World Cup digest: England completes Mission 2019, India suffers another semifinal exit

Sportstar recaps the performances of all 10 participants at the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales.

England captain Eoin Morgan with the World Cup trophy.

England: Mission 2019 accomplished

Jofra Archer was not part of the provisional World Cup squad but he bowled the Super Over that won England its maiden World Cup. Eoin Morgan and co. recovered from a slump towards the end of the league stage with back-to-back wins against India and New Zealand to qualify for the semis.

It beat defending champion Australia by eight wickets in the last-four before prevailing in the unprecedented Super Over in the final to lift the trophy at the Home of Cricket (Lord’s).

England (Champion)Group Stage: Ranking: 3, Points: 12

England's bad run of form coincided with Jason Roy’s absence with a left hamstring injury. He returned to the XI against India and transformed England’s fortunes with his belligerence at the top of the order with opening partner Jonny Bairstow.

New Zealand: Denied the trophy on boundary count

Kane Williamson and co. couldn’t have done much more in the Lord’s final against England, but the trophy eluded it because the side had hit lesser boundaries (17) than the eventual winner (26). Captain Williamson described the loss as “devastating” and his England counterpart, Eoin Morgan, offered commiserations.

New Zealand (Runner-up)Group Stage: Ranking: 4, Points: 11

New Zealand made itself and the country proud with its performances in the United Kingdom, but it couldn’t get its hands on the trophy for the second straight World Cup final. The Blackcaps were consistent through the tournament but for a three-match losing streak to conclude its league campaign, putting itself in a slight risk of being eliminated by Pakistan.

India: ‘45 minutes of bad cricket’

Virat Kohli attributed India’s exit from the World Cup to the poor start to the run-chase against New Zealand in the semifinal. It was reduced to 5 for three in the fourth over and it wasn’t long before India was four down for 25 with the dismissal of Dinesh Karthik, who walked in at No. 5, ahead of M. S. Dhoni.

India (Semi-finalist)Group Stage: Ranking: 1, Points: 15

The Indian top order was undone by the swing and seam of Trent Boult and Matt Henry. In his post-match press conference, the Indian captain said, “Forty-five minutes of bad cricket puts you out of the tournament, so it's difficult to accept. But New Zealand played good cricket and deserved to go through.” India went into the semifinals after finishing first in the league stage, where it won seven of the eight completed matches.

Rohit Sharma (648 runs) and Jasprit Bumrah (18 wickets) were the standout players for India.

READ: England wins maiden World Cup after Super Over thriller

Australia: One top order failure too many

Alex Carey played 'back-to-the-wall' knocks against West Indies and New Zealand during the league stage to bail out Australia after the top order had been dismissed cheaply.

Steve Smith and Carey, who produced a brave effort with the bat in the semifinal, after taking a blow to the chin, couldn’t take Australia to a total that might have put England under pressure.

Australia (Semi-finalist)Group Stage: Ranking: 2, Points: 14

David Warner (647) and Aaron Finch (507) finished the tournament as the second and seventh-highest run-scorers. However their failure, coming in a match in which the regular No. 3 Usman Khawaja was missing, proved one too many for the defending champion, which lost a World Cup semifinal for the first time.

Pakistan: Poor start ultimately proves fatal

Pakistan won four matches in a row to conclude its World Cup campaign but the damage was done upfront, when it could manage only a win in five matches (including a washout against Sri Lanka).

PakistanGroup Stage: Ranking: 5, Points: 11

Pakistan’s early run of results (loss, win, no-result, loss, loss) provided momentum for the reference to the victorious 1992 campaign. But the net run-rate took a significant hit with the heavy defeats to West Indies, Australia and India, and meant Sarfaraz Ahmed and Co. had to beat Bangladesh (in its final league fixture) by more than 300 runs to better New Zealand’s net run-rate and secure a semifinal spot.

Mohammad Amir (17 wickets), Shaheen Shah Afridi (16 wickets) and Babar Azam (474 runs) were Pakistan’s standout players in a somewhat disappointing campaign.

Sri Lanka: Neither here nor there

Sri Lanka came into the World Cup as the most unsettled side and it began the tournament with a thrashing at the hands of New Zealand.

But through the tournament Sri Lanka beat the likes of Afghanistan, West Indies and favourite England to keep itself in the hunt for a semifinal berth. However, the team couldn’t make it through mainly because it had no consistent match winners.

Sri LankaGroup Stage: Ranking: 6, Points: 8

Lasith Malinga was its best performer of the tournament with the ball, while Angelo Mathews showed his quality with the bat with a match-defining half-century against England and a hundred against India.

Avishka Fernando became the third-youngest Sri Lankan to score a World Cup century, but Sri Lanka ended the tournament as a work in progress.

South Africa: Thin on resources

The Proteas began the tournament as only an outsider to qualify for the semifinals, but its shortcomings became apparent with every passing match.

Losing Dale Steyn to a shoulder injury was a big blow and with the other bowling spearhead Kagiso Rabada not at his best, South Africa’s bowling attack lacked the firepower to trouble batting powerhouses like England and India.

South AfricaGroup Stage: Ranking: 7, Points: 7

South Africa’s batting lacked the X-factor of the yesteryear and though Faf du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen scored runs consistently, it never had the muscle to chase down challenging totals.

Despite these weaknesses, three wins in eight completed matches was unimaginable before the tournament.

Bangladesh: Bowlers fail to complement batsmen

Bangladesh came into the tournament with the confidence of having won a tri-nation tournament in Ireland and translated it into a 21-run win over South Africa in its opening game.

However, Mashrafe Mortaza and Co. managed only two more wins in tournament and those came against teams which finished below it in the points table (West Indies and Afghanistan). In its eight games, Bangladesh conceded six 300-plus totals and its bowlers undid all the good work done by its batsmen.

BangladeshGroup Stage: Ranking: 8, Points: 7

Mustafizur did pick up 20 wickets in eight games but he was the only standout bowler, with Mortaza picking just one wicket in the entire tournament.

Shakib Al Hasan's almost superhuman effort to score 606 runs and take 11 wickets was the standout feature of a largely disappointing World Cup for Bangladesh.

West Indies: Series of missed opportunities

Many considered the 'Men in Maroon' as the dark horses in this edition of the World Cup. And it initially justified that tag as the side thumped Pakistan in its first game.

In the next game against Australia, West Indies took early wickets but let it slip as Nathan Coulter-Nile scored a 60-ball 92 to hand the Windies a 15-run defeat.

West IndiesGroup Stage: Ranking: 9, Points: 5

From there, the side lost close games against New Zealand and Sri Lanka to be knocked out of the tournament, after having a game abandoned against South Africa. Despite moments of brilliance on the field and Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran's sparkling batting efforts, West Indies finished ninth on the points table.

Afghanistan: Lacking the cutting edge

Many backed Afghanistan to upset a few of the top sides at this year’s World Cup but it ended the tournament bottom of the table having lost each of its nine matches.

It came close to beating Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan, but the pressure of the crunch moments got the better of it.

AfghanistanGroup Stage: Ranking: 10, Points: 0

Senior players like Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi failed to rise to the occasion, while Gulbadin Naib’s captaincy proved uninspiring. Only Rahmat Shah scored over 250 runs for the Afghans in the tournament and only Nabi reached 10 wickets, as the Asian side failed as a collective unit.