The world has arrived in India for the World Cup, and after a tournament that perhaps lacked a little in the build-up, it hasn’t half hit the ground running.
If England losing first up wasn’t enough – are New Zealand so underrated they’re rated, etc – then we got a world record score from South Africa to back it up, with the batting lineup that everyone hoped would blow to doors off taking out the roof, windows and half of the street too.
Australia didn’t quite get that memo, and India somewhat played with their food before getting serious and putting a score on Pat Cummins et al.
Our pre-tournament Power Rankings suggested that the hosts would be the team to beat, and very little has changed in that regard, but in the runners and riders beneath that, it’s all over the place.
Let’s get stuck into it.
The manner in which the hosts walked in a win against Australia should be very, very concerning to everyone else.
They defeated one of the other favourites without breaking much of a sweat and, crucially, all of their bowlers are now into the tournament – everyone who threw one down on Sunday evening got themselves a wicket. That Kohli bloke is decent too, and when he doesn’t do it, you can bet that someone else will.
There’s still plenty of room for improvement, too, but you’d be mad to bet against them at the moment.
The Saffers were left out of most predictions to actually win the tournament, but they’re not anymore.
The big threat in the middle order was there for all to see with hundreds for Aidan Markram and Rassie van der Dussen, plus Quentin de Kock off the top, and perhaps even more ominous was how Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller did the late stage hitting too.
There’s a fair few caveats before we get too carried away: there’s only been one game in Delhi, so maybe that’s a road and runs will be worth less there, and Sri Lanka are far from the strongest opposition the Proteas will face.
But this side have put in the most impressive performance so far, and will be a huge problem for Australia on Thursday.
Two from two so far is hard to quibble with, especially given that they’ve already taken down one of the big dogs.
The win over England was an excellent result and an even better performance, leaving everyone who said that the Kiwis might not be their usual, underrated selves looking very silly indeed.
Rachin Ravindra already looks like one of the breakout stars of the tournament with a hundred and a fifty in two games and the likes of Trent Boult and Matt Henry just keep on keeping on.
Now, they have a superb run: NZ have already beaten the Netherlands in game two and get Bangladesh and Afghanistan next. By the time they face India, they should be 4-0 and flying.
Oh, and Kane Williamson and Tim Southee haven’t even played yet.
If England were looking for a response to their shocking performance against New Zealand, they got that against Bangladesh.
If we’re being harsh, then perhaps nothing much is learned from beating a Tigers team that might not be that good, but the style of the game was a lot more like what we have come to expect from England after a bad night at the office in the opener.
They were unusually conservative with the bat and were made to rue that when the Kiwis got in, something that was rectified quickly with a rapid performance to put on 364 in Dharamsala, which might well have been a lot higher.
The bowling, too, was dry: Mark Wood and Reece Topley offered a lot and, after a fashion, Chris Woakes played himself into a bit of form. There’s still a concern that on spinning tracks, the duo of Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali might not quite be at the level anymore, but that remains to be seen.
A week in, it’s hard to see England as the clear second favourites that they were with the bookies going in, but let’s not count them out yet.
Alex Carey. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Anyone trying to read much into Pakistan’s performances is usually on a hiding to nothing, and a week in, all we can say is that they’re not terrible, but also fatally flawed.
The bowling performance against Sri Lanka was pretty bad, and while it was better against the Netherlands, they are probably the weakest team in the tournament.
Then the batting came in to save the day. When you’ve got talent of the calibre of Mohammad Rizwan – and Abdullah Shafique, who didn’t even get picked for game one – then you’ve got a chance. Babar Azam hasn’t even done anything yet.
Hasan Ali is in the game at least and he’s one of those who can turn a whole game. However, Shaheen Shah Afridi, their best bowler, does look a little off and will need to improve and fast, because it’s India then Australia next.
Knowing Pakistan, they could win either of those, or both, or get thrashed, or really anything.
Let’s be honest, it was a pretty rubbish start from Australia. India in the opener was always going to be a tough ask, but the manner of the defeat was slightly worrying.
On the batting front, Australia were far too tentative, cruising at 4 an over with the hope of accelerating later, which never materialised and left the top order looking, by 2023 standards, a little pedestrian. Hitting in the 60s for strike rate is not going to work in this tournament.
With the ball, we saw exactly what the quicks can do, but then were reminded of the limitations of the non-frontline bowlers. Glenn Maxwell came on before Adam Zampa and neither looked anywhere near what they will need to be to stand a chance in these conditions.
This week’s match with South Africa is now a lot more important – though it was always going to be so – and Sri Lanka in Lucknow, if that spins, could be very interesting indeed.
Sri Lanka lost but looked alright against a South African side who were really, really good. Then they lost to Pakistan, who shouldn’t have been able to chase as much as they did as easily as hey did.
The batting was excellent but the bowling was battered from pillar to post. One suspects that they will not be the only ones to suffer such a fate against this Proteas middle order, but with Pakistan, it was confirmed that they’re just not that good.
Sri Lanka’s ability to rack up scores makes them the most likely of the outsiders to upset big teams, but that’s now twice that they’ve posted enough runs, in isolation at least, to win. They lost both.
Kusal Mendis is already fast becoming one of the most exciting players in this World Cup, too, though there will be a worry that he’s done a lot of the heavy lifting on his own, which probably isn’t sustainable.
What we’ve learned is that Bangladesh are better than Afghanistan but not anywhere near as good as England. Who knew?
In all seriousness, there’s plenty to like about the Tigers, with Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim all turning in performances, but the feeling that the gap between their best player and their worst is far too wide to make any serious impact does remain.
They’ve played twice in Dharamsala, which doesn’t really suit them, and now move into friendlier conditions albeit against tougher opponents. Splitting the difference so far is perfectly fine for them and they’ll relish a run in when, inevitably, their backs are against the wall.
It’s strange to take a side that have lost twice and move them higher in the rankings, but the performances by the Netherlands in two games in which they were overmatched mean that they have (for now at least) shown more than Afghanistan.
Bas de Leede has been a lot of fun already – both positively and negatively – and the Dutch might have learned a decent lesson in their loss to New Zealand, because they could and perhaps should have attacked more.
Afghanistan have played once and looked pretty weak, losing comfortably to Bangladesh. They were also bad in all the expected ways, with the batting in particular falling over at the first sight of trouble.
We’ve not seen the best of Afghanistan yet, but if they played the Netherlands tomorrow, you’d make the Dutch favourites.
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