With their loss while playing against New Zealand in the first semi-final on Wednesday, 10 July, in Manchester, curtains have been drawn for India at the ongoing World Cup in England and Wales.
India topped the league stage with seven wins from eight matches but the loss against New Zealand, India’s only second in the competition, was a game-changing one.
Depending heavily on their top-order, India could not recover against New Zealand after losing their top three batsmen for only five runs on the board. Before this, the Indian bowlers continued their good run in the tournament as they restricted the Kiwis for 239/8.
Throughout the tournament, it has been India’s top three who have shone with the bat while Bumrah has been India’s constant with the ball.
Here’s a look at how Indian cricketers fared at the 2019 edition of the World Cup:
Rohit Sharma (9/10)
The Indian opener had a near-perfect World Cup with a record-breaking five centuries in a single edition of the competition.
Rohit scored a mammoth 648 runs from 9 innings at an average of 81 but missed out on an opportunity to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of the highest runs in a single edition by 26 runs.
Out of his five centuries, Rohit scored three of them back-to-back against England, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Rohit looked solid at the top of the batting order and was responsible for India’s good start in the tournament.
Apart from faltering while playing against Afghanistan (1) and in the crucial semi-final against New Zealand (1), Rohit was mostly on target for India, leaving very little about which to complain.
KL Rahul (6/10)
Rahul was off to a good start with a century in one of the warm-up matches against Bangladesh, cementing his place at the number four spot in the side.
The first two matches in the World Cup saw him bat at number four without much success against South Africa and Australia.
But Dhawan’s injury meant that Rahul was back to his preferred spot of opening the innings with Rohit Sharma. Rahul did manage to score runs at the top, including a century, but he was far from convincing. His strike rate of 77.46 is a testimony of that.
Except while playing against Sri Lanka, Rahul never got going with the bat as he regularly failed to convert his forties and fifties into a hundred.
In the semi-final clash too, Rahul failed to step up after Rohit and Virat were dismissed. With 361 runs from 9 innings, more had been expected from Rahul.
Virat Kohli (7/10)
A mixed bag of a tournament for the skipper. Five fifties at a stretch but not a single century to his name, Virat surely failed to leave his mark during the tournament.
Guilty of giving away his wickets after doing all the hard-work, Virat’s conversion rate took a beating in the competition.
With scores of 82, 77, 67, 72, 66 – Virat was stuck in the vicious circle of seventies and eighties. The closest he came to a century was against Australia, where he scored an 82.
Virat’s failure to step up in yet another knock-out match for India concluded a not-so- great World Cup for the skipper.
Apart from this, Kohli – the captain, might also be pulled up for some strange tactics as far as the batting line-up is concerned, and the use of Mohammad Shami.
The only positive takeaway for Kohli in the competition would be his average which remained above 50 for most part of the tournament, and the rate at which he scored runs. He finished with 443 runs from 9 innings.
Rishabh Pant (5/10)
Drafted into the side to replace Shikhar Dhawan, young Pant was entrusted with the responsibility of holding the fort at the crucial number four position.
In the limited opportunity he got, Rishabh showed good sportsmanship with his 32 and 48 against West Indies and Bangladesh during the league stage.
But on Wednesday, the young batsman had the opportunity to showcase his talent at the world stage with India reeling at 5/3. Despite playing a patient knock off 32 off 64 balls, Pant gave his wicket away playing a rash shot off Santner.
India were still in danger and a little bit of maturity on Pant’s part could have saved the day for India. Nonetheless, Pant is still young and over time, we can expect more from him.
MS Dhoni (6/10)
In what was most probably his last World Cup, MS Dhoni grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Accused of showing no intent, Dhoni has been at the receiving end of fans’ ire for playing a high number of dot deliveries, once again.
Dhoni’s strike rate of 87.78 might not reflect his short comings but for more than one instance, Dhoni has been found guilty of playing the waiting game and shunning it too late into the competition. In fact, Dhoni consistently failed to rotate strikes in most matches.
For the past one year, it has been the same story for Dhoni as far as strike rate is concerned, and the World Cup saw no changes. Dhoni finished with 273 runs from 8 innings at an average of 45.50.
As far his keeping is concerned, fans will agree that the old Dhoni was missing behind the stump.
Hardik Pandya (6/10)
Expected to be the number one all-rounder in the World Cup, Hardik failed to shine.
His World Cup campaign has just been a collection of mediocre performances.
The all-rounder failed to live up to his hype as he managed only 10 wickets from 9 innings and was expensive at 5.65 runs per over.
Known for his big hitting, Pandya did get his way with the bat. He scored couple of quick forties and maintained a strike rate of 112.43 from 9 matches in the tournament, scoring 226 runs.
In the semi-final, he was expected to play a more responsible innings when he was sent to bat ahead of Dhoni but left us disappointed. After a hard fought 32, his patience gave away and he slogged hard to lose his wicket.
His most memorable moment in the tournament came against Pakistan, when he dismissed Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik of successive deliveries.
Jasprit Bumrah (10/10)
India’s Mr Perfect in the tournament – Jasprit Bumrah didn’t set a foot wrong in the World Cup, literally.
Coming into the tournament, Bumrah was designated as one of the best death bowlers and as the World Cup progressed, he didn’t disappoint.
With 18 wickets from 9 matches, some may complain about the lack of wickets, but we need to understand that such is the reputation of Bumrah that batsmen didn’t take any risks against him and thus, saved their wickets.
Bowling at the start and at the death, Bumrah was on target for India in every single match during the World Cup. In fact, in the match against England, all Indian bowlers except him were taken to the cleaners by the English opening pair of Bairstow and Jason Roy.
Bumrah has the best economy of 4.41 in the tournament among bowlers who have bowled a minimum of 50 overs.
Kuldeep Yadav (3/10)
After a disappointing IPL, it was same story for Kuldeep in the World Cup.
With only 6 wickets from 7 matches, Kuldeep didn’t even account for one wicket per match.
Coming into the World Cup, Kuldeep was Virat’s strike bowler, who used to give the side the important breakthroughs in the middle over.
But that wasn’t the case in the World Cup.
Not only did the wrist spinner fail to take wickets but he also went for plenty.
One of the reasons for this can be the fact that the mystery surrounding Kuldeep has been punctured as the opposition batsmen did their homework prior to the competition, as far as Kuldeep was concerned.
With the mystery no more, it was easy pickings against Kuldeep.
Yuzvendra Chahal (5/10)
The other half of India’s spin duo – Chahal fared slightly better than Kuldeep with 12 wickets from 8 outings.
But he too, wasn’t potent enough and was surely missing the sting.
Like Kuldeep, he was on the expensive side. In fact, he was India’s most expensive bowler in the tournament with an economy of 5.97.
But unlike Kuldeep, Chahal did have his moments during the World Cup. Chahal started the World Cup on a great note with a 4-wicket haul against South Africa.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (7/10)
Bhuvneshwar was the ideal bowler for India in the English conditions but sadly, that didn’t reflect on the field.
Nursing a hamstring problem midway into the tournament while playing against Pakistan, Bhuvneshwar didn’t play against Afghanistan and West Indies.
Before the injury, Bhuvi had three wickets from two games. But since his return, he may have accounted for five more wickets in three more games but has been expensive.
It wasn’t against Australia (3/50) and the semi-final against New Zealand (3/43) that saw the best of Bhuvi.
Rarely have we seen Bhuvi going for 5.20 runs per over in a tournament. In his case it has been his bowling at the death which has borne the maximum brunt.
Mohammad Shami (7/10)
In this World Cup, Mohammad Shami has been all about optimum utilisation of limited opportunity.
With the type of form Shami has been in in the last six to seven months prior to the World Cup, it was surprising that he was overlooked for India’s first four matches in the World Cup.
Only after Bhuvi’s injury did Shami make his way into the squad. In the four matches he played, he ended up being India’s second-highest wicket taker with 14 wickets.
In the four matches he played, he finished with figures of 4/40 against Afghanistan, 4/16 against West Indies, 5/69 against England and 1/68 against Bangladesh.
Against Afghanistan, Shami became the second Indian to take a hat-trick in the World Cup after Chetan Chauhan.
Shami’s knack of taking wickets both at the start and at the end was his forte but his tendency of being expensive didn’t work in his favour in the last two matches.
Ravindra Jadeja (9/10)
With 2 wickets, 2 catches, 1 run-out & a crucial 77 runs off 59 balls in the semi-final, Ravindra Jadeja was surely India’s most impactful player in the tournament, as he almost singlehandedly took India into the final of the World Cup.
While the Indian batsmen found it difficult to make their shots against the Kiwi bowlers, Jadeja was hitting at will as he smashed four huge sixes and four boundaries.
Jadeja, who has been involved in an off-the-field argument with Sanjay Manjrekar, proved in the semi-final why many were asking for his inclusion in the playing eleven and answered his critics in the best manner possible, i.e. on the field.
Kedar Jadhav (3/10)
With 80 runs from 5 matches, Kedar Jadhav failed to leave an impression in the World Cup. His only moment under the sun came against Afghanistan where he scored a 68-ball 52.
With the ball too, he hardly made any difference as Virat Kohli used him for only six overs in the entire tournament. Apart from going wicketless, he was a tad too expensive with an economy of 5.66.
Vijay Shankar (3/10)
The cricketer with a ‘three-dimensional approach’ managed only three wickets and 58 runs in the three matches he played in the competition.
Vijay Shankar, who was eventually ruled out with a toe injury, never looked confident enough while batting at number four. The best he could manage was 29 runs against Afghanistan.
His best moment in the competition came against Pakistan when he picked up the wicket of Imam Ul Haq with his first ball in a World Cup.
Dinesh Karthik (2/10)
Karthik also failed to put the limited opportunity to good use as he managed a mere 14 runs from two outings. In the semi-final, Karthik had the opportunity to shine, coming in at number five, but fell victim to a stunner of a catch by Jimmy Neesham.
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