Unbeaten India Look Impregnable At Cricket World Cup

You knew by the stunned silence that the rowdy partisan fans in Lucknow could not believe their rotten luck. India talisman Virat Kohli, arguably the best ever ODI player who had been in top form at the World Cup, fell for a duck having faced nine painstaking deliveries.

It got worse for those in the terraces when Shreyas Iyer was dismissed shortly after as unbeaten India slumped to 40 for 3 against a previously morbid England, who had suddenly woken out of their slumber on the brink of elimination.

This was not going to script with host India expected to wipe aside an England team knowing their title defense was over. They seemingly had little to play for although a little known rule emerged that the 2025 Champions Trophy will be contested by the top seven teams at the World Cup plus host Pakistan.

With that at stake – and perhaps deciding to play with abandon after being entirely written off – England were bringing their wheezing campaign back to life. India were in a contest and seemed headed for a banana peel although their spot in the semis was basically assured.

Captain Rohit Sharma, who has been in rousing form, triggered a fightback before the audacious Suryakumar Yadav unleashed several trademark mind-bending strokes to lift India to a competitive total of 229 on a tricky surface.

England were still favored, but their once powerful batters are merely a shadow. After an attractive start from Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow, England disintegrated against beguiling seam bowling from Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami who extracted menacing movement from the pitch and exposed the fragilities of the batters.

Through a devastating burst, India’s brilliant quicks tore into the top-order as England’s wretched campaign returned after brief respite in the field. It was a reminder of India’s pace potency, while left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav clean bowled glum England captain Jos Buttler with a sharp-turning delivery that was a resounding exclamation point on the contrasting fortunes of both power teams.

Yadav and veteran left-armer Ravindra Jadeja were just too good for England’s lower-order on a surface with bite. Having struggled so badly earlier in the match, India still won by a whopping 100 runs.

It’s easy to be seduced by other contending teams in this tournament. South Africa, the team with such a macabre World Cup history, have played arguably the most attractively so far. You would be pretty heartless to want their curse to continue.

Underdog New Zealand have again defied the odds and came close to pulling off the biggest chase in history against Australia to underline their knack of punching above their weight in World Cups.

Australia, meanwhile, are building steam as they have a habit of doing at major tournaments. Even though they’ve been the undisputed force in this tournament over the years, Australia have not won a World Cup in either format in South Asia since 1987. Supporting Australia can sometimes feel like rooting for the Yankees or the Lakers, but conquering alien conditions would be a crowning achievement for this aging team.

Those are the semi-finalists and challengers to India’s quest for a first ICC trophy in a decade. Yet none of those teams look nearly as rounded or formidable as mighty India, who seemingly have all bases covered.

Pitches at this World Cup – testament to the diversity of such a sprawling country – have varied but it doesn’t really matter for India. If it’s flat then India’s batting can go toe-to-toe with anyone, while they have the versatility in their attack to be dangerous in pace or spin friendly conditions.

With such rabid fans willing them on from the stands, India should inevitably cement their status as cricket’s undisputed power on and off the cricket field.

It’s never that easy, of course. The excruciatingly bloated group stage, which is now about to meander with the semi-finalists essentially confirmed, means the pressure has largely been off India, who were always going to cruise through.

When the knockout stage belatedly arrives, India will face the suffocating expectations that have so often tripped them over the last decade.

Given their imperious form so far in this tournament, where they haven’t been seriously threatened, it feels very much like only an implosion – much more severe than any of their infamous letdowns – can deny India an inevitable World Cup triumph.