose 7-8 wickets while chasing 164. The Aussie bowlers couldn't do much because there wasn't any pressure. The not-so-good deliveries were hit outside the ground. Smart Saim didn't go boom boom right at the start. He took his time because there was no rush. Those sixes were crisp!

Quite a feat to beat these World Champions in their own country. If history is any guide, then the Australians will be in a murderous mood in the next game.

Good fight

The two Shah bowlers batted boldly and hit five sixes between them. Smith and Cummins minimized risk and showcased again why they're world champions.

A couple of murders

England demolished Pakistan and then a few days later, India crushed Bangladesh. Five Indian players had a strike rate of 200 or more! We had so many games a few months ago, where teams barely scored 120 runs in the World Cup and here India wins by 133 runs. Years of IPL has forged some outrageous six hitters for India.

Never happened before

A few days ago, Pakistan had scored 556 all out in their first innings. A respectable amount which will result in a draw, I thought.

Then, they lost by an innings! What!? I couldn't remember the last time a team was crushed by an innings after scoring over 500 runs!

1 Pakistan are now the first team to lose a Test match by an innings margin despite scoring 500-plus runs in an innings. The previous highest total to end up in an innings defeat was 492 by Ireland against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2023.

Root and Brook truly showcased their talent:

1379 Runs scored by Pakistan and England in their respective first-innings in Multan. It is the third-highest first-innings aggregate for a Test match and the highest to have ended with a result.

This was just the first test; two more to go. More pain and suffering for Pakistan to follow.

41 Babar Azam's highest score across 17 Test innings since 2023. Babar is the only batter without a score of fifty-plus among the 38 players with 15 or more Test innings while batting in the top six since 2023.

Very concerning. He's their best batsman and he's failing in local conditions. Hopefully, he'll hit a century to break the ugly streak.

Mighty Joe

I've noticed that he gets frustrated in ODIs as he often has to abandon his natural game and take risks to score runs. However, in Test cricket, Joe Root shows why he's ranked as the number one batsman in the world today:

5 Batters with more centuries than Root in Test cricket - Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45), Ricky Ponting (41), Kumar Sangakkara (38) and Rahul Dravid (36). Root is level with Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Mahela Jayawardene, and Younis Khan on 34 Test hundreds.

He has scored a staggering 17 test centuries in just 4 years. He can certainly bypass Ponting to be in the top three. Though, the great Tendulkar is too far. Either way, he'll cement his status as the best English test player ever.

India vs. South Africa

South Africa has had one of the strongest teams on the global stage and they've produced some astonishing cricketers but never before have they been in a World Cup final. Their history is of heartache. Now, somehow, after an undefeated month, they're facing an aggressive and hungry India that has beaten Australia and England to reach the last match.

The burden of history is greater for South Africa. The last time India won a World Cup was in 2011 when Tendulkar was in the team. They play excellent cricket -- look at the recent Test, ODI, and T20I finals -- but fail to win gold. So, they have their own particular mental block.

The winner will be the team that is psychologically stronger.

Update
South Africa need 100 runs from 62 balls with 7 wickets in hand. What a final!

Update
After decades of pain and anguish, the mighty South Africans are marching towards the grand trophy. 30 runs in 30 balls. Klaasen is playing the role of Ben Stokes today. The Indian bowlers need a miracle. Their batsmen made the highest score in a T20I final but that will last a few hours. Reminds me of that awesome match where Australia made 434 and then ...

Update
From 30 in 30 to 16 in 6 balls. Zero boundaries in four overs! Absolutely incredible! Is this the greatest choke of all time or can Miller reach glory? India coming back from the dead with their bowling.

Update
Choke it is. India prove to be stronger. All that intense IPL training and practice wins them the gold after 13 years. The wounds for South Africa become even deeper. Their implosion in the last five overs was spectacular! From needing 30 runs in 30 balls to losing by 7 runs. Whatever India is paying Bumrah is not enough.

South Africa plundered 24 runs from the 15th over. Then, they managed a shockingly miserable 22 runs in the last five overs. Just like against Pakistan earlier in the tournament, the Indian bowling unit showed up to stop the rampage in the dying overs. The opposition imploded in both cases. India fought hard and beat Pakistan, Australia, England, and South Africa. And they went undefeated. They are, finally, like that first World Cup in 2007, T20 champions.

Virat Kohli, the run machine that was rusty during the tournament, made his highest score of the event in the final. He retires from the format as a champion. He didn't achieve the greatness of Tendulkar but the fact that he's compared to the man is achievement enough.

It was a dream

Afghanistan all out for 56. One soul made double digits.

If South Africa, somehow, manage to lose, then this would be the greatest choke of all times.

Update
South Africa has been one of the strongest sides in cricket on the global stage for many decades. Yet, their team has never made it to a T20 or an ODI World Cup final. That wait is finally over.

Giant Killers

Afghanistan effectively knocked out New Zealand and Australia from this World Cup. Now, they're in the semi-final where their fairy tale is going to end. Though, there is a very real possibility of a South African ch-ch-choke!

Poor Litton Das. He was stranded on 56 while his entire team got out for a combined 40 runs.

The England-India semi-final should be dynamite. The World Champions against the aggressive fed-up trophy-less Indians. England has the psychological edge. Let's see which India shows up: the weary, slow, sad option that we saw in the ODI final last year or the fire breathing, Australia-destroying side from a few days ago.

No support for Max

Glenn Maxwell had a horrid IPL season. He had failed as a batsman. Even allowing for his attacking style, his numbers were shockingly low. The undefeated Aussies met Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup and something strange happened. Maxwell clicked but the rest of batting unit had an epic collapse.

A few numbers tell the tale.

Glenn Maxwell. Sixes: 3. Runs scored: 59.

The rest of his team. Sixes: 0! Runs scored: 52.

Credit to the Afghani bowlers for getting some shockingly cheap wickets. No other team is more dangerous in a global tournament than Australia.

Pakistan all out

In the first game, their batsmen arrived. In the second game, their bowlers arrived. Today, the rain arrived.

[...] a torrid tournament culminated in a hasty exit under gloomy skies that epitomised the grim nature of their World Cup campaign. They arrived in the USA with no warm-up games scheduled, and most of their practice sessions were cancelled due to rain. Their unfamiliarity was punished by the home team in their opening fixture as USA pipped them in the Super Over, before Pakistan fell apart chasing 120 against India, losing by six runs.

Pakistan fully earned their exit. They lost their two matches from winning positions. The ruthless attitude and aggression needed to win was completely absent. No team can expect to continue in a global event by being cautious, conservative, and painfully slow.

This is why teams like England and Australia will meet in the final.

Oh, man, what a slaughter!

This will rank as the number one annihilation at a T20I World Cup. That's what happens when the belligerent champions meet the hapless minnows.

Canada vs. Pakistan

Kaleem Sana had scored a grand total of three runs in his eighteen T20 appearances. Today, he smashed 13. That's a 333.3% increase in his career runs! Give that man a beer!

Canada 106/7. Again, Pakistan's match to lose.

Tie, Loss, and today, Win. A comedic start to the World Cup for Pakistan.

South Africa hold the line

Yesterday, India defended 119. Today, South Africa, of all teams, defended 113. They won by an intense four runs. Bangladesh needed 31 runs from 30 balls with 6 wickets in hand. Teams like Australia, England, and New Zealand would crush that target but that's just a different league.

Bangladesh, like Pakistan the day before, have only themselves to blame.

India vs. Pakistan

India all out for 119 in 19 overs. Their lowest total ever against Pakistan. The Pakistani bowling showed up. Only three Indians reached double figures. The dangerous trio of Kohli, Yadav, and Pandya weren't among them. The big question: Is the Indian bowling squad capable of defending this tiny total?

This is definitely Pakistan's match to lose now. They can win this with singles and doubles. Zero need for risk.

Update
The answer to the big question: Yes. The Indian bowlers won it today. Five out of six of them didn't exceed an economy rate of six. That is spectacular for a T20 game.

It was a colossal failure of the Pakistani batting lineup. They needed 63 runs from 60 balls with 9 wickets in hand! From overs 15 to 19, they didn't hit a single boundary. Naseem Shah managed two in the last over but it was too little too late. The lack of intent and the mounting dot balls were quite shocking.

A few days ago, the "Indian B team" beat them. Today, the regulars did it.

This is normal

I was doubly impressed with the US team. They first managed to completely butcher the chase by dragging the match till the last ball and then, of all things, tying the scores!

Second, the Super Duper Over: The 18 runs off Amir was quite shocking.

Pakistan decided to not send Rizwan to bat at the end. The guy is literally their most consistent T20 batsman.

So, our South Asian cricketers played better than their South Asian cricketers?

Being a magnet for immigrants has its benefits.

— Curious Task (@CuriousTask) June 6, 2024

Mr. Patel, a pukka American, was the man of the match. Either way, Pakistan deserved to lose. Their batting and bowling was weak. The match against India will likely be much worse as the Indians have gone through some grueling practice during their intense T20 league.

Wouldn't it be something if we saw a rematch of the final from last year? India vs. Australia for the T20I title.

Starc does it again

The latest IPL was a run fest. Yet, the final was decided by one fierce bowler.

Ball of the season? 👀🤌pic.twitter.com/fnl7oWkhQb

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) May 26, 2024

The late swing and that gentle clip. The two-time World champion delivered.

Annihilation

Absolute, total, unprecedented annihilation.

Lucknow Super Giants scored a grand total of 165 runs in 20 overs.

Sharma from Sunrisers smashed six sixes in his 28-ball 75 not out. He was the slow opener! Travis Head made a scorching 30-ball 89. They chased that total in under 10 overs without losing a wicket.

Here's a list of all the records they shattered. The upcoming T20 World Cup should be a lot of fun ... for the batsmen.

Batting collapse

A shockingly low-scoring T20 in India. The only positive for DC is the all-round prowess of Rashid Khan who top-scored and took a wicket.

A dangerous batsman

Travis Head is winning more awards in India:

At the post-match presentation, Head was asked how he would bowl to himself. "I am not sure," he replied. "I think everyone has tried a bit of everything. I just clear my front leg and slog a little bit. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, never has been. But pleased with how I moved today and how I struck the ball."

Very perceptive. I would have described his match-winning innings in the World Cup final in the same way. He's no Anwar, Lara, Sangakkara, or Tendulkar but he definitely gets the job done. I'm sure his current team and the Aussies don't mind his inelegant style of winning trophies.

Ecstasy and Agony

The heavy burden of history on the most grand stage. The slow accumulation and the build up of tension. That "catch" on the boundary. The Divine Deflection! The great redemption and the making of The Legend. I knew when the last man got out that this is the greatest one-day cricket match ever played and that still holds true today:

The Greatest ODI

Always looking to pounce

The most elegant batsman of his generation provides a few tips and answers questions. Imagine the commotion if Tendulkar were to show up!

Just give Max the award

Cricinfo: ESPNcricinfo Awards 2023 Men's ODI batting nominees: the Gill, Maxwell, Klaasen and Head show.

Yeah, forget the best of the year, many consider it the greatest ODI batting performance of all time.

Australia were 91 for 7 in the 19th over, chasing 292. Afghanistan were on the brink of securing their first victory against Australia in all cricket. Maxwell, though, flipped the script with an astonishing assault - an unbeaten 201 off 128 balls, achieved in the face of cramps and muscle spasms that incapacitated him at the crease and made him rely solely on hand-eye coordination to launch boundaries as he did. Maxwell's double-century was the first in a chase in 4696 ODIs.

The psychological boost from that incredible win propelled Australia to their sixth title.

The Mighty Aussies

The "fact" at the seven minute mark was amusing: Australia lost to Pakistan in the semi-final of the 1992 World Cup.

Nope! Australia was fifth in the tournament. They didn't make it. Pakistan faced New Zealand in the semi-final.

Test no. 2522

In over two thousand five hundred Test matches, never has this happened before. All one can say is WOW!

4 in 40!

The Australian bowlers and fielders were absolutely superb in the final. 

4 Boundaries hit by India after the completion of the first powerplay. These are the fewest boundaries hit by any team between the 11th and 50th overs in a men's ODI since 2011. Those four boundaries came from KL Rahul (26.2), Suryakumar Yadav (38.6), Mohammed Shami (41.5) and Mohammed Siraj (49.2).

Four boundaries in 40 overs. I bet the crowd must have been shocked with that batting. As one commenter said: it's as quiet as a library! There simply wasn't enough pressure on Australia. Marnus played some shockingly bizarre and needless reverse sweeps in the semi-final and got out LBW but he was in pure cement mode today. Just block every good delivery and take zero risks. Perfectly sensible.

Oh, this is amusing:

That says a lot about Australia's batting strength. Today, the legendary Adam Zampa bats at number ten. Also, he needs to share the secret about his youthful looks.

World Cup 2023 Final

What I wrote yesterday:

The Aussie bowlers will be important. They must restrict the explosive Indian batsmen. Sharma and Kohli are the two key wickets. The rest haven't been stressed in the last month. Plus, the pressure is on India. They've done great over the past ten years except win the big trophies.

India batted first in their previous four games. Their lowest score was 326/5. Today, at the grandest stage, they managed 240. The Aussie bowlers succeeded. Can their Indian counterparts do better? They got Australia all out for 199 earlier in the tournament. Let's see if they can repeat that magic. The pressure is on!

Rahul: He soaked up too many deliveries. Though, his deep in the wicket late cuts to spinners were impressive. A slight error would have got him bowled but he didn't miss!

Cummins: Not a single boundary from his ten overs. Wow!

The entire Indian team hit 13 fours in 50 overs. Australia is at 117/3 and hit 10 fours in 22 overs. Travis and Marnus are playing a risk-free game. Rotating strike and hitting an odd four if they have the chance. Though, Travis Head has been super lucky. So many close chances where the ball almost kissed the stumps.

Aussies need 106 from 25 overs. India needs wickets! They dominated throughout the tournament. Now, the crowd is getting more quiet as the familiar story of the past decade looks to repeat itself.

Travis Head has hit 14 fours which is more than what all the Indian players managed. That's the story of this final. Gets to his century with a 100+ strike rate! Just give him the Man of the Match award now. Puts his name next to Gilchrist and Ponting.

Travis got the Man of the Match award in the semi-final as well. Writes his name in history. He's now hit more sixes than the entire Indian team. An ocean of tears in India. Of course, the Australian players in the seats are smiling.

Australia wins. History repeats. India lost to Australia in 2003.

Australia beat every other team in this tournament. So did India. India won 10 out of 11 matches. Australia won 9 out of 11. Indians top the charts. Kohli has the most runs. (Man of the tournament!) Shami has the most wickets. Australia has the trophy.

Australia has won 6 out of 13 World Cups. The apex predator of the cricket jungle showcases the harsh reality to billions of heartbroken fans.

India is becoming a more successful version of South Africa. They perform exceptionally well in the earlier stages of global tournaments but can't win the gold. Their big losses:

• 3 T20 World Cups.
• 3 ODI World Cups.
• 2 World Test Championships.
• That Champions Trophy.

The last time they won an ICC tournament was in 2013. Since then, out of 10 knockout matches (QF, SF, and F), India have managed one win! That would be the recent victory against New Zealand. So, just a few days ago, their failure rate over a decade was 100%. Now, it's down to 90%. Meanwhile Australia, England, Pakistan, and New Zealand have added to their trophy collection.

Titans clash

It's a rare final where the Aussies start as the underdogs:

It feels like a lifetime has passed since their first encounter in this tournament. Having called that game the final before the final before it was played, I was feeling sheepish within a week as Australia, after two resounding losses, appeared underprepared and undercooked and unsure about their best XI.

And then, Australia went on to win eight matches in a row. They'll meet India who have ten consecutive wins in this tournament. It should be a hard fought final. The Aussie bowlers will be important. They must restrict the explosive Indian batsmen. Sharma and Kohli are the two key wickets. The rest haven't been stressed in the last month. Plus, the pressure is on India. They've done great over the past ten years except win the big trophies.

India and Australia, two vastly contrasting nations, two of cricket's powerhouses, who have built the fiercest, most competitive, most absorbing rivalry of this century, which has produced some of the greatest matches in recent memory, and are, equally crucially, the most successful teams at the ODI World Cup over time, feel like the worthiest claimants for this edition's prize. India have looked invincible so far, but winning titles is in Australia's DNA.

20 Years Later

India will once again face the mighty Australians in a World Cup final. Though, this time, India are definitely the stronger team, and with tremendous crowd support. If India wins, then they will have done something that I don't recall in ODIs: beating Australia twice in such a global tournament! Though, if Australia pull through, then they would beaten every single team in this big event.

South Africa have a positive win loss record against the Aussies but have never beaten them in a knockout game at a World Cup. It's an astonishing stat: South Africa have never made it to a final.

In contrast, the Aussies have a staggering pedigree at World Cups:

• 1987: Champions
• 1992: No final
• 1996: Final lost
• 1999: Champions
• 2003: Champions
• 2007: Champions
• 2011: No final
• 2015: Champions
• 2019: No final
• 2023: Final on Sunday.

India face the toughest opponent in the final. It should be fun!

2019 Semi-final rematch

India vs. New Zealand. Rohit Sharma had an unbelievable World Cup four years ago. He smashed five centuries in that tournament but then faced the Pythons the Kiwis in the semi-final. Now, India will face them again with the roar of a billion people behind them. Will India succumb to the intense pressure again or will the under-rated Kiwis make it to their third straight final?

My heart wants a New Zealand vs. South Africa final. These two teams have fought hard. Plus, we'll get a completely new World Champion. But my mind knows that the two strongest teams are India and Australia. Let's see.

Oh, and this made me laugh:

India have lived with the memory of Manchester for four years now and without a knockout win at an ICC event for even longer.@BCCI @ImRo45 @imVkohli @imjadeja @Jaspritbumrah93 @MdShami11 #INDvsNZ pic.twitter.com/9XpQukthCp

— Abhinav singh (@Abhinav_tmk) November 14, 2023

Maximum Aussie

No other Australian has played an ODI innings that comes close to this.

He couldn't even use his feet well at the end! He had bowled ten overs and taken a wicket earlier in suffocating heat. How could he conjure up such immense power and breathtaking timing? He had some close chances. Fortune favors the bold!

The fact that his very last shot got him to his unbelievable double century, won the match, and guarantees that his team is in the World Cup semi-finals makes this one of the greatest innings of all time.

Anyway, is Marcus Stoinis retarded? The guy made that ridiculous "catch" that bounced off the ground between his hands and then played an insane reverse sweep when his team needed zero-risk accumulation.

Fakhar Zaman stands tall

What's the most sixes any Pakistani batsman had scored in an entire World Cup tournament before today?
Nine.

Zaman smashed eleven in one match today! Really, he had little choice when chasing 402. Babar always bats conservatively, Zaman had to go super nova for Pakistan to win.

Fakhar hit more sixes in the one innings today than any Pakistani batter has through an entire World Cup campaign. This one, meanwhile, will blow your mind all over again. Shahid Afridi is Pakistan's most celebrated six-hitter, right? Until today, no Pakistani had hit more sixes in World Cups than him. He hit 12 across five World Cups and 16 years; Fakhar hit 11 today in comfortably under two hours. He hit as many sixes today as Imam-ul-Haq, the man he replaced in the last game, hit in his last 24 ODI innings.

Shahid Afridi hit 12 sixes in 5 global tournaments. Zaman has hit 18 in just two matches in this World Cup. Absurd!

If you tack on the sixes from the Bangladesh game to today's, he's hit nearly a third of the sixes he had hit in his entire ODI career in just the last two innings (18 in the last two and 56 before). In powerplays, he's hit nearly half (six in the last two and 14 before).

Let's hope the rich form continues. Their last group match is against the most humiliated team of the tournament who also happen to be the current World champions. Pakistan do have a certain history of beating New Zealand and England ...

Let's see if it plays out like 1992 or 2019.

NZ vs. PAK

On October 20, I wrote:

Sixes by Australia: 19
Sixes by Pakistan: 6
Difference of runs: 78
Margin of defeat: 62 runs

Today's match is at the same ground.

Sixes scored by the entire New Zealand team: 8
Sixes scored by just Fakhar Zaman (so far!): 11

Those risks paid off for Australia and now Zaman is cashing in. In addition to being the only Pakistani double-centurion, he's now the fastest to a century (in a World Cup match). Babar is the number one ODI batsman in the world for his reliability but Fakhar is definitely far more dangerous. The guy is a champion. Ask India 2017.

Rain is ruining the match for the Kiwis as Pakistan is ahead on DLS. It's shortened to 41 overs. Pakistan have to chase 182 in 19.3 overs. It's, now, a T20 chase with 9 wickets in hand.

Damn, rain again. The New Zealand batsmen must be shocked. They scored an epic 401. It's their best collective batting performance of all time and that too in a World Cup.

Yet, at the moment, they're losing!

Game over. Pakistan scored 200/1  in 25.3 overs chasing 402. They win by 21 runs; DLS method. Only the second time in history a team has lost a match after smashing over 400 runs. Ponting's Australia knows how that feels.

Fakhar Zaman, of course, and again, is the Man of the Match.

The final four

Afghanistan have fought well in this World Cup but they are not making the semis. Their opponents in the next two matches: Australia and South Africa.

The semi-finalists:

1. India
2. South Africa
3. Australia
4. New Zealand or Pakistan

The match tomorrow between the Kiwis and the Pakis will be almost a quarter-final.

Carnage in Wankhede

0, 0, 1, 0, 1. That's how the Sri Lankan batsmen opened their innings against India. Their tenth player top scored with 14!

India's next match is against the most impressive batsmen of the tournament. The Indian bowlers will really be tested then.

World Cup 2023

A few amazing stats:

50 Balls needed for Kevin O'Brien for his century against England in 2011, the fastest in men's ODI World Cup until the 2023 edition. His record was bettered twice in the tournament - first by Aiden Markram with a 49-ball hundred against Sri Lanka, and then by Glenn Maxwell, who got a century off 40 balls at the same venue against Netherlands. Six of the top ten fastest ODI World Cup hundreds have come in this edition itself.

That's the most astonishing part of this World Cup: the absolute ferocity of the centurions. Imagine, if England didn't implode in this World Cup, we would seen even more centuries from their formidable batsmen.

The gulf between two finalists

Yesterday, Australia smashed 388 runs. New Zealand take the game to the very last delivery. They scored 383! That's the most incredible chase for a team that ended up losing. It shows why the Kiwis made the last two World Cup finals.

Today, India scored 229 runs. That's a solid T20 score. England should have chased that with plenty of overs to spare. Instead, the World Champions lost by an unbelievable 100 runs! Root and Stokes, the two rocks, scored a combined zero. Forget fighting for a semi-final spot, they're officially the worst team in the entire tournament.

That difference between the chases by England and New Zealand is stunning.

The likely semi-finalists: India, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. There's potential for drama as a few other teams like Pakistan can bump into the top four but that'll require a series of convincing wins.

More misery for England

The World Champions have lost four out of five matches.

The light at the end of the tunnel was a train. England have spent the last four weeks travelling around India talking about responding to setbacks and awaiting the statement performance that has never arrived. If their defeats to New Zealand, Afghanistan and South Africa were bad, this might have been the worst of the lot.

Ben "The Legend" Stokes top-scored but nobody really provided a decent partnership. The sad thing is that these aren't hard fought victories for the opposition. England is imploding again and again and again. They definitely have the batting firepower but it's simply not clicking.

Their next match is against the only undefeated team of the tournament.

The Aussies are marching

Oct. 12: South Africa beat Australia by 134 runs.

Oct. 17: Netherlands beat South Africa by 38 runs.

Oct. 25: Australia crush Netherlands by 309 runs!

Key to defeating South Africa: make them chase. The burden of history and the occasion will make them choke crumble.

Humiliation

I would have gladly bet against anyone who told me that the World Champions would be ranked dead last half-way through the tournament.

Technically, Pakistan or England have a small chance of making the semi-finals by winning all of their remaining matches. However, they both can't make it together because they'll face each other next month. Given their miserable form, it's highly likely that the semi-finalists will be India, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia. 

A New Zealand vs. South Africa final would be spectacular as we would get a totally new World Champion. The Kiwis will have definitely earned that one.

India cements semi-final spot

India's remains undefeated in the tournament. New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, and Pakistan will be fighting for the remaining three semi-final spots. England have a tiny chance but they'll have to win all of their five matches to have a shot.

A shocking annihilation

England won the ODI World Cup in 2019. They won the T20I World Cup last year. Now, it looks like they'll be crashing out of the current one. Chasing 400 runs against South Africa, they're at 68/6! Every single batsman failed to stick around. It's likely that they'll lose by a margin of 250-300 runs. Forget World Champions, I haven't seen minnows being crushed in this manner.

What makes this surreal is that South Africa lost to the Netherlands a few days ago!

England will have to win all of their remaining five matches to have a shot at making the semi-finals. No pressure.

Update
England lost by 229 runs. Their worst defeat in history.

Warner ignites

The absolutely murderous opening partnership was enough for Australia. The only tiny negative for them is that they didn't smash over 400 runs. Pakistan did fight but they needed an individual century or two to chase this down. Azam's shot straight to the captain wasn't smart. Also, their lack of big hits made the difference.

Sixes by Australia: 19
Sixes by Pakistan: 6
Difference of runs: 78
Margin of defeat: 62 runs

Holy choke, batman!

Netherlands, of all teams, take down the powerful batting line-up of South Africa! The same batsmen who scored 428 and 311 couldn't chase 246 runs today. It would be quite shocking if India and New Zealand didn't make the semi-finals. This means that in the next month four teams -- South Africa, Pakistan, England, and Australia -- will be fighting for the two remaining spots.

World Champions crumble

A historic day for Afghanistan cricket:

Afghanistan claimed the most famous scalp of their international history, and in the process provided the first big shock of the 2023 World Cup, by routing England's world champions by 69 runs in a spin-and-seam masterclass under the Delhi floodlights.

Their dominance was set in motion by a fearless display of power-hitting from the 21-year-old Rahmanullah Gurbaz, whose 80 from 57 had promised so much more until a run-out sawed him off in his prime. But Ikram Alikhil marshalled Afghanistan's lower-order with a precious half-century on his World Cup debut, whereupon they set about making a target of 285 seem as dim and distant as England's hopes of defending their title must now feel.

Plus, the team that has the grandest history in World Cups is currently at the bottom of the table! If things don't turn around, then for only the second time both Australia and England won't make it to the semi-finals.

India dominate

The top four Pakistani players scored 155 and got out. The rest managed 32 runs! It would have been a pretty decent T20I total.

Sharma hit six sixes which was six more than what the opposition managed. Game over.

India, New Zealand, and South Africa are almost locked in for the semi-finals. England, Australia, and Pakistan will have to fight it out for the fourth spot. It would be bonkers if we got an India-Pakistan final.

India vs. Pakistan

On Saturday, Ahmedabad won't just be the epicentre of Indian cricket, but world cricket, with 132,000 people - a decent chunk being celebrities, industrialists, politicians, friends of politicians and, of course, cricket administrators - congregating at what they say is the world's biggest cricket stadium to witness a match that makes the cricket economy - bilateral non-relations notwithstanding.

No other team in cricket history will have a louder crowd than what India will get in nine hours. They, of course, start as strong favorites. The famous Pakistani bowling has to show up for them to have a chance at an upset. Afridi and Rauf will have to make the breakthroughs. Also, the winner of this match will definitely make the semi-finals.

So surreal

Nobody defeated Australia in the 2003 and 2007 tournaments. Nobody has won more World Cups than Australia. Yet, somehow, today, South Africa crushed them by 134 runs. They've lost two matches in a row. It's not that they're horrible. Just that the rest of the world has upped the game.

The competition for the semi-final spots just got more intense between the six:

1. England
2. India
3. Australia
4. New Zealand
5. Pakistan
6. South Africa