UK (Commonwealth) _ England was reckoning the cost of their poorest World Cup campaign after falling to hosts India for the fifth time in six games.
Despite a shaky track record in one-day cricket, the reigning champions of 2019 have reached new lows in the previous four weeks, suffering their most losses in a single tournament and an unprecedented four-in-a-row.
A 100-run thumping in Lucknow, when they were skittled for a mere 129, left them stranded to the foot of the table in 10th place and on set to painfully miss out on the 2025 Champions trophy.
It has been revealed that spots in that tournament, a’mini World Cup’ of sorts, will be handed to hosts Pakistan and the seven top finishers in the group stages of this event rather than being assigned based on ICC rankings. As things stand, just getting to eighth place will necessitate a massive change in fortunes over the next three games.
That would culminate a spectacular fall from grace for a team largely credited with revitalizing the 50-over format over the previous eight years.
Losing to the table-topping hosts in front of 50,000 raucous supporters at the Ekana Stadium was unsurprising – head Coach Matthew Mott even referred to the opponents as “raging favourites” – but it was a squandered chance. A much-improved bowling and fielding effort, their finest of the tournament, had limited India to 229 for nine, but a top-order collapse had put them in a hole they couldn’t climb out of.
England lost their top four for just nine runs between the final ball of the fifth over and the first ball of the ninth as Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami went wild. The seam pair were a cut above England, with combined figures of seven for 54. England began their chase with misguided confidence, knocking 30 off their mark in less than five overs before everything unraveled.
The mastermind behind their demise was Bumrah, who had already begun to get the ball talking before claiming two wickets in two balls. Dawid Malan was the first to strike, slicing at width that didn’t there and pulling his own stumps down to halt the gathering momentum. Bumrah’s next trick was removing the linchpin Root to reveal a golden duck.
He smacked the front pad as Root moved over, sizing up his target with a devastating throw that tailed in on a full length. It appeared to be plumb lbw, but Root requested DRS. The ball passed the inner edge of the UltraEdge, but TV umpire Ahsan Raza upheld the decision, leaving Root sharply swinging his bat towards the big screen replays.
England, who shockingly fielded the same XI that had been thrashed by Sri Lanka three days earlier, showed some fight in the first innings. They bowled with more control, created more opportunities, and were clearly better in the field. That might have been plenty if it hadn’t been for Rohit Sharma’s captaincy innings of 87.
But his steadying hand, along with a useful contribution of 49 from Suryakumar Yadav at the finish, gave India’s assault ample breathing room. David Willey stood out, taking three for 45 and dismissing Virat Kohli for a nine-ball duck. Willey bowled the master hitter with every ball, tying him up with a tormenting line and length until pulling a furious hack to mid-off.
With India losing four for 49 in the final ten overs, it was difficult to see what more England could have done to set up the chase, but a lackluster batting performance saw them bowled out for their lowest World Cup total since the tournament’s inception in 1975.
