What a competition it was!
The 2019 Cricket World Cup (CWC) was a display of perseverance, skill and strategy by the players who gave their heart and soul to take their teams into the final.
The competition comprising 10 teams, playing 48 matches over a period of 45 days, ended on Sunday, July 14, 2019, with England and New Zealand facing each other for the World Cup trophy. England won a nail-biting thriller on the last ball of the Super Over to win its first-ever Cricket World Cup title.
This article looks at the performances of the teams and some individuals, while shedding light on important occurrences of the tournament.
Pakistan’s exit
From the very first match of their campaign during the 2019 CWC, social media enthusiasts and aficionados of the cricket team were drawing parallels between our team’s performance in the World Cup tournaments of 1992 and 2019.
Interestingly, all the results of Pakistan’s matches during the group stage in both these competitions were the same.
The difference, as many opined, was in the spirit and dedication that seemed to be lacking. While Wahab Riaz, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Amir were impressive with the bat, the batsmen, especially the openers could not make an impact. Openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq, could only score 237 runs during their first-wicket partnership in eight matches, which is only twenty-nine runs per match on an average.
The batting line-up collapsed in most of the matches while the middle order was unable to add runs to the board.
Australia’s run
The Australian cricket team displayed a gutsy performance during their matches but did lose its matches against India and South Africa, which came as a shock. Australia’s David Warner ended by scoring 647 runs, the second-highest runs of the tournament.
India’s rise
Team India showed power in their performance. Opener Rohit Sharma was the highest scoring batsman with 648 runs, including three 100s and a 50 with an average of 81. The Indian cricket team displayed cohesiveness akin to that of Australia and England, and did make an impact with their on-field performance. However, they could not survive the semi-final against New Zealand.