He has captained in only four ODIs so far, and as an automatic pick, his inclusion might affect the balance of the bowling attack

Andrew McGlashan28-Sep-2023A few weeks ago, Pat Cummins was again asked to reflect on the Ashes series in England.”Batters dominated, higher strike rates, more white-ball problems you had to try and solve – felt more like a one-dayer than Test matches at different times,” he said. “Which was great. Really enjoyed it.”Experience in dealing with those “white-ball problems” as England’s Bazball batting line-up hurtled along at 4.74 per over might become relevant in the next month, although the field Cummins had for the first ball at Edgbaston, with three boundary fielders, won’t be allowed against India in Chennai on October 8.Related

• Maxwell a crucial piece to Australia's World Cup jigsaw puzzle

• Cummins targets comeback in India ODIs ahead of World Cup

• Cummins named Australia's ODI captain with a 'wider' leadership group underneath

Not since Kim Hughes captained Australia in the 1979 World Cup, having not led in ODIs before then, have Australia gone into the tournament with a captain as inexperienced in the format as Cummins. After leading in two of the three matches against India this month, he is on a grand total of four outings as ODI captain, alongside four Marsh Cup games for New South Wales in the 2020-21 season.Still, his appointment was not surprising, although it came at a curious juncture, five days before Australia started their defence of the T20 World Cup title last year. The selectors wanted to avoid talk about the role becoming a distraction in the wake of Aaron Finch’s retirement, at a time when David Warner’s leadership ban was also muddying the waters.”I think there has been a lot of speculation and conjecture around the position,” national selector George Bailey said at the time. “We are at the doorstep of a World Cup. I think it’s easier to just announce it and move on from that.”Cummins leads Australia out in his first 50-over match as captain, against England in Adelaide last year•Sarah Reed/Getty ImagesCummins’ first two games in charge came against England in a forgettable series immediately after the T20 World Cup. He sat out the middle contest, in Sydney, where Josh Hazlewood captained. Cummins then missed the series in India in late March due to the death of his mother, and he sat out the recent matches in South Africa with a wrist injury sustained in the Ashes.While some of his absences from the role would not have been planned, there was a certain broad acceptance when he was named captain that he wouldn’t always be there – to the point where the significance of him leading much before the World Cup was downplayed.
“In our one-day team, we do feel like we’ve got some strong leaders, some really experienced members of the team, and some developing leaders,” Bailey said. “So regardless of Pat being there, I think we are moving away from this concept of a captain taking over and their leadership being all-encompassing.”But while not a shock, when Cummins was appointed captain of the ODI side, it was arguably a less natural fit than his Test role.On the one hand there are the usual questions about how well a fast bowler can perform in the leadership role in a format that, if not quite as intricate as T20 or as time-consuming as Tests, involves plenty of moving parts. As in other formats, it’s rare to find a frontline bowler doing the job. Among the few recent examples at the top level are Mashrafe Mortaza, who led Bangladesh in 2019, and Jason Holder, who did so for West Indies in 2015 and 2019.Cummins has managed impressively in the Test role since he took it on ahead of the 2021-22 Ashes, leading Australia to the World Test Championship title, and has yet to lose a match at home. But there were a few cracks appearing by the end of the intense and draining Ashes, particularly when England were rattling along at ODI tempo at Old Trafford.Who sits out? Australia will not find it easy to pick their best fast-bowling attack on the spin-friendly pitches at the World Cup, given there can’t be any debate about Cummins’ place in the side•Paul Kane/Getty ImagesHowever, the way he coped with the hasty promotion to the Test role bodes well, because he had very little captaincy experience at all when that job came. In fact, he had been handed the New South Wales one-day job largely to ensure he had a bit of captaincy under his belt.In this World Cup he will be well supported by senior players in the squad, not least Steven Smith and his stand-in, Mitchell Marsh. “I think that’s one of Pat’s strengths – he leans on other people in the squad and other leaders in our team. He does an incredible job,” Marsh said before heading to South Africa.”There’s no doubt with his role as a bowler, playing every game in every format is near-on impossible, so for him to have guys that he trusts, he leans on… we’ve got a great friendship first and foremost, and a great relationship professionally, so I always know I can lean on him, and vice-versa.”However, there is a balance to strike. Too many voices could well do more harm than good. A few times during the Ashes, the question was asked – admittedly more often from the English side of the fence – about who was really captaining Australia in the field.Team selection is an aspect that is potentially affected by Cummins being captain. There will be times during the World Cup when Australia are likely to field just two frontline quicks – a lot of the pre-tournament planning and tactics have been based on an allrounder-heavy model – while some venues are likely to call for two frontline spinners.It’s hard to see Mitchell Starc being left out of the side if he is fit, and as captain, Cummins needs to be in. But if you had to pick just two white-ball quicks, would one of them be Cummins? While his numbers are very good in ODIs, they don’t leap off the page like his Test returns do. Meanwhile, Hazlewood is currently the No. 1-ranked one-day bowler in the world, but he could become the fall guy.Fill-in guy: there are indications the head of selectors, George Bailey, and the rest of Australia’s think tank are looking at Cummins as a stop-gap ODI captain for the World Cup•Steve Bell/AFP/Getty ImagesThrough the impact of missing tours during Covid, and more recently rotation with a focus on Test cricket, the three had not actually played an ODI together since 2020 until the final match against India in Rajkot.Hazlewood, who missed the 2019 World Cup injured, may have been a touch optimistic when he recently said that he thought Australia would return to the big three quicks in India, although the problems that emerged for Australia in the latter part of the South Africa tour and in India may change things. Also, if Glenn Maxwell is fit and able to take the load of second spinner alongside Adam Zampa, it could boost the prospect of Hazlewood, Cummins and Starc playing together more often. Either way, it’s unusual for a captain to even be in the mix when such team-balance issues are discussed.But regardless of how it plays out over the next few weeks, there is a strong chance this World Cup will mark the end of Cummins’ ODI captaincy. His appointment was made with only this tournament in mind and the signs are the white-ball teams will be put under one captain, most likely Marsh, after this event.However, having held aloft the World Test Championship and retained (if not won) the Ashes, should Cummins be lifting the ODI World Cup trophy in Ahmedabad on November 19, it would make for one of the more successful years by an Australian captain.

Fast bowler proud to seal Headingley Test in partnership with travel buddy Chris Woakes

Vithushan Ehantharajah10-Jul-20231:53

Ehantharajah: Wood was close to perfect in Leeds

When England travel overseas, their seating plans are done in alphabetical order. As such, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood end up sitting next to each other.Wood is an incredibly nervous flyer. So much so that, on internal flights on smaller planes, Woakes has often held his hand during take-offs and landings to keep his mate at ease.They also bring treats for each other on tour. Wood makes sure to pack Woakes’ favourite chocolate digestives, and Woakes returns the favour with Ferrero Rochers. It’s worth pointing out that the exchange of treats does not happen immediately, only when one senses the other needs some home comforts.During the Headingley Test – each man’s first appearance of this Ashes series – they drove into the ground together all week. And on Sunday, these two best of friends reinforced their bond with a stand of 24 from 14 balls in the contest’s fraught closing moments. Together they hauled England over the line by three wickets to leave the scoreline 2-1 in Australia’s favour with two Tests to play.Both have their own individual joys to take from a gripping third Test. Woakes’ 32 not out in the chase after taking six for 141 across the two innings marked a stellar comeback, having played what he feared might have been his last Test on the tour of the Caribbean in March 2022.For Wood, it was as close as he has come in 28 caps to the perfect performance. A sentiment made official when he was given the player-of-the-match award for the first time in a home Test.The Durham quick took five for 34 on day one, including a blistering four-over spell in which he did not drop under 91mph, the fastest delivery registering at 96.5mph and Usman Khawaja’s leg stump taken out with one at 95mph. An eight-ball cameo for 24 after lunch on day two reignited England’s first innings – and got Ben Stokes’ juices pumping in the process – to ensure Australia only led by 26 going into their second innings, having at one stage looked good for a 100-plus advantage.In the end, that lead was only extended to 250 partly due to Wood’s second-innings two for 66. He capped it all off with a similarly thrilling 16 off eight deliveries, including a momentum-shifting six off Pat Cummins – his fourth of the game – to help England home.Even with all that to himself, the Durham quick (or should that be allrounder?) could not help bring Woakes into the frame when discussing his emotions.”One of the best feelings I’ve had,” Wood said of being out there at the end for victory. “I’ve been in that position a lot where I’ve lost the game, that’s the first time I’ve been able to bat to win the game.”Especially being there with Woakesy. We’ve car-shared all week, we’ve got a lucky car [parking] space, we’ve promised that we’d get runs and wickets. I think we will park in the same place every time we turn up here.”Wood’s thunderbolts with the ball exceeded expectations, particularly given he missed Lord’s because of an issue with a right elbow that was operated on twice last summer. But it was the batting that stole the show. His 40 runs across the match came at a strike-rate of 250. The first of the 16 balls he faced, at the start of the second session on day two, was a bouncer from Mitchell Starc. He hooked it into the stands at midwicket.Wood’s express pace will be a key weapon going into the series climax•Getty ImagesEagled-eyed viewers will have spotted Wood using a new set of bats this summer, having swapped brands from New Balance to SG. Though he was happy with the initial batch delivered to him, he found them slightly too heavy. When the replacements arrived he thought they were too light. It turns out they were just right.It’s worth noting, Wood’s six boundaries were not fortuitous swings of a wispier blade. Prior to that first ball from Starc, he had spent the lunch interval in the indoor nets with Paul Collingwood, bracing himself for a short-pitch assault. It has been a common tactic this series and Wood himself had indulged it to nab a fourth-career five-for the day before. He rightly figured Australia’s quicks would be eager to take their revenge. The preparation, both during and in the lead-up to this match, has paid off handsomely.”All I’ve done is practise bouncers for two weeks,” he revealed. “I haven’t practised anything pitched up – that’s genuine. Colly has been slinging those yellow balls. They sting but don’t hurt. You get used to playing the shot, getting in strong positions, and waiting as much as I can to do well.”It fills me with great pride to say I can do well against Australia. Look at facing Cummins and Starc. One, it’s not easy. Two, it’s really intimidating. They’re bowling fast, they get good bounce. More often than not they come out on top. Luckily this time, it’s the one out of 100 I’ve managed to get through.”Related

Ben Stokes: Headingley win is 'just the start' for England

Woakes' guile and guts ignite England to seize their moment

Brook cherishes winning feeling after home-ground heroics

Stats – Brook's 1K speedrun and Bazball's chase mastery

Woakes, Wood and Brook keep England's Ashes hopes alive

Whether Wood will be able to go again for the fourth Test at Emirates Old Trafford remains to be seen. Though he has stitched consecutive matches together recently, with two back-to-back in Pakistan last winter and three on the bounce at the end of the 2021-22 Ashes, England will be understandably cautious, even though a nine-day gap offers a grace period.Having sent down 28.4 overs after subsisting primarily on four-over bursts – his previous match before this one had been on April 15 for Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL – much will depend how Wood’s body, and especially the elbow, react. There are also wounds on his forearms from repeatedly falling over in his follow-through, but those are less of a concern.Ben Stokes will be desperate to utilise him for the two remaining matches given how instrumental his pace has been in keeping the Ashes alive. The man himself is unsure.”I will speak to the physio, but I imagine I will bowl once or twice, a couple of gym sessions, maybe some running, but it won’t be too drastic. I have to let the body recover. It’s my first game in a very, very long time, especially in Test cricket. Off the back of bowling four overs, and I didn’t do too much of that either. I will let the body recover, get myself in a good space, let the wounds recover, and get myself up for the next one. “As ever, there is willing. Asked if he could crank it up once more and test the limits of the speed gun, Woodanswered unequivocally.”Absolutely. Lightning strikes twice, eh?”

Sri Lanka need to work on their batting in the death overs while Netherlands could do with some fixtures in the subcontinent, and a sponsor or two won’t hurt

Firdose Moonda09-Jul-2023Harare Sports Club was half-full (or half-empty, if you are that way inclined) to bid the ODI World Cup qualifier and the World Cup’s last two participants goodbye. It was a typically clear and sunny Sunday afternoon, a slight chill in the breeze as a reminder that it’s still winter, the sounds of a papare band alternating with the Shona anthems from Castle Corner and a mix of braai smoke and underwhelm in the Harare air.Maybe it would always have ended like this: a match with no context, in a format that is increasingly running out of any, between teams that had already done what they came to do – qualify for the World Cup. At best, this match was an exhibition of the skills that got them there and a (very early) statement of what they will bring to the tournament proper, albeit in very different conditions. In Sri Lanka’s case, it was also an exercise in fulfilling the expectation they had coming into this event with, which West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe had left unchecked. “As a Full Member country, it’s very important to win this series,” Dasun Shanaka, Sri Lanka’s captain, had stressed before the final.Why? Because as much as Associates see the narrowing gap between themselves and Test-playing nations as a sign of progress, Full Members view that in the opposite way. Just look at West Indies. Twin defeats to Scotland have led to them being knocked out at last year’s T20 World Cup and this year’s World Cup qualifier and the questions that always burbled about their decline are now being bellowed. “WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE FORMER WORLD CHAMPIONS?” That’s not a headline Sri Lanka want to read.Related

• Sri Lanka in ODIs: aye to bowlers and opening batters, nay to everything else

• Theekshana attributes ODI success to variety in bowling

• Jubilant Netherlands secure ODI World Cup ticket

• Bas de Leede shoots his shot to ignite Netherlands party

• How a reenergised Dutch unit made it to the World Cup

“It’s been uncomfortable,” Chris Silverwood, Sri Lanka’s coach, said when asked how it landed at home that the team had not automatically qualified for the World Cup. “It was a responsibility that we took very heavily. We knew we had to come here and perform.”That showed. Sri Lanka dominated the group stage and the Super Six and booked their tickets to India as though they were doing it online, in just a few clicks. They had only two moments of real concern in this tournament: both against Netherlands.At 131 for 7 in the 33rd over in the Super Six game, Sri Lanka looked unlikely to get to 200 but eventually managed 213. And at 190 for 7 in the 39th over in this match, 230 seemed unlikely, but they got to 233.Those scenarios highlighted Sri Lanka’s most glaring weakness: a lack of firepower at the death. Between the 2019 ODI World Cup and the start of this qualifying event, Sri Lanka’s scoring rate in the last ten overs has been 7.38, which put them ninth out of the 12 Full Members, only above Ireland, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. In eight matches in Zimbabwe, that dipped to 6.99, only higher than Nepal’s. Going into the World Cup, where every other team has a power-hitter in the lower-middle order and totals just over 200 are unlikely to be enough, that is an area Sri Lanka will have to address, and they know it.
“We’ve managed to build good platforms to go on, and then not quite finished as strongly as we would have liked,” Silverwood said. “That’s an area to try and develop. We are a developing team and that is an area we are trying to improve on.”The real story of their success in Zimbabwe lay in their bowling. Sri Lanka are the only side to dismiss their opposition in every match they played and finished with the best economy rate of all their competitors – 4.74 – and the best average – 17.75. When Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe last week, to confirm their World Cup berth, Maheesh Theekshana credited the variety in their attack for their dominance and with Netherlands reduced to 41 for 5 in the first powerplay in the final, you could see why.

“This is a call-out to anyone who wants to play us. We’d love to have a fixture or two. Our guys have not been to the subcontinent many times before so it would be good to have some fixtures somewhere in the subcontinent as well”Ryan Cook, Netherlands coach

Sri Lanka made 233 look like 400 in the final when Dilshan Madushanka’s inswing almost accounted for Max O’Dowd twice in his first over and he got rid of Vikramjit Singh, Wesley Barresi and Noah Croes in his third, fourth and fifth overs. Wanindu Hasaranga took a wicket with his first ball, a googly, and asked questions with every other delivery he bowled. The pressure so suffocated the Dutch that at the end of ten overs, their best runner, Scott Edwards, was caught short of his ground. And they weren’t even the best performers of the match. That was Theekshana, whose 4 for 31 put him one behind Hasaranga in the tournament overall.For Netherlands, who have improved their game against spin but lost 12 wickets to the Sri Lankan spinners in two games at this event, that is the most urgent area of their game to work on ahead of a World Cup in the subcontinent. The problem? They have no fixtures scheduled for the next 90 days.”This is a call-out to anyone who wants to play us. We’d love to have a fixture or two,” Ryan Cook, their coach, said with a special request about who they would like to play. “Our guys have not been to the subcontinent many times before so it would be good to have some fixtures somewhere in the subcontinent as well.”And his campaigning didn’t stop there. Despite Sunday’s result, the afterglow of qualifying for the World Cup has not dimmed and he is hopeful it will start to catch fire at home.”Hopefully we will be able to pick up a sponsor or two, and bring a bit more revenue into the game,” he said. “The players get paid quite lowly in comparison to other countries so hopefully that will give us a bit more resources to be able to do that. At the moment, we only have a coaching staff with one member full time. It will take a bit of work from our end, and here’s a full invitation to any sponsors out there who feel like being on the front and the side of the shirt in the World Cup.”Netherlands are hopeful of scheduling some ODIs before the World Cup in India•ICC via Getty ImagesThe fixtures and fundraising aside, Cook will also have a selection conundrum on his hands. Netherlands were without seven frontline players at this competition due to other commitments and will have to find a balance between rewarding the players who got them to the World Cup and taking their strongest squad there.”They wanted to be here, and they love playing for the Dutch, and they are very committed but the guys who have done well here will also be expecting to go,” Cook said. “It will be challenging.”As will the hangover in Harare after three weeks of high-octane cricket. Just as the light started to fade, the sprinkler started up and the only evidence of all the action gone past was a gathering of groundstaff, who celebrated the work they have put in. It should not go unnoticed that they have prepared good pitches for ten matches played within 22 days of each other, which is no mean feat. And they don’t stop.The Zim Afro T10 is scheduled to start on July 20 and rumour has it that the floodlights, which were first supposed to go up in 2011, will finally be installed. Happily, they are not the same lights as the ones that have sat at customs for most of the last decade but upgraded versions. When they are finally put in place, it will mean cricket matches in the night for the first time in Zimbabwe. If the last three weeks have shown us anything, it’s that the appetite for the game is massive and the next step must be laser focus on its growth.Across the four venues that have hosted matches at this event, school kids have turned up in numbers and the Cricket4Good clinics have been oversubscribed. A country whose national football federation remains suspended has now embraced cricket as the people’s game. Zimbabwe will not have World Cup berths to show for what took place over the last three weeks, but they have something else which is special: a sport that has captured hearts, minds and imaginations. In years to come, the glass will overflow.

And he does that while doing the most unglamorous job in ODIs: bowling the middle overs

Danyal Rasool07-Sep-20232:11

Jaffer: Haris’ lengths and variety of bankable deliveries make him hard to play

Like the eldest son with precocious younger siblings is doomed to only have to talk about them, Haris Rauf spends a lot of time fielding questions about Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. Fresh from collecting his Player-of-the-Match trophy at the presentations, he walks into the press conference room.What do you think about your chemistry with Afridi and Naseem? Rauf begins enthusiastically, speaking of giving each other confidence, about the bond they share, and how teams need this sort of relationship to gel.The follow-up is primed. You rely on raw pace while Afridi and Naseem use seam and swing. Does that make you condition-proof? It does not, he assures everyone, before falling back on pointing out how well Afridi and Naseem are doing, and how extra pace can prove more expensive.Related

Babar 'proud' of his fast bowlers who help Pakistan 'dominate'

Shakib rues Bangladesh's 'very poor batting display'

Gill and Afridi among big gainers in ICC ODI rankings

Rauf four-for, Imam 78 make short work of Bangladesh

But oh, there’s more. When they take wickets, how do you feel? Under pressure or confident? It’s a devilish little question, forcing Rauf to choose between admitting even his wickets are partly down to Afridi and Naseem’s brilliance, or saying their explosive early starts actually work against him. He has the grace to laugh, and gushes about how much joy their qualities personally bring to him.We are down to the last two questions, we’re told. There is one about the weather, and another about facing India again this weekend. The four wickets he took – as many as Afridi and Naseem combined in this match – do not get a single mention. He thanks everyone before he gets up, greets some old acquaintances and leaves.Rauf is a ‘Pindi boy through and through, and has never pretended otherwise. When he emerged on the T20 scene through Lahore Qalandars’s player development programme, the edges were still excitingly rough. He never wanted the sort of aggression Shoaib Akhtar has made a second career venerating on TV, his send-offs as in-your-face as they were unorthodox. In PSL 2019, he bizarrely serenaded Dan Christian off the pitch after he was run-out. In 2020, defending six off the final ball against England in a T20I, he angrily waved captain Babar Azam away when he came over once too often buzzing in his ear about strategy. During a PSL game in 2022, he playfully slapped Kamran Ghulam for a dropped catch off his bowling. And while some of those edges have invariably been manicured, flickers can still be seen, as his spicy send-off to Ishan Kishan in this Asia Cup reminded everyone.Haris Rauf made a mess of Towhid Hridoy’s stumps•AFP/Getty ImagesBut many fast bowlers cannot switch that mode off when they go off the field, which is where such behaviour becomes rather more unpleasant. In Pakistan, that sort of toxicity is often seen in men who find themselves in Rauf’s situation, whose envy exceeds their security when people younger than them garner more praise and achieve greater things. Just about all Pakistanis in every field recognise this kind of situation, especially in work environments.Sport is no exception, but Rauf is. Afridi, Naseem and Rauf – and this is invariably the order in which they are named – are spoken of as a youthful tearaway trio, but while Afridi is 23 and Naseem has only just begun taking baby steps into his third decade, Rauf is two months away from his 30th birthday. He may be the fastest of the three, but there’s also little doubt he is now into his prime, whereas the other two almost certainly have their best years ahead of them. That realisation may bring out the worst in smaller men, but Rauf has none of the resentment that so often frays such competitive relationships.After all, this is the man his captain turns to for one of the most unglamorous jobs in all of cricket: finding a way to make something happen during the middle overs of an ODI innings. Afridi and Naseem had waltzed in against India, taking their pick of end and conditions, and guaranteed they would be the story no matter what happened after the first hour. Rauf came in straight after the rain break and promptly went for 12 in the first. But with Afridi and Naseem’s workload being rationed, he was the one who took the next two wickets, and the one that broke the fifth-wicket partnership in the middle overs and triggered a mini-collapse.He had two wickets in his first seven balls against Bangladesh on Wednesday, but again, the attention was locked on one of the others. Naseem had put in a dive off Afridi’s bowling, and gone off grimacing and clutching his arm. While his possible injury had Pakistan sweating about their near future, Rauf was busy taking care of the present. Moments before his second wicket, a 145kph delivery that crashed into Towhid Hridoy’s stumps, ESPNcricinfo’s own ball-by-ball commentary was talking about how Naseem just had his shoulder taped and was moving around.Earlier in the tournament, Haris Rauf gave a spicy send-off to Ishan Kishan•Associated PressRauf, meanwhile, had just taken his 50th and 51st ODI wickets for Pakistan, the third-quickest Pakistani to that mark. Since he made his ODI debut in October 2020, these three fast bowlers inevitably make up the top three wicket-takers for Pakistan in the format. But Rauf sits atop that list, boasting 53 wickets to their 43 and 32, respectively, at a superior average and strike rate than Afridi’s. Those included two at the backend of the Bangladesh innings, removing Mushfiqur Rahim, another set batter, before dispatching Taskin Ahmed next ball.And in that over lay another barely noticed act of mateship. Naseem hadn’t yet taken a wicket since that injury scare, but the tail was set up on a platter by Rauf for him to help himself to the shot in the arm he needed. Babar brought him into the attack and four balls later, Naseem had picked up a couple more, depriving Rauf of a five-wicket haul he unlikely cared about.A couple of weeks ago, the PCB got the pace triumvirate together for an in-house video interview after Pakistan had shot Afghanistan out for 59. On that day, he actually had managed five wickets, his only ODI five-for to date. The mood was light-hearted and playful when Rauf was asked about his performance, which had won him Player of the Match that day, too.Afridi and Naseem barely heard what he was saying. There was an adolescent glint in their eye as they shared an inside joke – perhaps one Rauf was too old to understand – clasping hands and giving each other a side hug with huge grins on their faces. Rauf, meanwhile, was pointing towards them, talking about how he had learned what length to bowl by looking at what they were doing.They’re still laughing as he puts an arm around both. He could talk about these younger kids all day long. “This,” as Rauf said at the post-Bangladesh presser, “is how teams are made and how teams gel.”

Dharamsala nearly witnessed a repeat of the finish in Pune only for Kohli to fall short of his hundred with victory assured

Shashank Kishore22-Oct-20231:48

Bond: New Zealand gave up on getting Kohli out

The packed 25,000 crowd at the HPCA Stadium rose to their feet. Chanting his name with the same fervor as all of India did when they used to go “Saaachin! Saachin!” Virat Kohli was one hit away from equalling the record of his idol for most ODI hundreds.Like it was with his 48th hundred in Pune late last week against Bangladesh, the race towards Kohli’s century on Sunday injected excitement to the final stretch of India’s chase. With four overs left, Kohli needed to score 18 out of the 19 remaining runs for victory against New Zealand.It was around this point that he made a real dash, swatting Trent Boult in front of square for six and backing it up with a bullet drive down the ground for four. When Ravindra Jadeja offered a copybook forward defence off the last ball to keep Kohli on strike for the next over, there was wild cheer from a capacity crowd as well as a few chuckles in the team dug out.Related

• Shami shreds safety-first script to present India with another way

• Rohit credits bowlers for fightback against New Zealand

• Live Report – India vs New Zealand

• Shami and Kohli put unbeaten India top of the table

Three nights previously, he walloped a six off Nasum Ahmed to not just get to his hundred but also seal victory over Bangladesh. It seemed as if he was set to do it again but, on 95, with just five needed to cross the target of 274, Kohli dragged a Matt Henry slower ball to Glenn Phillips at deep midwicket.Kohli threw himself back in disbelief at first, before walking off to a rousing reception. No. 49 may have to wait, but it seems inevitable given his recent form. It was an innings that was even more important to the team’s cause given India were thin on batting after No. 7. And when Suryakumar Yadav was run out, a dismissal Kohli appeared to have had a hand in, India still needed 83 off 87 with five wickets remaining.Kohli put together 78 with Ravindra Jadeja to take India to the doorstep of their fifth win, which was sealed with 14 balls to spare. It meant India are the only unbeaten team in the competition as the halfway mark nears.India captain Rohit Sharma was lost for words when asked about Kohli’s imperious run of form. His World Cup tally so far stands at 354 in five innings, with three half-centuries and a hundred.”There’s nothing much to say, honestly. We’ve seen him do this for so many years,” Rohit said. “Such a calm head. He’ll back himself to do the job. Towards the end there was a bit of pressure, we lost a couple of wickets there, but Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja pulled us back.Virat Kohli fell five short of his century and India’s win when he got out•ICC/Getty ImagesRohit’s opposite number, Tom Latham, was equally effusive in his praise “As a captain, you have to be proactive but also work to your plans,” he said at the presentation. “Think about match-ups. Virat has a response to most plans.”Kohli has been in a rich vein of form all tournament. It began with a rearguard along with KL Rahul after India were reduced to 2 for 3 chasing 200 against Australia in their opener. Kohli helped add 164 for the fourth wicket to steady the innings before India sealed a six-wicket win in Chennai.In Delhi against Afghanistan, Kohli batted like he was on a joyride, cashing in on a pulsating 156-run stand between Rohit and Ishan Kishan in their chase of 273. Kohli finished 55 not out to see India home in a pressure-free chase they sealed in 35 overs.In Pune late last week, Kohli touched upon the desperation to do well after raising his hundred with a six to seal victory over Bangladesh. That landmark had elicited some chatter on Kohli and India possibly sacrificing a few decimal points of their net run rate to allow Kohli to get to his landmark.”I wanted to make a big contribution,” Kohli had said after the game. “I have had a few fifties in World Cups, and I have never really converted them, so I just wanted to finish the game off this time around. Yeah, hang on till the end which is what I have done over the years for the team.”On Sunday, he nearly stayed on the course till the end once again. It set the team up for their fifth win, with a semi-final berth slowly creeping up over the horizon.