On Sunday, 30 June, the Edgbaston in Birmingham will play host to one of the most important clashes of World Cup 2019 – hosts England will take on Team India in Match 38.
Why has this clash become so important?
- Small matters first: There’s the world number one ranking at stake. It was only a couple of days ago that Team India usurped the number one ranking from England. If England win this, they will grab the number one position back. However, if Team India go on to win this match, there’s a good chance they will stay perched at the top for a while.
- England have pushed themselves into a corner after losing to Sri Lanka and Australia, and now need to win both their remaining league stage fixtures to secure a semi-final berth. If the hosts happen to lose to Team India on Sunday but then beat New Zealand in their last league match, their fortunes will be dictated by what happens in the Pakistan-Afghanistan match that will be played subsequently.
- If Team India are to defeat England on Sunday, they will have preserved their undefeated status and secure a semi-final berth.
Milestone Match
The ODI on Sunday will be a special occasion in the annals of England-India cricket: The match will be the 100th ODI between the two sides.
England and India met in an ODI for the first time 1974. England got the better of Team India in the first four contests and were generally dominant in the early years. However, over the years, the balance has shifted and Team India have started to win more often than the founders of the game.
Edgbaston: Lucky Hunting Ground for Team India
Historically, Edgbaston has been a good hunting ground for Team India; they’ve won more ODIs at this venue than at any other in England. In fact, Team India has been victorious in their last five ODIs at Edgbaston.
India’s Formula
In this age of slam-bang cricket, Team India have employed a traditional formula in this World Cup. The emphasis appears to be on starting strong.
With the ball, the focus seems to be bowling tight lines and lengths, choking the opposition and building pressure with a number of dot balls. Hence Team India have an overall economy rate of 3.72 in powerplay 1 – the best in World Cup 2019.
With the bat too, Team India has employed the traditional strategy of losing few wickets in the early overs, consolidating in the middle overs, and then exploding at the back end.
Stats back up the theory; Team India has lost only 3 wickets in powerplay 1 so far in WC2019 – the fewest in the competition, score at 5.33 runs in the middle 30 overs, and explode in the back end, scoring at 8.29 runs per over in the final ten.
England Haven’t Adapted
Where England are concerned, they find themselves in a spot of bother because they haven’t adapted to the situation or conditions they’ve encountered.
Leading into the World Cup, England were riding high – piling scores of 300 with alarming regularity. However, in the World Cup, they haven’t been able to tune down from that ‘300’ mindset. That becomes very obvious from their two most recent losses; against Sri Lanka, they finished 20 runs short – they were bowled out with three overs remaining in their run-chase – and against Australia, they were bowled out in the 45th over.
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