Cricket World Cup 2019: Virat Kohli defending Steve Smith a hit but absence of reserve days a huge miss

Ajit Vijaykumar 09:01 12/06/2019
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  • The second week of the 2019 World Cup has been exciting and distressing in equal measure. While we have seen some superb performances with bat and ball, the unforgiving English weather has resulted in three rained-off games.

    England smashed a record 386-6 against Bangladesh while India amassed 352-5 against the Aussies. Sri Lanka, unfortunately, have seen two of their games washed out, which won’t bring them any cheer.

    Amid all the highs and lows, we look at decisions and strategies that hit the mark or missed. Here are our picks from the second week.

    HIT: Kohli coming to Smith’s rescue

    Yes, this does not pertain to scoring runs or taking wickets. But the decision by India captain Virat Kohli to take matters into his own hand and stop Indian fans from jeering Australia batsman Steve Smith was incredible and timely.

    Smith was booed and called a ‘cheater’ by a section of the largely Indian crowd at The Oval. The Aussies have been expecting it but Kohli decided to put an end to it, even going as far as apologising to Smith.

    It must be remembered Kohli stopped short of calling Smith a cheat during the ill-tempered Test series in India in 2017 for seeking the dressing room’s assistance for a decision review. For Kohli to now come to his rescue means most fans, including English supporters during the Ashes, will be inclined to let Smith put the ball-tampering scandal behind.

    MISS: Lack of reserve days

    The Bangladesh-Sri Lanka game was washed out.

    The Bangladesh-Sri Lanka game was washed out.

    Sixteen matches in and we have had three washouts. This is already a record for a World Cup and we are not even half-way through the tournament.

    The ICC tried to defend their decision to not have reserve days for the league phase, stating that doing so would be a logistical nightmare with arrangements required for additional staff, accommodation, volunteers and officials.

    Well, the 1999 World Cup had reserve days for non-knockout matches. Does the ICC mean it is better to have no matches at all than make arrangements for a reserve day and mitigate the loss?

    More matches are certain to be rained off. And with each passing day and rain cloud, the ICC’s decision is looking like a monumental failure.

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