India gets the nod, but Australia can never be ruled out
After a slow-moving group stage that started in May, the Cricket World Cup will end in a flash this week. Four top teams will clash in semifinal matches Tuesday and Thursday, and the final will be Sunday in London at Lord’s, the spiritual home of cricket.
The event is played in the 50-over cricket format, with matches that can stretch to eight hours. That format has been overshadowed in recent years by the fast-paced, TV-friendly Twenty20 cricket, where matches are typically resolved in less than three hours. But the World Cup gives the longer game a chance in the spotlight once every four years.
The final four
Australia has been the acknowledged master of the event, producing a seemingly endless supply of top players to win four of the last five World Cups.
The team relies particularly heavily on David Warner, the tournament’s second-leading scorer with 638 runs. He is one of the best batsmen in the game, but his feats are clouded by his participation in a ball-tampering scandal a year ago.
On the bowling side, Mitchell Starc, a fast-throwing lefty, has been the work horse, taking 26 wickets, six more than any other bowler in the Cup.
On Thursday, Australia will play England, which as the inventor of the game always has irrationally outsized expectations, compounded this year by being the tournament host. England never has won the World Cup and is appearing in its first semifinal since 1992.
Another disappointing Cup seemed in the offing when England lost games to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia, but wins over India and New Zealand saved its semifinal place. The big-hitting Eoin Morgan, an Irishman who plays for England, has a tournament-leading 22 sixes, the cricket equivalent of a home run.
When you consider India’s hundreds of millions of passionate fans and thriving Premier League, you might expect it to win nearly every match it plays. But its team has only two World Cup wins and one second place in the 11 events held so far. Many expect that shaky record to change this year. India’s superstar is the fiery Virat Kohli, but he has been outshone at this Cup by Rohit Sharma, who opens up the batting and often seems to put away the match before most of the rest of his team even bats. Sharma has a tournament-leading 647 runs and five centuries, scores of at least 100, two more than any other player.
Australia, England and India were penciled in for the semifinals by nearly everyone before the tournament. The fourth team turned out to be New Zealand, which beat the weaker teams, but lost to Australia and England in the group stage.
The busts
South Africa has earned a reputation as a poor World Cup performer; it has been playing in the event since 1992 but hasn’t made a final. The team was on the wrong side of this tournament’s biggest upset, losing to Bangladesh, and despite a late win over already-qualified Australia, it finished seventh.
Even worse was the West Indies, winnes of the first two World Cups in the 1970s, but without much to boast about since then. Expectations were low, but a ninth-place finish, better only than winless Afghanistan, did not even meet them.
Who will win?
England-Australia is the pick of the semis, with the two old rivals playing one of their most important games in years. England will hope home field can carry them, but Australia has looked the sharper team.
India won the group stage, has the batting muscle and is a deserved favorite to beat New Zealand and win the tournament in the final. But in the one-day format, when Bangladesh can beat South Africa and even Afghanistan can come close in a couple of games, no one is out.