Performances in CWC 2019

Batting:

Most runs (400 runs and above):

Note 5 centuries by RG Sharma, while Shakib Al Hasan has 7 scores of 50+.

Only 1 run separates the leader RG Sharma (648) and runner up DA Warner (647).

Highest innings (95 and above):

Not as high-scoring as the 2015 WC, which had scores of 215 and 237.

Bowling:

Most wickets (12 and above):

Note that MA Starc has 4 hauls of 4wi and above, followed by M Shami with 3.

Best innings bowling (includes all cases of 4wi and better):

Fielding:

Most dismissals (8 and above):

JE Root has the most catches (13) by a non-keeper.

Most innings dismissals (4 and above):

CR Woakes and JM Bairstow have the most catches by non-keepers (4) which equals the existing World Cup record held by several others.

All-round performance:

Overall:

Shakib Al Hasan with 606 runs and 11 wickets is clearly leading here, followed by the less expected all-rounder JDS Neesham.

Match performances (30 runs and 3 wickets):

Only these two. Shakib and Yuvraj Singh (vs Ireland in 2011) are the only two with 50/5wi in a World Cup match.

Man of the Series:  KS Williamson, presumably for his captaincy as well as being the 4th top scorer with 578 runs.

 

India at the World Cup over the years-2

With India finishing its commitments at the 2019 World Cup, we look at individual performances in all the World Cups from 1975 to 2019.

Batting:

Most runs (500+):

While Kohli is second, he still has less than half the runs scored by Tendulkar. RG Sharma and Dhoni are next among current players.

Tendulkar and RG Sharma each have 6 centuries. Tendulkar also has the most 50+ scores (21), followed by Sharma with 9. Note Sharma’s conversion rate; he scored a century on 6 of the 9 occasions when he crossed 50. And Dhawan did the same on 3 of the 4 occasions!

Highest innings (95+):

This lists all the centuries and near-centuries. No one had scored an ODI century for India until Kapil did so in 1983. Note Gambhir’s 97 in the 2011 final. No one from either India or WI crossed 40 in the 1983 final.

Batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, all instances):

Some like RG Sharma, Gavaskar and Dhawan miss out as they did not play enough WC matches. Dhoni is in the middle of this table.

Strike rates (Minimum 500 balls faced, all instances):

The names at the top are predictable. And that Dhoni and Kohli (?) are in the middle, with Gavaskar and M Amarnath bringing up the rear.

Bowling:

Most wickets (10+):

The top position of 44 wickets is shared by Zaheer Khan and Srinath, with the former bowling significantly less overs. M Shami has the highest among current players.

No one has more than one fiver. M Shami is the only one with 4 four-fors, followed by Srinath and UT Yadav with 2 each.

Best innings bowling (including all instances of 4+ wickets):

The best figures here are by A Nehra (the only 6-for). The highest among current players is 4-16 by M Shami. His 4-40 including a hat-trick is further down.

Bowling averages (Minimum 1000 balls bowled, all instances):

Zaheer Khan has the best average and best strike-rate, while Kapil Dev has the best economy rate. None of the current bowlers have played enough.

Fielding:

Most dismissals (10+):

Dhoni has more than twice the dismissals of the next man Dravid, while regular keeper KS More has the same number of dismissals.

Dhoni has the most dismissals (42), stumpings (8), and catches by a keeper (34). Kohli and Kumble have the most catches by non-keepers (14).

Most dismissals in an innings (3+):

The most dismissals are by Kirmani and Mongia (5 apiece). M Kaif has the most (4) by a non-keeper. He held this World Cup record from 2003 to 2015, when others also took 4 catches in an innings.

Best dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, all instances):

Dhoni is the highest, followed by Dravid who kept in most of his WC matches. Kohli and Sehwag have the most among non-keepers.

All-round performance:

Overall (see criteria in table):

Kapil is the only one from India to reach this standard. Imran and Kallis also reached this, although Botham and Hadlee did not.

Match performance (30 runs and 3 wickets):

Yuvraj is here in his purple patch leading to the Man of the Series award in 2011. He and Shakib are the only ones with 50/5 in the World Cup. Next best is Kapil’s in 1983, although it ended in a defeat.

 

 

 

India at the World Cup over the years-1

1975: Group stage.

1979: Group stage (no wins).

1983: Won, vs WI in finals.

1987: Lost in SF to Eng.

1992: Group stage.

1996: Lost in SF to SL.

1999: Super Six.

2003: Lost in final to Aus. Tendulkar is Man of the Series.

2007: Group stage.

2011: Won, vs SL in finals. Yuvraj is Man of the Series.

2015: Lost in SF to Aus.

2019: Lost in SF to NZ.

All-round match performances in the World Cup

Here is a list of all instances of 40+ runs and 4+ wickets in World Cup matches from 1975 up to June 24, 2019:

While some of these figures seem impressive, most of them have come against weak teams (if not minnows, teams which did not go beyond the first round). The exceptions are Flintoff (E v Ire), and Russell (WI v E). We already know that Afg will not be in the second round in 2019.

The only instances of 50/5wi are by Yuvraj Singh (I v Ire, 2011) and Shakib Al Hasan (BD v Afg, 2019).

Both of them have had impressive all-round performances throughout the tournament. Yuvraj was Man of the Series in 2011, when India won. Yuvraj had 362 runs and 15 wickets in 2011. Shakib has (at the time of writing on June 24) 471 runs and 10 wickets. He and David Warner (447 runs) seem to be main contenders for Man of the Series now.

In 1999, L Klusener had 281 runs and 17 wickets which earned him the Man of the Series award. His team lost narrowly in the semi-final.

 

Review of India – Aus T20Is-2019

A total of 20 T20Is have been played between India and Australia. Here is the summary of all results:

And the summary of the matches in India:

Considering bilateral matches in a series of at least 2 matches, we see that the 2017 series was drawn 1-1 and this series was won 2-0 by Australia.

Coming to individual performances:

Batting:

100 or more runs:

Kohli is far ahead of the others. Watson and Maxwell are the only ones to score centuries. The most 50+ scores are by Kohli (6 with no centuries) and 3 each by RG Sharma, Watson and Yuvraj.

Highest individual scores (50 and above):

Maxwell’s 113* was the highest for Australia in India, surpassing AJ Finch’s 89 in 2013.

Bowling:

Most wickets (5 and above):

Bumrah has moved into the lead.

Best innings bowling (includes all 3wi and above):

Bumrah’s 3-16 is the best for India at home, surpassing the earlier 3-26 by Vinay Kumar in 2013. The overall best performance was by Ashwin in the 2014 World Championship.

Fielding:

Most dismissals (4 or more dismissals):

Dhoni has the most stumpings and catches by a keeper. Kohli has the most catches by a non-keeper.

Best innings dismissals (2 and above):

All-round performance:

100 runs and 5 wickets:

Clearly they are the best all-rounders in these teams.

Match performance (20 runs and 2 wickets):

Watson’s effort is the best here.

The same teams continue with a 5-match ODI series.

Yuvraj Singh’s ups and downs

Most sportsmen see ups and downs in quick succession. Yuvraj Singh is no exception. In this case the low was quickly followed by a high, and the low was quickly forgotten. We take up the story in 2007, meeting his adversaries along the way.

We begin on September 5, 2007 when India faced England in the 6th of 7 ODIs (yawn!) Going into this match, England led 3-2 with 2 to go.

England batted steadily and reached 286/6 at the end of 49 overs. For some reason captain Dravid chose to have Yuvraj bowl the last over. He had taken 0-29 off 4 overs prior to this. The 48th over had been bowled by Tendulkar for 12 runs.

Dimitri Mascarenhas, whose name is largely forgotten now, faced the first ball. He had one of the weirdest-sounding life histories of any international cricketer. He was born in England to Sri Lankan parents, spent most of his life in Australia but did end up playing for England in ODIs and T20Is and was usually regarded as an useful bits-and-pieces player. Then he had a Russian-sounding first name (don’t ask why) and a Portuguese-sounding surname (though in Sri Lanka and India, a Portuguese-sounding surname does not necessarily mean European ancestry). Finally, he was born in the same obscure suburb of London as this writer, though a generation later.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/engvind/content/player/16932.html

Commentary for the 50th over:

The final scorecard : http://www.espncricinfo.com/engvind/engine/match/258476.html

And the current list of most expensive ODI overs:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/278847.html

As you can see, the Sachin and Saurav show got going, Yuvraj scored 18 and was one of Dimitri’s two wickets, and India finally won to tie the series 3-3. Ultimately they lost 4-3.

Later that month, India was in South Africa playing the first World Championship. Nothing much was expected from this team as they were the least experienced, having played precisely one T20I till them.They had won that match against SA less than a year earlier. And the IPL was not even a gleam in somebody’s eye.

Along the way, they ran into England again at Durban on September 19, exactly 2 weeks after the match mentioned earlier. This was a second stage match, with England already eliminated and India still in the running but without great expectations. Both Yuvraj and Dimitri were playing. The latter bowled one over for 15 runs. We now take up the start of Yuvraj’s innings:

Now for the 19th over by Stuart Broad which passed into history:

And the wrap-up:

As usually happens with some of the Cricinfo commentators, once they hit on an idea for PJs, they keep exploiting it throughout the match. This match’s emphasis on pirates and seafarers may have been inspired by Dimitri’s appearance!

T20I debutant Rohit Sharma did not get to bat, while Joginder Sharma (who remembers him now?) also debuted.

The final scorecard:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/twenty20wc/engine/match/287873.html

India won by 18 runs, so we can see how critical Yuvraj’s innings was. Dimitri was there at the close, but only faced one ball.

Also see the records: Most runs off an over, where Yuvraj’s record still stands:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/284226.html

He also still holds the record for the fastest T20I fifty:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/284094.html

The rest is history, where Misbah, Joginder and Sreesanth were there at the climax.

Many things were still in store for Yuvraj: man of the tournament in WC 2011, cancer and prolonged treatment and a brave but not too successful comeback. But September 2007 had more than enough ups and downs for him.

Meanwhile, Dimitri faded away after 2009 and Broad continues to open the bowling for England.

An afterthought: You would have heard of Malcolm Nash who conceded six sixes in an over in a FC match with Gary Sobers batting against him. Some years later he scored a century in another FC match. An Indian newspaper had this small headline on the sports page: “A bowler, once humiliated, shows how to bat”.

 

 

 

KL Rahul’s feat in perspective

Here is a list of all those who have scored 75 or more on their ODI debut:

It can be seen that Rahul is 11th on this list, and the only one to have scored a neat 100. Just below him is SP Patil of the UAE with 99 not out. While there have been  three 99s on Test debut, none of them were unbeaten. In fact there are no unbeaten 90s on Test debut.

SP Fleming was out in the 90s both on Test and ODI debut. Andy Flower, Desmond Haynes and Praveen Amre are among others who made a fifty-plus on both Test and ODI debut.

Note the big gap between the highest score here (148) and the next (124).

There is at least one case (Shahid Afridi, 102 in 1996) who scored a century in his first ODI innings (in the then record of 37 balls), not having batted in the first. Similarly Yuvraj Singh scored 80 in his first innings in his second ODI in 2000.

Here we see the list of  all Indian players with 40 or more on debut, which was headed by Uthappa and now by Rahul:

Patel and Wadekar scored their fifties in India’s first-ever ODI, while Ashok Mankad followed in the very next match. Sidhu is the only one here to do this in a World Cup match (1987), while PK Amre is the only one to score fifty-plus on Test as well as ODI debut. Both of them came against South Africa soon after its comeback, in an ODI in 1991-92 and a Test in 1992-93.