ICC CWC’19: Teams to follow ‘bat first and score big’ mantra

Mumbai: The 2019 World Cup was thought to be one that would feature scores of over 400 runs in matches, with attacking teams like England counted to even cross the 500 mark.

However it has been observed that this isn’t the case. This is evident by the fact that out of the 40 matches that have been played, only in 22 matches did a team cross the 300 runs mark.

Though England came close to breaching the 400 runs milestone, they had to settle for a 397, which as of now is the highest score in an innings at this tournament.

But apart from a few matches, the statistics have shown that most pitches in the tournament have been bowler friendly, and most batsmen left the pitches with lower numbers than what they’d have liked to hit.

This has translated to tough times for chasing teams. Teams chasing a score above 250 and 300 have often failed and the even the successful ones finished with not many overs to spare. An exception was Bangladesh successfully chasing down West Indies’ target of 321.

Large chasing targets combined with both pacers and spinners being in good form and having the pitch on their side has resulted in chasing batsmen crumbling under pressure and losing their wickets.

Most teams have now been relying on batting first, making as big a total as possible, and then focussing on not letting the opposition successfully chase it down. Indian skipper Virat Kohli had mentioned at the beginning of the cup that even chasing targets between 270 and 300 is going to be a tough job, let alone the 350 and 400 scores.

With less than 10 days left until the end of the tournament, teams will most likely continue to follow the tried and tested path and attempt to bat first.