'KING KOHLI' 50-OVERS GOAT DEBATE AT RUN-LADED WORLD CUP

Reuters 

Virat Kohli has long been on the cusp of batting greatness and at 35 years old he is making a solid case to be considered the greatest 50-overs player of all time after a run-laden World Cup campaign on home soil.

Sachin Tendulkar was the game's premier batsman until he retired in 2013, and Kohli has inherited that mantle from his compatriot, dominating the game for long stretches in the past decade.

Initially, Kohli was part of batting's "Fab Four" alongside England's Joe Root, Australia's Steve Smith and New Zealand's Kane Williamson.

While others have faded somewhat recently, Kohli has been burning brightly, and pulling ahead of his peers.

From 2011 to 2019, Kohli scored more than 1,000 ODI runs a year seven times before going nearly three years without a hundred in international cricket.

The elegant right-hander ended that drought in September last year and has been at his prolific best at the current World Cup, where he is the runaway top-scorer with 711 runs from 10 matches including three centuries.

He overtook Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI hundreds in Mumbai on Wednesday and it was only fitting that his idol was present at the Wankhede Stadium to see it.

THE PAVILLION | PAKISTAN 🇵🇰 VS. ENGLAND 🇬🇧

THE PAVILLION | SOUTH AFRICA 🇿🇦 VS. AFGHANISTAN 🇦🇫 | POST MATCH ANALYSIS

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SRI LANKA HEAPS MORE WORLD CUP MISERY ON ENGLAND WITH BIG WIN

Reuters 

Sri Lanka breathed life into their World Cup campaign and left England in increasing danger of missing out on a semi-final spot after crushing the defending champions by eight wickets in a low-scoring match on Thursday.

Chasing a modest 157 for only their second win, Sri Lanka overcame the loss of two early wickets before Pathum Nissanka (77 not out) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (65 not out) got them across the finish line in 25.4 overs.

The pair played with plenty of patience in their 137-run partnership for the third wicket after an initial burst by David Willey (2-30) to ensure England suffered a third straight World Cup defeat for the first time since 2015.

The win lifted Sri Lanka to fifth in the table while England are ninth, ahead of only the Netherlands.

Sri Lanka earlier restricted England to a below-par 156 all out in 33.2 overs in the must-win clash between the tournament's stragglers, with only Ben Stokes offering some resistance in an otherwise dismal batting display.

Stokes (43) took the attack to Sri Lanka on a dry wicket at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium after England's middle-order collapsed in the face of some incisive bowling, but he holed out to Dushan Hemantha in the deep off Lahiru Kumara (3-35) in the 31st over.

AUSTRALIA VS. NETHERLANDS | THE PAVILION | POST MATCH ANALYSIS

DE KOCK'S 174 PROPELS SOUTH AFRICA TO 382 V BANGLADESHI

Reuters 

South Africa opener Quinton de Kock smashed 174, the highest individual score at this year's World Cup, to propel his team to an imposing 382-5 against Bangladesh on Tuesday.

The left-handed batter clobbered seven sixes and 15 fours in 140 balls to overtake India's Virat Kohli as the tournament's leading scorer with three hundreds in five matches.

Aiden Markram, leading South Africa in the absence of the unwell Temba Bavuma, made 60 after winning the toss and electing to bat at the Wankhede Stadium.

Heinrich Klaasen provided the late surge with an explosive 90 off 49 balls to leave Bangladesh with a mountain to climb when they begin their chase.

De Kock, Klaasen and David Miller, who made 34 not out, smashed a combined 19 sixes in the match.

South Africa sit third, behind India and New Zealand, in the points table with the top four at the end of the group stage making the semi-finals.

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THE PAVILLION | PAKISTAN 🇵🇰 VS. AUSTRALIA 🇦🇺 | POST MATCH ANALYSIS

THE PAVILLION | SOUTH AFRICA VS. ENGLAND | POST MATCH ANALYSIS

THE PAVILLION | INDIA VS. NEW ZEALAND | POST MATCH ANALYSIS | CRICKET 🏏 WORLD CUP 2023

ENGLAND HAPPY TO AVOID INJURIES ON DIFFICULT DHARAMSALA OUTFIELD

Reuters 

England all-rounder Sam Curran said they were thankful to have come through Tuesday's World Cup win over Bangladesh without picking up injuries after players struggled to keep their feet due to the state of the Dharamsala outfield.

While the venue, located in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains, is considered one of the most picturesque grounds in the world the state of the outfield left a lot to be desired, with bowlers and fielders forced to exercise caution on the uneven grass.

WORLD CUP TO BEGIN OCT. 5 | AHMEDABAD HOSTS FINAL

Reuters 

The Cricket World Cup will begin on Oct. 5 with England facing New Zealand in Ahmedabad and the same venue hosting the final on Nov. 19, organisers said on Tuesday, with the schedule for the showpiece in India also confirming Pakistan's participation.

The fixtures were revealed by the International Cricket Council during an event in Mumbai, less than four months before the start of the 50-overs tournament, with the delay partly due to sour political relations between India and Pakistan.

India's refusal to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup in August-September triggered the latest dispute between the bitter neighbours, who play each other only in multi-team events.

Pakistan responded by threatening to boycott the World Cup if they were not allowed to stage at least some matches of the Asia Cup on home soil.

The stalemate was finally resolved this month when Pakistan agreed to split matches with Sri Lanka, where India will play their Asia Cup matches.

South Asia's arch-rivals meet in the tournament's most anticipated match on Oct. 15 in Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium - the biggest cricket venue in the world by capacity.

However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) added a caveat saying they would still need government clearance for any tour to India, including World Cup match venues.

"We are liaising with our government for guidance," PCB Communications Director Sami Ul Hasan said in a statement.

"This position is consistent to what we had told the ICC a couple of weeks ago when they shared with us the draft schedule and sought our feedback."

India begin their campaign on Oct. 8 against five-times champions Australia in Chennai.

England's opener against New Zealand is a rematch of the 2019 final in which England prevailed via a now-scrapped boundary count rule.

Among other key fixtures, 1992 champions Pakistan meet Australia in Bengaluru on Oct. 20, while England take on South Africa the following day in Mumbai.

Australia captain Pat Cummins said he was looking forward to the atmosphere at the match with India in Chennai.

"You know there's going to be big crowds, but no bigger than playing India at home in a World Cup game, so that's going to be exciting for us," he said.

"It will be a huge challenge, they're a top-class team but if you want to win a World Cup you're going to have to be better than everyone else, so why not take on India straight up?"

The first semi-final will take place on Nov. 15 in Mumbai with Kolkata hosting the second the following day. Both games, as well as the final, will be day-night fixtures.

There will be a total of 10 venues for the 10-team tournament - Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Dharamsala, Delhi, Chennai, Lucknow, Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Apart from hosts India, the teams that have qualified include Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa.

Two more sides will join them following a qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe, which will conclude on July 9.

Twice winners West Indies have appeared at every tournament since it was first staged in 1975 but defeat by the Netherlands in the qualifying event on Monday leaves their chances hanging by a thread.

- Reuters