It was a one-sided match, quite similar to all the other matches so far in this world cup. So I don't understand your point when you say that Sri Lanka also played well. If you are referring about specific players such as Kusal Perera, Pathum Nissanka or Dilshan Madushanka, then that maybe the case. But overall, Sri Lankan performance was pathetic yesterday. At one point they were 125/0. And then they were 157/1. From this position, they just collapsed to 209 all out. They lost their last 9 wickets for just 52 runs, as Adam Zampa destroyed their middle and lower order.

At one point, it looked as if Afghanistan may make 300. But they lost some quick wickets and then ended up with a total of 284. All credit goes to Rahmanullah Gurbaz BTW. Without him, Afghanistan would have never made such a competitive total. He started by attacking Chris Woakes and Sam Curran. Both these bowlers ended up with economy rates of more than 10 runs per over. He deserved a century, but got run out as a result of a mistake from the Afghan captain, Hashmatullah Shahidi. Then it was the turn of Ikram Alikhil to get Afghanistan to a decent total.

First of all, Ben Stokes is not even included in the playing XI. As far as I know, he is suffering from a hip injury and is unlikely to be fit for the next 2-3 matches. So the option of replacing Jos Buttler with Stokes is not possible. England doesn't look like they are in great form at the moment. In the first match, they suffered a massive defeat against New Zealand. Their only win till now came against the weak Bangladeshi side. Still there are 6 matches in the group phase remaining for them, but I think they are already out of the knockout phase.

Yes.. the last 1-2 entries for the semi-final stage will be decided solely on the basis of NRR. That said, I am still disturbed by the fact that we are yet to get a close match in this world cup so far. Look at the results till now:

1. New Zealand vs England - NZ by 9 wickets (13.4 overs)
2. PAK vs NED - PAK by 81 runs
3. BAN vs AFG - BAN by 6 wickets (15.2 overs)
4. RSA vs SL - RSA by 102 runs
5. IND vs AUS - IND by 6 wickets (8.4 overs)
6. NZ vs NED - NZ by 99 runs
7. ENG vs BAN - ENG by 137 runs
8. SL vs PAK - PAK by 6 wickets (1.4 overs)
9. IND vs AFG - IND by 8 wickets (15 overs)
10. RSA vs AUS - RSA by 134 runs
11. NZ vs BAN - NZ by 8 wickets (7.1 overs)

Out of these 11 matches, only the match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan can be considered as even remotely close.

LOL.. in the social media, the vast majority of the users are against all this. They don't want the BCCI to provide such a warm welcome to the Pakistani team, when the border tensions are still on. The match is going to take place in the largest cricket stadium in India (Narendra Modi Stadium at Ahmedabad), with a seating capacity of 132,000 people. Organizers are expecting a full-house, with many of the celebrities from India are expected to attend. I believe that the match was shifted to Saturday, so that the reserve day is set for Sunday. Anyway, no rains are predicted for today, and therefore the question of match getting extended to tomorrow should not arise.

New Zealand won big against England. But against Netherlands, their performance was not that flawless. They struggled to get to 300 plus (which was made possible only due to a horrible last over from Bas de Leede), and then they allowed Netherlands to put up a 200 plus total. Anyway, today they look much better. Bangladesh is currently reeling at 57/4, with their top four batsmen back in pavilion. Among the New Zealand spinners, Glenn Phillips has started the proceedings with a wicket from his very first over. This is going to be the third consecutive win for New Zealand.

New Zealand is having then upper hand as of now, as Bangladesh has lost 3 wickets. The ever-reliable Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson have picked up the wickets. Litton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Tanzid Hasan are back in pavilion, while Shakib Al Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto are at the crease for Bangladesh. The Kiwi pace trio (Boult-Henry-Ferguson) have so far done a decent job. Now the focus shift to their spinners (Mitchell Santner-Glenn Phillips-Rachin Ravindra). They didn't picked Ish Sodhi for this match, which I believe may turn out to be the correct decision.

LOL.. sometimes Luciano Spalletti gets unfair criticism for the poor performance of the Italian team. But Italy has been without the players of the calibre of Roberto Di Matteo, Roberto Baggio and Filippo Inzaghi for quite some time, and now Spalletti is putting a lot of effort in rebuilding the team from younger players. And the outcome has been mixed. But Italy has performed decently in this tournament so far. They have 7 points from 4 matches, and don't forget that they are in the same group along with England, Ukraine and North Macedonia.

LOL.. there was so much hype after the Ukrainian announced their "counter-offensive" a few months back. But now they are on the backfoot, as Russians have launched new attacks in Avdeevka and Kupyansk. Also, Ukrainians seems to be running out of manpower, while there are no reports that Russians are facing the same situation. And all this have happened despite Western nations stepping up their military and financial aid to Ukraine. Also, while Russians face no shortage of equipment or artillery shells, despite western support Ukraine is running out of equipment and shells. 

They don't need to worry about Latvia (1 win from 6 matches). Also, Armenia is out of form due to all those political issues related to Nagorno Karabakh. And Wales is down ever since Gareth Bale retired. So as such, there is no direct threat to Croatia and they should be able to qualify without much issues. The only question is whether they can top the group or not. That is still possible since Turkey has played one more match compared to them. This was supposed to be a very competitive group. But as things stand, Turkey and Croatia should qualify with ease.

Mongolia was playing their first ever international match. What do you expect from them? The issue is that stronger teams play against these associate teams only in competitions such as Asian Games. Therefore I am also not in favor of taking away this opportunity. JSRAW has a valid point here. Each and every nation should take part in the qualifier tournament. The BCCI wants teams to get direct entry based on the T20I ranking. But then, the ICC ranking is heavily biased in favor of the full members and I am not in favor of using it as a means of qualification.

Well.. I wouldn't write-off Australia completely. They have some of the most experienced ODI players in the world at this point. I am talking about David Warner, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. Maybe some of them are out of form. But given their vast experience and reputation of performing well in the ICC tournaments, I am still hopeful of a comeback by the Australians. Their next match is against Sri Lanka, and therefore we can expect them to get their first win in the tournament soon enough.   

Why was Lionel Messi not included in the starting XI? He was called up only in the 53rd minute, as a substitute for Julián Álvarez. I believe that the message from Argentina management is quite clear. Messi is no longer an irreplaceable player, that he used to be. For them, the combination of Álvarez-Martínez-González is working pretty well. Still, I expected a bit more from Argentina during yesterday's match. They won with a margin of 1-0, and that too against one of the weakest teams form the CONMEBOL confederation.

Never expected Croatia to lose against Turkey. But even now, there is no threat as such for Croatia. They are comfortably placed with 10 points and they are well ahead of Armenia and Wales. Armenia lost against Latvia as well, else they would have had the same points as Croatia. Also, let's not forget the fact that Croatia has played one match less when compared to both Turkey and Armenia. But the standings are not going to change anytime soon. Tukey's next match is against a weak Latvia, while Croatia will be facing Wales (who are in a state of suspended animation after the retirement of Gareth Bale).

Well.. if this news is true, then Ronaldo may continue with Al Nassr for another 3-4 years. And the Saudi Arabians will be happy as well. They have a number of superstars now playing at the Saudi Professional League, such as Neymar, Karim Benzema and Sadio Mané. But none of them had a impact that Ronaldo had on global audience. From what I have heard, the Saudis are quite impressed with the huge fanbase that Ronaldo brought with him. So it will not be a surprise if they renew his contract till 2027. And after that he will be a part of the Saudi delegation to bid for the 2034 FIFA World Cup.

Just went through the scorecards of some of the recent New Zealand vs Bangladesh matches. It looks as if New Zealand has a weakness against slower bowlers, especially in sub-continental conditions. But that said, during their match against England, the Kiwi batsmen handled Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid quite well. And in the second match also, Roelof van der Merwe with 2 decades of experience in professional cricket was unable to trouble the New Zealand batsmen. Now today it is going to be the turn of Shakib and Mehdi Hasan.

Well.. they are still behind Scotland as far as points table is concerned (BTW, I am not forgetting the fact that Spain has played one match fewer than Scotland). They were 0-0 at half-time, so I had some hope for Scotland. But they went overly defensive and in the end it cost them the match. Had they played their natural game, then the outcome would have been better for them. When someone focus solely on defense, it gives the advantage to the other team. They can focus on attacking. And this is what happened yesterday.

It is going to be extremely difficult for Bangladesh. First of all, New Zealand is in extremely good form. The big news for them is that Kane Williamson is likely to be included in the playing XI after a gap of 7 months. BTW, other players are also in good form. Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway made centuries against the Poms, while Tom Latham/Will Young made runs during their second clash (vs Netherlands). And in the bowling department so far Trent Boult and Mark Henry have been exceptional, along with the spinner Mitchell Santner.

Well.. if the Olympic Council of Asia ask Indian cricket team to take part in the qualifiers, then in all probability the BCCI will just refuse to send a team to the Asian Games. But what I didn't liked is the fact that Pakistan and other full members were given walkover for the quarterfinals as well. During women's competition, 3 out of the 4 quarter-final matches were washed out, and they just gave direct entry to the full member nations to semi-finals. So it is not like these teams got direct entry to the QF stage. They actually got direct entry to the SF stage (apart from Sri Lanka, who had to defeat Thailand to enter the semis).

Steve Smith himself was shocked by the decision. The ball was clearly missing the leg stump AFAIK, but somehow ball tracking showed that it is going to flick the leg stump. And even then, it had to be "umpire's call". And this is where the confusion started. On-field umpire had ruled it not out, so as per "umpire's call", it should have been not out. But the third umpire actually asked the on-field umpire Joel Wilson (who himself was in a state of shock) to reverse his decision and rule Steve Smith out LBW.