World Cup 2019: 4 moments that made it one of the best tournaments ever

Everyone expected the 2019 World Cup to be dominated by the bat. But Indian captain Virat Kohli in the pre-tournament press meet stated that the latter part of the tournament would have a lot of low scoring affairs and his prediction was vindicated. While the first half of the tournament was filled with 300+ scores, the second half was more competitive with the pitches slowing down. This gave rise to a lot of interesting matchups and unexpected results. The race for the semi final berths was interesting as every team in the top 7 had a chance to make it to the top 4 on the points table.

This was possible due to the surprising defeats of the West Indies and South Africa against Bangladesh. Even England who were comfortably placed in the first half was in a do or die position as they lost against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Unlike other World Cups, this tournament had 10 teams in which every team had to play the other in the league stage. This not only opened up opportunities for the lower-ranked teams but ensured that the tournament was a treat to the fans. Apart from all this, there are moments in every World Cup that you can’t forget. Even this World Cup was full of such moments. Let us take a look at 4 moments that made it arguably the best cricket tournament ever.

#1 Brathwaite vs New Zealand:

Carlos Brathwaite produced one of the best innings of the tournament

The packed crowd at Old Trafford witnessed a close finish as New Zealand escaped a defeat against the West Indies in a league stage match. It was going one way when West Indies lost four wickets with 150 runs to get. To add salt to the wounds, they lost three more wickets with Carlos Brathwaite at the other end. The remaining players to follow were all tail-enders which meant that Brathwaite had an uphill task in his hand. Yet, everyone knew that he had the ability to take his team home.

He built partnerships with his bowlers to take the total to 245 with just a wicket remaining. He took much of the strike and dominated the 10th wicket stand with 41 runs but that wasn’t enough, unfortunately. With 33 needed in the last three, Carlos smacked Matt Henry for 25 runs bringing the equation to just 8 runs off the last two overs. Brathwaite wanted to finish it off quickly but fate had different plans as he pulled one towards long-on that fell short by a couple of inches into Boult’s safe hands. Brathwaite, who had completed his century, was in total disbelief as the team lost by 5 runs.

#2 Sri Lanka vs England:

Sri Lanka vs England in 2019 World Cup

England started as the favourites with four wins in five matches. On the other hand, Sri Lanka were desperate for two points with two losses and only one win. Having won the toss and batted first, Sri Lanka lost their openers with just 3 runs on the board. Avishka Fernando and Kusal Mendis steadied the sinking ship adding 60 runs for the third wicket. Angelo Mathews who came in at 5 found his form and scored a much needed 85 that took the total to 232 runs.

With a below-par total, England who needed to start well lost Bairstow for a golden duck. With the pitch slowing down, it was evident that it was tough to bat on that deck. It all started when Root fell after scoring a half-century to Lasith Malinga. He struck again, dismissing Jos Butler with a beautiful yorker. Dhananjaya de Silva joined the party by taking 3 wickets in nine deliveries. England were down at 186 for 9, but Stokes was still around. He kept the number eleven away and struck boundaries at regular intervals. Despite his valiant effort of 82 runs, England fell short by 20 runs. This result made the rest of the games as a meaningful clash in the tournament or else it would have been turned out to be dead-rubber.

#3 MS Dhoni’s run out:

Dhoni got run out during the crucial stage against New Zeland in the Semifinals

Team India was brilliant in the league stage with just one loss in nine games that helped them finish on top of the table. They faced the challenge of the Kiwis in the semi final but everything didn’t go as planned. Chasing 240 on the reserve day, the top 3 who were the pillars in the league stage were back in the dressing room adding just 5 runs to the scoreboard. A little later, Dinesh Karthik - who took 16 deliveries to get off the mark - was dismissed after a stunning catch. Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya showed good intent but failed to take it to the end.

The last recognizable pair, MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, were in the middle with still a long way to go in the chase. While Dhoni knocked around taking singles, Jadeja hit the odd boundary that took India from 92 for 6 to 208 for 6. India needed 32 runs in 14 balls when Jadeja mistimed a slower ball from Boult that went straight into the hands of the Kiwi captain Kane Williamson. Dhoni started the 49th over with a huge six over the cover boundary that brought back hopes to billions of Indians. But he was soon dismissed through a brilliant direct hit by Guptill from the deep. This changed the course of the match as New Zealand won by 18 runs. If Guptill had missed that run-out the result might have been a different one.

#4 Martin Guptill’s throw in the final:

Ben Stokes

The final of 2019 will definitely go down as the best ever in terms of the brand of cricket that both the teams played. It was evident on the scoreboard as both the teams scored the same number of runs in the match as well as in the super over. It was so close that the result had to be declared based on the number of boundaries that each team has scored. Batting first, the Kiwis put up 241 on the board. Chasing this, England were helped by the partnership of Butler and Stokes to get close to the target after losing the top 4 early.

After Jos Butler departed for a well-made 59, Ben Stokes counter-attacked the bowlers taking the match to the final over. With 15 to get in 6 balls, Stokes smashed the third ball over the boundary. With 9 required off 3, Stokes hit one towards the leg side and sprinted for two. What happened next changed the course of the match. Martin Guptill, who was in the deep picked up the ball and threw it towards the keeper. To his bad luck, the ball touched the bat of diving Stokes and raced away to the boundary. This meant that England had scored another 6 runs. As a result, the match went into the super over as England went on to win the Championship for the first time.