Master unhappy
Sachin Tendulkar was left disappointed by India's slow batting display against Afghanistan and said the middle-order batsmen, including Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav, lacked positive intent during their tense clash. "I felt slightly disappointed, it could have been much better. I was also not happy with the partnership between Kedar and Dhoni, it was very slow. We batted 34 overs of spin bowling and scored 119 runs. This was one area where we didn't look comfortable at all. There was no positive intent," Tendulkar told ‘India Today'. Dhoni (24 off 36 balls) and Jadhav (31 off 48) added 57 runs off 84 balls for the fifth wicket, thus slowing down the proceedings considerably in the middle overs. "There were more than 2-3 dot balls. After Virat got out in the 38th over and till the 45th over we hadn't scored many runs. There were not enough outings for the middle order batsmen till now and that put pressure on them. But the intent could have been much better by the middle order batsmen," Tendulkar said.
Kohli pays 25%
India skipper Virat Kohli has been fined 25 per cent of his match fee for appealing in an aggressive manner during their tense World Cup win over Afghanistan on Saturday. "Kohli was found to have breached Article 2.1 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to "Excessive appealing during an International Match", an ICC release said. Saturday's incident occurred in the 29th over of the Afghanistan innings, when Kohli advanced towards umpire Aleem Dar after pacer Jasprit Bumrah struck Rahmat Shah on his pads and appealed for an lbw decision. It was a breach of Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct, which carries a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of a player's match fee, and one or two demerit points.
Bazz predicts
Former captain Brendon McCullum says New Zealand have the firepower to win the World Cup for the first time in their history. The Black Caps won a nail-biter against the West Indies here on Saturday to stay unbeaten at the 50-over tournament in England and Wales. New Zealand, often labelled as underdogs, reached their first World Cup final in 2015 under McCullum after six semi-final appearances, only to lose to Australia in Melbourne. Kane Williamson's side are almost certain of a place in the 2019 semi-finals already, sitting top of the 10-team table with five wins and a no result from six matches. "Some people say underdogs but probably they don't see New Zealand play that often. Broadcast-wise they are not seen as often as some of the other teams and hence they are out of sight out of mind thing," McCullum told AFP. "The World Cup historically for New Zealand has always been very, very good. I think we are second in most wins behind Australia in World Cup matches." The cricketer-turned-commentator said his former side were gaining in confidence after a fine start and would peak for the semi-finals.