In the first warm-up match against New Zealand, Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bowl first in the bowler-friendly conditions at Kennington oval London on Saturday. India's top batting order dramatically collapsed as Trent Boult removed the openers early. Virat Kohli and no. 4 KL Rahul departed in powerplay overs leaving the burden on the middle order.
The openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were sent back at just 2 runs each. Virat Kohli scored 18 runs while KL Rahul got 6 off 10 balls. Ravindra Jadeja was the highest individual scorer with 54 runs after Hardik Pandya's 30 runs.
MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya tried to rebuild the innings but could not stay on the crease for long.
The team could not manage to play 50 overs and got all out in 40th over of the match after putting up the total of 179 runs.
Trent Boult took 4 wickets as he took both the openers Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and 4th no. KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav. James Neesham was the other successful bowler from New Zealand who took 3 wickets at the economy of 4.33
While several say that batting first was the mistake after India fell at the lowest total in the first inning, former Indian cricketer Akash Chopra said, "Batting first wasn’t a mistake. It was indeed the right thing to do...if you don’t challenge yourself in warm-up games, when will you? And you could also lose the toss in these conditions.."
Batting first wasnt a mistake. It was indeed the right thing to do...if you dont challenge yourself in warm-up games, when will you? And you could also lose the toss in these conditions.... #INDvNZ #CWC19
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 25, 2019
A video of Khushdil's four sixes is going viral on social media.
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On the other hand, it was difficult for Ben's father Gerard Stokes who was watching the final back in New Zealand and cheering for blackcaps whether to celebrate his son's effort or to be sad for his country's loss.
In terms of form, Australia has been one of the top performers in the league stages, losing just two matches in nine games. They comfortably thumped England by 64 runs at Lord's during the league stage. Australia finished second in the table with 14 points in nine matches.
Both the teams will fight to fix their spot in the semi-finals.
The century against bangladesh on Tuesday took Rohit to the top of most run scorers of 2019 World Cup surpassing David Warner.
India currently holds the second spot on the points table with 11 points while Bangladesh occupies the 6th spot with seven points.
Shankar is likely to be replaced in the squad by Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal, who made his Test debut against Australia last year, has not yet played in the ODI format.
Sri Lanka holds the 7th position on the World Cup points table with 6 points while West Indies is on 9th with just one victory and three points.
With 11 points and no losses India occupies the second spot on the points table while England is on 5th with 8 points.
Australia tops on the points table with 12 points while New Zealand is spotted on third with 11 points.
Pakistan is placed at the 6th position on the points table with 7 points while Afghanistan is at the rock bottom and yet to open its account.