As Champions Trophy heads in to the second week, Express looks at talking points so far...
India openers reignite CT romance
It was at the last edition that Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma first opened. It started a journey that has seen them become the third-best opening pair for the country. With questions over both coming into the event, they have come up with the appropriate response (stands of 136 and 138, with both notching two 50+ scores each).
Rain, rain go away
It’s not new for matches in England to be affected by wet weather. But this happening so frequently in a big tournament does not help stakeholders. Australia have been the hardest hit, with both their matches getting washed out. Couple with the fact that rain has made its presence felt in several other matches, one can see why some had been apprehensive about timing and location of event.
Pakistan ride their luck
All hell seemed to have broken loose when Pakistan lost their opening game to India. Sarfaraz Ahmed’s team was comprehensively beaten in every department. A committee was formed by the board to look into the matter. But they need not have bothered, for the very next game, they outplayed South Africa to keep semifinal hopes alive and send a warning that wounded tigers are dangerous.
77
No of innings taken by Dhawan to score 10 ODI centuries, which makes him the third-quickest to the feat.
1
Wednesday was the first time AB de Villiers got out for a golden duck in his ODI career. This was his 7th duck.
300 trend continues
There have been 6 300+ scores in 8 matches and 2 more above 290, embellishing the trend of monster scores becoming commonplace in England. While England and India have crossed 300 both times they batted, even Bangladesh have crossed that landmark. But all this points to the worrying trend of bowlers getting lesser protection in the modern game.