File photo of India cricketer Dinesh Karthik© X (formerly Twitter)
Wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik firmly believes that India’s thumping victory over England, their sixth victory in a row, is sufficient to seal their place in the semifinals of the World Cup. India scored 229/9 after some hiccups in the low-scoring game and it proved to be enough as England lost their top batters to the fiery bowling spell of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah. India won by 100 runs. “I think with this win and with what happened yesterday (Australia defeating New Zealand), we are locked in for the four semi-finalists. It could be a tournament where it has been decided early and it looks more likely it will be the case unless something extraordinary happens, which I personally don’t think will happen,” Kathik said in ICC Review.
“We have the four semi-finalists, it’s just a matter of who is going to be No.2, No.3 and No.4. I think we pretty much know who No.1 is going to be, so it is going to be a question of who is going to be facing India and who No.2 and No.3 are. It is not being cocky, its just with their quality of cricket they are playing,” Karthik added.
A factor that contributed to India’s sixth consecutive victory in the World Cup is the role of tail-enders. During the final moments of the first innings, India only had two wickets in their hands while still 22 balls to play and their score read 208/8.
The tailenders combined to put up a score of 21 runs and ensured that the team played the entire 50 overs rather than losing all their wickets.
At 183/7 in many ways you are playing a game that is well under-par. What was even more beautiful, was to see the likes of Bumrah and Kuldeep fight it out right at the end. That was a very positive sign. Not in terms of a partnership, but in terms of the attitude and what you want to see.”
“We saw Pakistan waste 20 balls the other day against South Africa and who knew what would have happened if they had batted those 20 balls. From a point of view of fighting battles and being there for the team and doing the hard things in the big moments, I thought India was good today,” Karthik added.
India will face Sri Lanka on Thursday at the Wankhede Stadium and will hope to extend their winning streak to seven.
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