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The third week of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is done and dusted with the star-studded clash between arch rivals India and Pakistan closing the week. Australia gained the most points in this week as they won both of their matches in this week while India earned 3 points with a win and a wash.
The road to semifinals for Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and West Indies became much tougher this week as they could not collect any points. Pakistan lost their important fixtures versus Australia and India in almost similar fashion. South Africa registered their first win of the tourney with a cakewalk victory over the Afghans on Saturday.
All in all, it was a very eventful week in this World Cup which featured some brilliant individual performances from the players as well. Here is the best playing XI of the week.
Openers: Aaron Finch and Rohit Sharma
Matches - 2, Runs - 235, Average - 117.5, Fours - 21, Sixes - 9
The Australian captain, Aaron Finch played two of his best innings this week while opening the innings for his team against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Finch missed out on a well deserved century versus Pakistan but he ensured he completes his hundred in the game against Sri Lanka. Finch looked all set to score the first double hundred of World Cup 2019 but Isuru Udana sent him back on the score of 153.
Finch's incredible performances helped him reach the pole position in the list of highest run-scorers of the tournament.
Match - 1, Runs - 140, Average - 140, Fours - 14, Sixes - 3
Rohit Sharma recorded his second World Cup ton in 2019 when he opened the innings for India against Pakistan. India's match against New Zealand was cancelled due to rain but Sharma made sure he makes it up for that match by playing a 140-run knock versus the Men in Green. An unfortunate dismissal denied him his 4th double hundred in ODI cricket nevertheless, the Hitman's innings helped Team India win their match.
Also read – World cup most wickets
Middle order: Virat Kohli (c), Joe Root, and Nicholas Pooran (wk)
Match - 1, Runs - 77, Average - 77, Fours - 7, Sixes - 0
Virat Kohli, the captain and the batsman both had a good day in the office yesterday. Kohli took a bold step by handing Vijay Shankar the ball in the 5th over and that move paid off as Shankar sent Imam-ul-Haq back on the very first ball. With the win against Pakistan, Kohli proved why is one of the best captains in this tournament.
In the first innings, he scored 77 runs off just 65 balls while coming out to bat at number 3. His well paced innings helped India post a 300+ total on the board.
Match - 1, Runs - 100, Average - 100, Fours - 11, Wickets - 2
English player, Joe Root showed that he is much more than a batsman with a classic batting techniques when he single-handedly blew away the Windies in Southampton. Root opened the innings for England in absence of Jason Roy and hit a splendid century to take his team home.
Earlier in the match, Root had taken the precious wickets of opposition captain Jason Holder and big hitter Shimron Hetmyer to derail the Windies innings.
Match - 1, Runs - 63, Average - 63, Fours - 3, Sixes - 1
With big names like MS Dhoni, Jos Buttler and Quinton de Kock playing in this tournament, Windies' Nicholas Pooran emerged as the best wicket-keeper of the week. While de Kock played a fantastic innings against Afghanistan, the two things which denied him a place in this team were the opposition against whom he scored these runs and the position where he played.
De Kock is at his best when he opens the innings but the opening slots of the team had been reserved by Finch and Rohit. So, Pooran makes it to this team on the bank of his impressive 63-runs innings against a disciplined English bowling attack.
All-rounders: Glenn Maxwell and Hardik Pandya
Matches - 2, Runs - 66, Average - 66, Fours - 6, Sixes - 1
Australia's hard-hitting all-rounder played a quickfire innings of 46 runs against Sri Lanka which played a major role in getting him a place in this team. Glenn Maxwell. hit 20 runs off 10 balls versus Pakistan. His strike rate has been a reason of worry for the opposition bowlers as the Big Show takes very less time to settle in the middle.
Also, he gave the Aussies 17 overs of off-spin in the two matches. Though he did not scalp any wickets, he bowled with accuracy to keep a check on the run flow.
Match - 1, Runs - 26, Average - 26, Fours - 2, Wickets - 2
India's premier all-rounder, Hardik Pandya performed extremely well against Pakistan, especially with the ball. Pandya's double strike helped India gain the upper hand in the match. The right-arm medium pacer finished with figures of 8-0-44-2.
In the first innings, he had scored 26 runs in just 19 balls, an innings which included 2 fours and a maximum behind the wicket.
Bowlers: Jofra Archer, Mitchell Starc, Mohammad Amir, and Imran Tahir
Match - 1, Wickets - 3, Economy Rate - 3.33, Maiden - 1
England's newest fast bowler, Jofra Archer has been impressing every cricket fan with his extraordinary performances in the Cricket World Cup. His fairytale run continued in the game against Windies as well where he picked 3 wickets in his spell of 9 overs.
Archer conceded only 30 runs whilst dismissing the well-set Nicholas Pooran, hard-hitter Carlos Brathwaite and tail-ender Sheldon Cottrell.
Matches - 2, Wickets - 6, Best Figures - 4/55, Maiden - 1
Australian left arm quick, Mitchell Starc was the leading wicket-taker of the previous World Cup and it seems like he is no mood of relinquishing that title. Starc has been too hot to handle in this tournament and his performances in the previous week have solidified his position as the best left-arm fast bowler of the world at present.
Starc picked a 4-wicket haul against Sri Lanka and played a vital role in his team's win only three days after he picked 2/43 in the match versus Pakistan.
Matches - 2, Wickets - 8, Best Figures - 5/30, Maidens - 3
The lone bright spot for Pakistan in this World Cup, Mohammad Amir was the highest wicket-taker of the third week of Cricket World Cup 2019. Amir's pace helped him take a 5-wicket haul against Australia in a losing effort.
A few days later, his disciplined performance versus team India earned him praise from all corners of the world but unfortunately his side failed to capitalize once again.
Match - 1, Wickets - 4, Economy Rate - 4.14, Maidens - 0
South Africa's leg-spinner, Imran Tahir is the sole spinner in this team as he performed better than his counterparts in the other teams. Tahir's leg-spin got the better of Noor Ali Zadran, Asghar Afghan, Gulbadin Naib and Rashid Khan in quick succession during South Africa's match versus Afghanistan.
12th man: Dimuth Karunaratne
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