Upsets and downfalls, what’s going on in the Cricket World Cup?

The Cricket World Cup is reaching its halfway point, with the race for the semi-finals heating up. In many ways, this tournament has been like a Bon Jovi song, “The more things change the more they stay the same”...

There are few certainties in cricket, but India winning in home conditions is about as close as it gets. With Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill getting the batting off to rapid starts and Virat Kohli in fine form, it will take a remarkable performance for this team to lose.

The Proteas have the most explosive batting lineup in the tournament, putting up huge scores batting first whenever they’ve had the opportunity. A loss against the Netherlands perhaps exposed a weakness when chasing that will come back to haunt them.

Somehow, the Blackcaps are always underrated going into World Cups, every single time. Yet again they are proving the cricketing world wrong, despite the limited participation of talismanic batter Kane Williamson. Rachin Ravindra looks a star in the making. A team that knows how to win in the big moments.

Australia started the tournament with two big losses to India and South Africa, since then, they have been their usual, dominant selves. David Warner, Mitch Marsh and Glenn Maxwell are all firing with the bat, the addition of the now-healthy Travis Head makes this one of the best teams on paper in the tournament. Never count the Aussies out.

Sri Lanka seem unable to play their best game week in and week out, losing games from winning positions at times and crushing the world champions at others. This team has so much talent, even without some key players. Making the semi-finals could already be out of reach, unfortunately.

After starting the tournament with two wins, Pakistan have lost three in a row, including their first-ever loss to neighbours, Afghanistan. The loss of Naseem Shah has made their new ball attack look toothless, while the batting has been found out without consistent runs from Babar Azam

The story of the World Cup, Afghanistan have beaten two of cricket’s establishment powers in England and Pakistan. A disappointing loss to Bangladesh is their only poor performance so far. We will take a look at their incredible feats later in this piece.

Bangladesh have been also-rans so far in India. A disappointing tournament for a side used to causing an upset or two at World Cups. Despite some improvement during the past decade, Bangladeshi cricket hasn’t really kicked on, a real shame given the quality available.

From 2016-2019 and perhaps beyond, England were the best white ball team in the world, revolutionising the game with their ultra-aggressive batting and willingness to chase any total. It has all fallen apart in India, losing four out of five, including losses to Afghanistan and a Sri Lanka side that England should be beating. More analysis to come.

It is perhaps patronising to call this Netherlands team “plucky” given they are the only side to beat South Africa so far. Outside of that, they haven’t been in many contests. Dutch cricket is going from strength to strength, but given how small the player base is, it’s tough to see how much more they can improve. Still, getting to a World Cup and winning a game is worth celebrating.

This Afghani side is packed with young, hungry players looking to showcase their talent on the world stage. Beating England and Pakistan was no fluke, they dominated those contests and won comfortably. But where does this team go next?

Following the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, cricket has been changed forever in the country. Women’s cricket has been outlawed, the men’s team has been forced to mostly relocate to the UAE and there is zero prospect of any team playing in the country any time soon. Given ICC rules around women’s participation, there are even calls to remove their full member status.

Finances remain an issue for the Afghanis, with sponsorships pulling out to avoid connections to the Taliban. There does seem to be some hope, with ICC funding helping to develop a high-performance centre in Kabul and their current crop of players including world stars like Rashid Khan. There is hope for this cricket-loving nation, but their path forward is a rocky one.

Following an awful performance at the 2015 World Cup, England set their entire focus on the 2019 edition of the tournament. With Eoin Morgan and Trevor Bayliss in charge, they changed the sport forever, regularly topping scores of 375 and showing a willingness to chase, a tactic previously discouraged. So what’s happened?

England’s success was built on explosive opening stands, new ball wickets, and wicket-taking bowling in the usually quiet “middle overs”. With Jason Roy jettisoned, England’s opening pair of Johnny Bairstow and Dawid Malan have failed to fire, putting pressure on a middle order struggling for form.

There are many excuses being made for England, a lack of 50-over cricket, an aging squad, etc etc. Ultimately this team has failed, and their performance against Sri Lanka stunk of a team just waiting for the plane ride home. This is the last major tournament for many in this squad, what an ignominious way to go.