The 2023 ICC Men’s ODI World Cup has finished its third week, showcasing outstanding individual efforts. India and South Africa, as the hosts, are the top two teams, displaying excellent cricket.
New Zealand holds the third position with four wins out of five matches. Despite remarkable performances from players, close matches have been missing in the tournament.
In the third week, India maintained their strong presence by securing convincing wins against Bangladesh and New Zealand. South Africa and Australia also pushed forward in their pursuit of a spot in the semifinals with remarkable displays.
Afghanistan surprised everyone by beating Pakistan, giving them a chance to reach the semifinals. The upcoming fourth week promises excitement, and we’ll know more once it’s over.
Let’s look back at the 5 best bowling performances from Week 3 of the ICC World Cup:
#1 Ravindra Jadeja- 2/38 vs Bangladesh in Match 17, at Pune
Ravindra Jadeja is having a fantastic tournament as a bowler, and he continued his excellent form in the third week. In the match against Bangladesh, he delivered a remarkable performance as a left-arm orthodox spinner, taking 2 wickets for 38 runs in his 10 overs.
He dismissed Najmul Hossain Shanto with a clever arm ball that slid through and hit the batsman in front of the wickets. Jadeja also got rid of the well-set Litton Das after he had scored a well-earned half-century.
Throughout his spell, he didn’t allow the Bangladeshi batsmen to accelerate in the middle overs, which significantly hampered their progress towards the end of the innings. His performance played a crucial role in limiting Bangladesh to a total of 256 runs.
#2 Noor Ahmad- 3/49 vs Pakistan in Match 22, at Pakistan
Noor Ahmad is a special kind of bowler in cricket. He often plays for his IPL team, Gujarat Titans, but had trouble getting into the Afghanistan team because they have many good spin bowlers.
But in his first World Cup game against Pakistan, Noor did really well. He’s only 19, but he took three important wickets that stopped Pakistan from scoring too many runs. His 3/49 helped Afghanistan limit Pakistan to 282.
He tricked Mohammad Rizwan with a special delivery, which led to a catch near the fine leg. Noor also got rid of two well-playing batsmen, Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam, who had both scored over fifty runs. His performance was a big part of Afghanistan’s historic win over Pakistan, winning by eight wickets.
#3 Adam Zampa- 4/8 vs Netherlands in Match 24, at Delhi
Adam Zampa initially struggled with the ball in the first two matches of the tournament, but he’s made a strong comeback in recent games. He appears twice on this list because of his remarkable performance.
He was exceptionally effective against the Netherlands’ lower-order batsmen, taking four wickets in just three overs. His tricky deliveries, like his wrong-uns, proved too challenging for players such as Roelof van der Merwe and Aryan Dutt.
Australia had set a massive target of 399 runs, and Zampa, along with the new ball bowlers, had already done much of the work by the time he arrived to clean up the remaining tail-end batsmen. He dismissed Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, and Paul van Meekeren.
#4 Adam Zampa- 4/53 vs Pakistan in Match 18, at Pakistan
When it was most important, Zampa performed well for Australia, helping them stay on track in the World Cup despite some early losses. Australia scored a big 367 runs against Pakistan, thanks to hundreds from David Warner and Mitchell Marsh.
Pakistan began strongly with their opening batsmen, Abdullah Shafique and Imam Ul Haq, but Zampa quickly dismissed the well-playing Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Although Iftikhar Ahmed hit three sixes briefly, Zampa confused him with a special delivery. Zampa also took the wicket of Mohammad Nawaz, and Australia won by 62 runs.
#5 Mohammed Shami- 5/53 vs New Zealand in Match 21, at Dharamsala
In his first game of the 2023 World Cup, Mohammed Shami took five wickets to break down New Zealand’s batting. He was very good at the beginning, getting rid of Will Young.
Then, in his last spell, he got four more wickets. One of his deliveries to dismiss Young seemed ordinary but it worked. He also got rid of Rachin Ravindra after he and Daryl Mitchell had a big partnership.
Shami was excellent towards the end of the game, removing the last few New Zealand batsmen with precise deliveries. He bowled a great delivery to knock over Mitchell Santner and sent Matt Henry’s stumps flying with another powerful ball.
Daryl Mitchell was the last one he dismissed, and New Zealand ended up with a below-average score of 273. India faced some challenges during the match, but in the end, they won comfortably by four wickets.
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