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Numbers that matter from Australia-India semifinal at the Cricket World Cup
India did everything they could to prepare themselves to win the ICC World Cup semifinal against Australia in Sydney on Wednesday night. They reinvented themselves after a winless summer prior to the cup. Their bowlers were in fine form. The top order looked dangerous. They boasted a perfect World Cup record heading into the semifinal. What more could they do?
But, all that seemingly hard work, effort and toil counted for naught as they were blasted out of the World Cup by 95 runs against an Australian juggernaut that seems to get better with each match. Cricket experts called Australia’s win a “near perfect performance”, with still room to improve.
Former Australian batsmen and ESPN CricInfo commentator, Michael Bevan, praised the mammoth win and said initially, it wasn’t easy to tell what would be a winning score on the S.C.G’s hard and flat surface.
“Not many were sure on what was going to be a good total on that wicket. Australia batted well. They batted close to their best,” he said. “Steve Smith, I thought, was amazing. He hardly looked like he broke a sweat. And was batting on a different planet to most other guys. It was pretty impressive stuff.”
While India captain MS Dhoni is still unsure on whether he will play the 2019 World Cup in England, he gave credit to his team for what he believed was still a successful World Cup campaign – even though they didn’t claim back to back World Cups.
“At the start of the tournament, a lot of people didn't really think we'll come so far but at the same time when you come to the knockouts you have to lift your game,” he told ESPN Cricinfo. “There is pressure when you're chasing 320 runs and we have seen in cricket that pressure makes you do things you don't really want to do.”
The Australia win sets up a Trans Tasman final with neighbours New Zealand this weekend which will send talks of cricket rivalries into fever pitch. Before that starts to surface, here are some numbers from the semi final to reflect on, that helps explain the emphatic Australian win and India’s lackluster performance.
NUMBERS THAT MATTER
328 The highest total made in a World Cup semifinal at Sydney by Australia.
0 The amount of wins India had during their four-month Australian tour.
337 Australian batsmen Steve Smith has scored this amount in his last four innings.
65 MS Dhoni’s score from Wednesday night, potentially his last World Cup innings.
15 The number of times India have chased scores above 300 which is a one-day record.
9 Mitchell Johnson faced this many ball to score 27 runs, that included 4 fours and 1 six.
38 Mitch Starc’s amount of dot balls, the most from any bowler during the semifinal.
1 Virat Kohli’s score from 13 balls. Never looked settled. Expected big things but he fizzled out like soaked birthday candles.
182 The partnership between Steve Smith and Aaron Finch that sealed India’s fate.
4 India’s strike bowler Umesh Yadav took 4-72. Expensive, but his wickets slowed down the Australian batsmen. It stopped the Aussies from making a 400-plus score.
