[am1m]

I'll be the first to say I'm not a Kohli fan. I don't like his always-angry attitude. For someone raised on the performance without the in-your-face-aggressivness style of Tendulkar, Dravid, and even Dhoni, players like Kohli and Gambhir are tough to root for, even if they are wearing your colours.

But more than KL, having Kohli at the crease against Australia when we were 2/3 gave me the kind of reassurance that Tendulkar did each time he was still there after the usual mess the rest of our team made so often in the 90s. And probably the same kind of reassurance my uncles spoke about whenever they knew Kapil was still around.

It's not about whether Smith or Root or Williamson are better. I'll even probably agree that Smith is the better all-round batsman. It's about that reassurance and hope that players like Kohli and Tendulkar bring which is more than the sum total of their runs. To the team and to the fans. Tendulkar faced the same critique of his game, not a performer in ICC events, not a performer against x team, not on y pitches, not like player z. With players like these, extra effort is needed to find the chinks in the armour. But even coming off the tail end of a slump in form, you still tell yourself, he is there, something can still happen. Which to me means Kohli is a bona fide great.

(Which of course doesn't mean they should be above criticism!)

[whencut86]

Originally Posted by Bhargav7

Let's conveniently ignore the one World Cup where he played a crucial innings because Steve Smith couldn't make it to Australia Playing XI.

Where was this crucial innings in 2011 WC during Knockouts. Please point out.

The Great Sachin failed in the 2011 and 2003 finals - but we all know he was one of the reasons why we reached the finals in the first place.

I have mentioned the same in my post above. Sachin has good knocks in QF and SF in ODI World Cups. Kohli has none even in QF and SF.

How come the like of Ponting and Smith can contribute in group stage as well as knockout stage? My post was not about statistics or who is the greatest or best? My point was simple - Delivery in crunch situations and when it really matters.

[Bhargav7]

Originally Posted by whencut86

Where was this crucial innings in 2011 WC during Knockouts. Please point out.

The finals.

Also, BHPian am1m nicely summarised the context. There is nothing more I can add if you want to cherry pick a sample size of two innings.

[Shumi_21]

It was a good bowling performance by India on a small ground + flat pitch combo in Delhi. Especially Bumrah & Kuldeep. Rohit scored what was the most aesthetically pleasing century of the world cup so far.

Meanwhile, Gill has arrived in Ahmedabad. Hopefully, he has recovered fully and will play on Saturday. I'm rooting for Rohit + Kohli to play like they played in 2013 and used to chase down 350+ scores for fun against Australia.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by whencut86

All good till we face a situation like we did during the 2019 WC SF against NZ. The top 4-5 wickets go for 20-30 runs and we have no one in the middle order who can take us through in the worst case scenario.

During the entire 2019 WC, the top 3 (Rohit/Dhawan/Kohli) did bulk of the scoring. It was a known secret that India had a very weak & uncertain middle order - Karthik & Pant (wasn't the same player) played in that SF. Other options were Kedar Jadhav & Vijay Shankar. What contributed to that downfall was the helpful seamer friendly conditions nicely exploited by NZ. Now compare that to the present day situation where we have a much more stable middle order - Shreyas Iyer & KL. Jadeja's form with the bat at no.7 & long tail is the only worry I see.

Kohli may have a great reputation but has never played a crucial knock in any of the knockout matches in the ODI World Cups he was part of. I don't expect anything different this time around and expect Kohli to falter in the knockout matches this WC. We will reach the Semis,

To qualify for the Semis/Knockout you also have to do well in the league stage first. Expecting Kohli to falter in a knockout is a prediction but its not a foregone conclusion that India will easily make it to the Semis!

All talks about SA being chokers, but we miss the bigger picture that of late, it is India who has choked badly when we were on the verge of history.

'Choker' term is very loosely & incorrectly used. You have to be close to a winning position atleast to be classified as a 'choker'. When you wilt under pressure from a winning position like how SA did in that 1999 WC Semi Final only then I feel the term 'choker' can be used. In none of these knockout matches India were ever even close to a winning position!

The only Indian player who had a knack of playing such crucial knocks is Rishabh Pant and he is out injured.

Pant has just about cemented his place in ODIs & that too based on some good knocks under pressure in bilaterals! So not sure what you're talking about here.

[RMN]

Cannot agree with the comment that the low attendance is cause of the low turn out. The view counter on Hotstar peaked 1cr+ even for Pak vs Afg. Even months before the tournament started there was a lot of talk about how BCCI has messed up in organizing this - this is evident from peoples comment on social media and Cricinfo's own reports. Schedule was released around 1 month prior to the start (opposed to ~5 months as last time) + last minute change in venues. And looks like people still need to collect a physical ticket?

Even as a huge fan of the sport who follows it closely, I barely came across any promotional content for the tournament.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by RMN

Even as a huge fan of the sport who follows it closely, I barely came across any promotional content for the tournament.

It still feels like the warm up matches are going on. I thought there will be SRK and Alia dancing! Preferential treatment to 2 particular teams and one stadium been given. There will be Arijit singing before the Ind vs Pak match. Speeches from Sachin, Rajnikant and Amitabh. Probably, Modi too attend? Weird because I have never seen an opening ceremony post 7-8 matches of the tournament has already been played.

[RMN]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

It still feels like the warm up matches are going on. I thought there will be SRK and Alia dancing! Preferential treatment to 2 particular teams and one stadium been given. There will be Arijit singing before the Ind vs Pak match. Speeches from Sachin, Rajnikant and Amitabh. Probably, Modi too attend? Weird because I have never seen an opening ceremony post 7-8 matches of the tournament has already been played.

Exactly, BCCI or ICC has messed up big time. I'm sure in the coming months the truth will slowly unveil. To me it feels like there was some power struggle among some parties and eventually they decided to go ahead doing just the bare minimum. They probably thought that the crowds will turn up despite their mess up.

[Eddy]

I was in the ground yesterday for India-Afghanistan.

- Virat is the biggest crowd favourite by far. Nobody else even comes close. The stadium was full of Virat jerserys and the cheers for him were the loudest, even without doing anything. It was Sachin, then MS and now Virat. Who's next? Gill? I hope so!

- Virat is poetry in motion when it comes to fielding. It was always visible on TV, but to see it in person was awesome. Again, no other fielder comes close to his fluidic movements.

- Was pleasantly pleasantly surprised with the Feroz Shah (now Arun Jaitley) Stadium. I went in expecting appalling conditions like before, but everything was totally opposite. Crowd was managed well, the seats were new, washrooms were clean, mineral drinking water was available for free, branded food was available (although the quality of Domino's pizza that was available was inferior to their regular pizzas), DJ & the light show was nice etc. The Pan Bahaar ads were gone too By far, my best stadium experience.
The only inconvenience is that mineral water bottles are not allowed to be carried inside. But there is a good reason why, else Naveen-ul-Haq would have been peppered at the boundary before Virat came to his rescue.

Here are some pics. Taken just before the game started.











And you know you are in Delhi when the person next to you and the person next to him is having this

[PaddleShifter]

Watched the Bangladesh - Afghanistan ODI at Dharamsala few days back.

Started from Chandigarh at 4AM and reached Dharamsala at 10AM. The return journey started at 4:30PM and we reached home at around midnight.

The arrangements were very good and it was a decent event with good management. Parking was managed at a large police ground. Many spectators were ticketless locals. I had little interest in the match as such and was mainly doing the driving duties for my brother. We had a good breakfast at midway resort, Dharamsala and an evening pizza at Hungry Point, Dharamsala.

The route from Chandigarh to Dharamsala is excellent except for a 10-15km broken stretch due to road construction. The Dhauladhar range of mountains is a sight to see once we enter Dharamsala. This was my second visit to the city.

The only issue is that the food and water items were sold at double the mentioned/displayed prices at the stadium. Water bottle for Rs100 (displayed price at stall was Rs20), small (300ml) cold drinks for Rs80 (stall displayed price Rs50), pizza mania (Dominos) for Rs300 for veg and 350 for non veg and so on. Its an organised nexus to loot at such events.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by whencut86

How come the like of Ponting and Smith can contribute in group stage as well as knockout stage? My post was not about statistics or who is the greatest or best? My point was simple - Delivery in crunch situations and when it really matters.

Smith could not deliver in a crunch situation today against SA whereas Kohli could guide the team to a win from a similar situation (rather worse) just few days ago. Just saying, we are only at the start of the WC

[rx100]

What a shocking performance by Australia. Too many dropped catches and midfields. Very uncharacteristic given their reputation.

[am1m]

As suspected, the 'complimentary' tickets are the culprit:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/i...rocess-1402754

"ESPNcricinfo has learned that the BCCI told the state associations hosting World Cup matches that each venue would need to set aside complimentary tickets meant for sponsors/commercial partners/guests of both the ICC and the Indian board. Separately, the BCCI requested that states release as many tickets as possible meant otherwise for the member clubs/affiliated units/sponsors/former cricketers/life members/police/local government officials, which usually consumes a significant chunk of tickets for both international and IPL matches."

"According to Sportstar, Eden Gardens, which has a capacity of 65,000, released only 32,000 tickets per game for sale to the general public for World Cup matches. At Chepauk, which has a capacity of about 37,000, only one-third - 13,000 - tickets were released for sale. In the case of Ahmedabad, that figure for general public climbs to about 100,000 tickets."

And then when the social media backlash happens, BCCI directs the stadiums to release these unused tickets to the general public. Which would be great, but at random:

"Asked about these other tickets, the BCCI told ESPNcricinfo: "[They are from a] limited inventory which was earmarked earlier for various stakeholders as part of contractual obligations and commitments under 'Option to Buy'. The tickets which were not picked up are being released"."

So basically, VIPs first, if they don't want the tickets, THEN we'll 'allow' fans to buy them!

[Oxy]

Australia are now just a couple of defeats away from getting knocked out. I don't see them beating even Sri Lanka and Pakistan with this form, let alone bigger teams like England and New Zealand. In my opinion, they are not going to qualify for the semis.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by rx100

What a shocking performance by Australia. Too many dropped catches and midfields. Very uncharacteristic given their reputation.

And a meek surrender with the bat.

With that ignominious loss, Australia slumps to the second last position in the points table.

It will be a fun outcome if the Proteas maintain this momentum and lift the cup.