Nagpur : India, who are the second most successful team in World Cup history alongside the West Indies, will be eyeing to lift the coveted trophy for the third time. Indian have lost only one game so far in World Cup 2019 — against hosts England — and finished at the top of the points table after the league stage and are just two steps away from becoming only the second team, after Australia, to lay their hands thrice on the coveted trophy.
India started their World Cup 2019 campaign on June 5 against South Africa, the semi-finalists of the 2015 World Cup, in Southampton. Riding on Rohit Sharma’s gritty century in testing conditions, India won the match by six wickets.
Next they took on defending champions Australia on June 9 at The Oval, London. Shikhar Dhawan scored a wonderful century battling a thumb fracture and led his side to 36-run victory. Sadly, the injury ruled Dhawan out of the remainder of the tournament.
India’s next game against New Zealand in Nottingham on June 13 was abandoned due to rain without a ball being bowled and the teams sharing a point each.
India played the biggest match of the league phase in Manchester against arch-rivals Pakistan on June 16. Rohit Sharma once again stood up to the occasion and scored a fiery century which helped India post 336/5.
Pakistan who haven’t tasted any success against India in World Cups failed to create history and suffered an 89-run defeat.
In their next match, India took on lowly Afghanistan on June 22 at the Rose Bowl, Southampton. Afghanistan made the Indian players to sweat for a victory. In this match, Indian bowlers outshone the batsmen for the first time. Mohammed Shami became only the second Indian bowler to take a World Cup hat-trick. His figures of 4/40 helped India sneak in a close win.
India next played the West Indies in Manchester on June 27 and registered a huge 125-run victory. Skipper Virat Kohli won the man-of-the-match award for his 72 runs.
India suffered their first defeat of World Cup 2019 when they met hosts England at Edgbaston on June 30. For England it was a must-win game and they dominated the Indian team from ball one. Chasing 338, India could only score 306/5, losing the match by 31 runs.
India met Bangladesh in their next league match on July 2 in Birmingham and secured a semi-final berth with a 28-run win. Rohit Sharma, whose previous century against England went in vain, once again played a match-winning knock of 104.
India faced Sri Lanka in Leeds on July 6 in their final league match. Rohit Sharma’s record 5th century of the tournament helped India win the match by seven wickets.
This win coupled with Australia’ defeat to South Africa in their last league match helped India top the table.
The next hurdle ahead of India in their World Cup 2019 campaign is New Zealand, runners-up from the last edition, who would want to make it to their second successive final.
