‘Surely not’

A magnificent rearguard effort from India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja could not offset the early damage done by seamers Trent Boult and Matt Henry as New Zealand secured a second successive World Cup final berth with an 18-run win in a pulsating semifinal at Old Trafford yesterday. New Zealand completed the win on the reserve day set aside for the semifinals and finals after rain had forced a suspension on Tuesday, which ended with the Kiwis on 211 for five in 46.1 overs.

The Black Caps will meet the winner of today’s second semifinal between Australia and England in the final at Lord’s on July 14. If Australia win, it will be a replay of the 2015 World Cup final and if England win, there will be a new world champion come Sunday night.

Chasing 240 to win, India had brought the chase down to 37 from the last three overs with Jadeja and Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the crease. Having hit four sixes while dragging India back into contention, Jadeja perished trying for a necessary fifth to be caught in the ring off a Boult slower ball. Dhoni started the next over from Lockie Ferguson, which began with India needing 31, with a six over point but off the third ball a precision throw from deep square leg from Martin Guptill found Dhoni just short of his crease in his attempt to complete his 51st run. Guptill’s pinpoint accuracy was one of the examples of fortune favouring the brave after skipper Kane Williamson had gone for wickets early on and gambled by bowling his best bowlers out before the last two overs.

Ferguson bowled Bhuvneshwar Kumar with a slower ball and then Jimmy Neesham had Yuzvendra Chahal caught behind as India were all out for 221 with three balls to spare.

New Zealand’s win over the more fancied India was based on doing what no other team had managed against the 2011 World Cup champions in this edition so far -- dismissing Rohit Sharma and skipper Virat Kohli within the first 10 overs. After New Zealand had added 28 runs for the loss of three wickets in the morning yesterday, three wickets from Henry and one -- that of Kohli -- from Boult cut the Indians down to 24 for four after the first 10 overs. The significance of those early blows can best be illustrated by the fact that in their eight league games, India had lost just four wickets in the first 10 overs.

But the two-time champions’ chasing pedigree came through later on, when Jadeja dominated a 116-run seventh-wicket stand with MS Dhoni, who was handing the strike over to the left-hander in red-hot form. Jadeja came to

the crease with India reeling on 92 for six in the 31st over with Dhoni playing slowly and the match all but lost. He hit a 59-ball 77 in the partnership that lasted 17.2 overs and nearly pulled off a miracle.

Earlier, in ideal swing-bowling conditions, captain Williamson’s gamble to go all out for wickets was rewarded by two bowlers who executed that plan to the letter with highly accurate and incisive spells. Henry drew first blood in the second over by having Sharma -- who scored five centuries in eight league games -- caught by the keeper with an edged away-swinger. Boult worked Kohli over with a sequence of two outswingers and two inswingers, with the right-hander playing across the line and being trapped in front by the second inswinger. Lokesh Rahul repeated Sharma’s error -- poking without conviction at an away-swinger -- to leave India on a woeful five for three in the fourth over. Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant fought hard to survive with Boult constantly keeping the batsmen guessing and playing late. Neesham then completed the Powerplay dominance by snaffling a superb catch at point millimetres off the ground diving to his left when Karthik checked a drive to another outswinger from Henry and got a thick outside edge in the 10th    over.

Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner did his part by bowling a tight line and Pant, realising the need for some quick runs, attempted a maximum but was instead caught off a slog sweep at deep midwicket in the 23rd over. The pressure also told on Hardik Pandya, whose wild slog in the 31st over off the same bowler was caught by Williamson in the ring, leaving India in a seemingly hopeless position. Jadeja’s innings followed, as did a late Dhoni fightback in what could be the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman’s last ODI, but the early ground ceded to the brave Kiwis proved too much to recover.

In front of a raucously partisan crowd in Edgbaston, England ensured that the 2019 World Cup will see first-time champions crowned with a dominant eight-wicket defeat of five-time winners Australia in the second semifinal yesterday.

After a superb bowling performance that found every Australian batsman bar Steve Smith wanting, England chased a sub-par 223 with little fuss. Skipper Eoin Morgan hit Jason Behrendorff over mid on to secure the win with 17.5 overs to spare, setting off fireworks and uproarious applause.

England have never won a World Cup despite playing three previous finals, and will face New Zealand -- who have also never won the mega event and have reached their second successive title decider -- in the final at Lord’s on July 14.

England’s chase was built around an explosive opening stand between Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy that realised 124 runs in just 17.2 overs and negated any sting in Australia’s attack. Roy was second to depart in the 20th over with the score on 147, but Morgan (45 off 39) and Joe Root (49 off 46) maintained England’s dominance with an unbroken 79-run stand.

It was Roy who dominated the match-shaping opening partnership by scoring 85 off 65 balls. Those runs were worth their weight in gold because, as evidenced in India’s defeat to New Zealand in the first semifinal the day before, a World Cup knockout carries pressure of its own and a slow start or early wickets would only have let Australia back into the contest.

Roy started his carnage with two cover-driven boundaries in the fourth over off Mitchell Starc, who was later to become the highest wicket-taker in a single edition of the World Cup by trapping Bairstow in front for his 27th wicket of the edition. It was otherwise not a happy outing for Starc as he bore the brunt of Roy’s onslaught, leaking 70 runs from nine overs. Roy brought up his 50 off his 50th delivery in the 15th over, after which England were on 95 without loss. If Australia were thinking that a fightback was still a possibility, the next over would have crushed that hope. Aaron Finch brought on the part-time leg-spin of Smith, and Roy launched him for three successive sixes, with the last one bouncing off the roof of the five-story tall media stand behind the sightscreen. Bairstow departed two overs later and Roy himself was denied a century when umpire Kumar Dharmasena adjudged him caught-behind off a Pat Cummins bouncer when replays showed that the ball was nowhere near his gloves as he played and missed the pull. Roy protested, but England did not have a review as Bairstow had used up their lone unsuccessful one when challenging a pretty plumb leg-before decision -- perhaps England’s lone mistake in an otherwise perfect performance.

Earlier, Australia had come into the semifinal with a world of confidence, having beaten England in their league game on June 25 and boasting an all-win record in six previous World Cup semifinals. England, whose defeat at Lord’s against the old enemy formed part of a two-game dip that threatened their semifinal chances, had rallied with victories in their last two league games and yesterday, burst Australia’s bubble inside the first seven overs after losing the toss by taking three wickets with just 14 on the board.

Skipper Aaron Finch departed for a golden duck in the first ball of the second over, playing around an inswinger from the fiery Jofra Archer to be trapped plumb in front, although he wasted their single unsuccessful review. Smith had then entered as the crowd booed loudly.

In the next over, Chris Woakes accounted for David Warner -- Australia’s highest scorer in the World Cup with 636 runs leading into the match -- with a ball that reared from short of a good length and caught the edge of a hopping Warner’s bat on way to second slip.

The pitch was offering early-morning movement with a good helping of pace, and allied with accurate and incisive bowling from Archer and Woakes, Australia found the going tough and limped to 14 in the sixth over. That was when Woakes got one to nip sharply back off the seam and bowl Pete Handscomb.

Then followed the only partnership of note between Smith and Alex Carey as the duo put on 103 for the fourth wicket. Australia reached 27 for three after the first 10 overs and while Carey in particular tried to cut loose, excellent ground fielding from England ensured that Australia were kept on a tight leash. Smith took 34 balls to score his first seven runs, but started making up for lost time with a pulled boundary off Ben Stokes in the 16th over. He was soon on 33 off 50 balls and with the introduction of leg-spinner Adil Rashid, the run rate picked up as Australia’s recovery seemed underway with the score on 103 for three after 25 overs. However, in the 28th over, Carey let the advantage slip by skipping down to Rashid and holing out at deep midwicket. Marcus Stoinis lasted just a ball before he was trapped in front by a perfectly pitched googly. In between, Smith brought up his half-century to another chorus of boos.

Glenn Maxwell then raised hopes of a second recovery when he hit Rashid for a six over long on in the 32nd over. But that is also when the new pace challenge started for Australia in the form of the returning Archer. The right-arm pacer mixed 140kph-plus deliveries with 120kph slower balls and Maxwell was undone by the latter, checking a drive and being caught at cover for 22.

Pat Cummins did not last long, falling victim to another Rashid googly that he edged to slip to leave the score on 166 for seven. Mitchell Starc stayed with Smith during a 51-run eighth-wicket stand that carried the score to 217 for seven, but just when it looked like Australia may make a match of it with a score nearing 250, Smith was run out brilliantly by wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, whose direct hit at the non-striker’s end in the 48th over found Smith just short of his stumps, forcing the brave innings to be cut short on 119-ball 85. Starc was caught behind for 29 off the next ball bowled by Woakes. Mark Wood then bowled an inch-perfect yorker to bowl Behrendorff in the next over to bowl Australia out for a sub-par 223 with an over to spare.

One of the recurring themes of Bangladesh's World Cup campaign has been the disappointing performance of the one batsman most fans would have been looking at to set the biggest stage alight for the Tigers. Tamim Iqbal averaged 57.06 between the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, but on the biggest stage, he managed 235 runs at an average of 29.37 from eight games. A player who takes great pride in performance and the legacy he will leave behind in Bangladesh cricket, the meagre returns frustrated Tamim throughout the event, even though it was his most successful World Cup in terms of runs scored. Yesterday, as the Tigers prepared to make their way back from the UK, Tamim spoke to The Daily Star's Sakeb Subhan about his disappointment and the need to move past it. The following are excerpts of the interview:

The Daily Star (TDS): Are you disappointed with your performance in the World Cup?

Tamim Iqbal (TI): Yes, very disappointed. In the sense that, after what happened in 2015, I have been preparing myself for 2019. In these four years I've had a lot of success. And then, even in Ireland I did really well. But I think that as soon as the World Cup started, I took a lot of pressure on myself. Just thinking that I don't go back to 2015 again. It is very easy for anyone who reads this to come and ask me why are you thinking like this, you have scored so many runs. But only I know what is going on inside. My nightmare was going back to 2015, what happened in 2015, how I suffered and my family suffered.

TDS: By that you mean the outside pressure after you dropped a catch against England and also some inconsistency with the bat?

TI: The outburst that happened was very new for me then. I couldn't handle it at that time. And then how the family suffered, and all of that. I knew very well that the World Cup is a tournament that makes even those who do not follow cricket start following; that's how big the event is. I think that is what killed me at the beginning. I took a lot of pressure on myself; I wanted to prove a point… not prove a point, I wanted to do really well.

And in these four years, the success I got, I never tried to prove to anyone. I just went there, batted and things happened. But here, I put so much pressure on myself to succeed that it hampered me. I was actually looking to get  a score in the first two games. That's very important for me. The 62 I scored [against Australia], if I could have scored that in the first two games, it could have been a different thing mentally. I think that is why I find it disappointing. The trolling, the criticism is part of my life. I need to accept it. I think that I have dealt with it much better than I did in 2015. What bothered me was myself. I lost to myself.

TDS: What bothered you more, that you couldn't score runs or the pressure you put on yourself?

TI: I took a lot of pressure to score runs. I had to score… I had to score. If you try too hard to do something, it doesn't happen. I really am not someone who has a bad tournament and will then come and give excuses, but actually I was very unlucky in this tournament. There were three to four dismissals where I couldn't do anything. The Cottrell runout, the three chop-ons. It had nothing to do with my technique. There were one or two dismissals which I regret… England and New Zealand. The first game [against South Africa] was a very good delivery, the last game [against Pakistan] was a good delivery. Surprisingly, though I didn't score runs, I actually batted really well. It wasn't as if I was being beaten or struggling. Whenever I batted, everybody thought – myself included – that this is the day probably. I went there and played a couple of nice shots and then it just happened. The good thing is I don't take the past innings with me when I am batting. I started panicking more because I was getting out after one mistake. I actually lost patience with myself. I wondered what the hell is happening. I talked to Neil and he said you cannot do anything. After the first two games I went to [batting coach] Neil [McKenzie] and said 'let's shoot my batting and see if there is anything technical'. Then he told me 'I wish I could tell you something', there was nothing. He said 'it's basically the same, you've done this'.

There are two positives from this. One was the processes that got me success, the way I batted and the processes I did before the game, I did exactly the same. In such situations, there will be people giving you all kind of advice: 'Go and attack', 'if this is not working you should bat like this or that'. That is the worst possible thing I could have done. Because after not scoring in two matches, if I went down the wicket to the first ball, or swung my bat around and then got out, then that would have the worst possible thing. The best thing I did was I never changed. I batted exactly the same way when I scored a lot runs and when I didn't score a lot runs – from game 1 to game 8 – I batted the same way.

TDS: When you say the same way, do you mean the changed Tamim who aims to bat till the 40th over?

TI: The aim is to bat deep. Sometimes, with the way I start… I will take time when I start the innings. When I am batting on 40 or 50, I make up the time I took. I have a lot of confidence in myself, the team, the coaching staff have a lot of confidence in me. It's not like I have done it for 10 games; I have done it for 50 games. Unfortunately I never got to that stage in this World Cup. People will say that there are a lot of ifs and buts, but it does not bother me because I know what I was trying to do. The other positive is that in my bad times, if I am averaging 30, I am pretty happy.

TDS: A lot of criticism has come because of your changed role, from swashbuckler to someone who bats all the way through.

TI: My role also has changed and, though it is a World Cup, I batted exactly the same way for the last five years. The way I batted actually helped the team to win. It doesn't bother me what people think. Changing myself because some people think a certain way is the worst possible thing I could do. What I do is not easy. My point is, if something has worked for me for a number of years, why should I change it? The people who understand cricket will understand what I went through and the people who don't understand cricket, will always criticise. And I am completely fine with it; I think I have come out of that space in 2015. There were high expectations, for me too, because I took myself to that level. It hurts a lot, but I need to come out of it.

TDS: You say that you have lost to yourself but also that the frustrations did not hamper you in the middle. Where did it affect you?

TI: It didn't affect me when I was batting. It affected me before the game – two days before the game. When playing a match, what you're doing in the middle is important but there are other important things. How mentally relaxed you are a day before, how positively you are thinking, all this adds to your batting. If you are not in a good mental space when you are going out to bat, it sometimes definitely hurts you and definitely affects your game. I took a lot of pressure to perform. It was not about social media or people writing about me, it was me who was the problem.

TDS: Did the dropped catch of Rohit Sharma add to the pressure?

TI: The catch drop didn't bother me either. I dropped the catch and felt bad for a couple of overs and I was up and running in two overs' time. I was going into the hot position to field. I was cheering when wickets were falling. I was probably the first one to go to Mustafizur when he took five wickets. Dropped catches are part of cricket. It was an important catch, I understand. A lot of criticism came after the dropped catch. Going forward, I will be taking a lot of good catches and I will also be dropping catches.

TDS: With three wins out of eight matches, how would you rate Bangladesh's performance?

TI: I thought it was a disappointing performance. We definitely had our moments and our chances. I could answer that question by saying that it was a very positive tournament, we pushed the best teams to the limit, but I think that we as a team have come out of that position. Just playing well is not our target. Playing well and winning games is our target. If you think in that way, we are number seven. If South Africa win we become number eight. So you cannot say it was a great campaign.