Pakistan and Afghanistan fans were hoping for a favour from Sri Lanka. They should know by now they cannot be relied on.
They could at least have put up a fight. Instead, the beleaguered Sri Lankans subsided to such a hefty defeat against New Zealand, it has all but settled the World Cup semi-final places with four matches still left to play.
It was a hammering from start to finish, and ended with the Black Caps strolling to a five-wicket win with nearly 27 overs to spare in Bengaluru.
It has basically rendered the game between Afghanistan and South Africa tomorrow as meaningless. The same with Australia v Bangladesh, Pakistan v England and India v Netherlands.
The Afghans and Pakistan can still match the points tally of New Zealand, but it would take something fanciful for either to overhaul their net run rate.
At 0.74, the Kiwis’ NRR is 0.7 superior to that of Pakistan and 1.08 better than Afghanistan, ahead of the final group game for those two sides.
It means Afghanistan need to win by 438 runs against second-placed South Africa to surpass New Zealand on NRR. Pakistan have to win by 287 or, chase what England make in two or three overs. All equally far-fetched.
When those two sides needed something to go their way, what they saw was another entirely supine display by the Sri Lankans.
So poor has their form been in recent months, it has felt like Sri Lanka have been protesting against the continuation of ODI cricket, rather than trying to prolong its life. Twice in their previous nine ODIs they failed to bat through 20 overs.
They appeared set for the same fate at the start of this one, too. They were five down inside 10 overs, and seven down within 19.
At least there were some positives. Angelo Mathews made it to the wicket on time for his go with the bat, even if he only stayed long enough to make 16.
And they did manage to make it as far as 46.4 overs, but they required a last-pair rearguard to get them that far. Maheesh Theekshana, the No 9, and No 11 Dilshan Madushanka eked out 43 in 14 overs.
Despite capitulating to 171 all out, they were able to celebrate the fastest individual half century of the competition.
Remarkably, Kusal Perera’s 22-ball effort was the fastest of a tournament in which the fastest hundred record in World Cup history has been broken twice – by Aiden Markram and Glenn Maxwell.
He was dropped, by Tom Latham off Tim Southee, on nought, on the 10th ball of the match.
Latham enjoyed immediate respite. He caught Pathum Nissanka off the following delivery, and Sri Lanka were 32 for three not long after. In taking three for 32, Trent Boult was the player of the match.
With such a paltry target, New Zealand knew they could press on the accelerator to try to extend the gap between them and Pakistan.
They raced to the win within 23.2 overs, with Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell each posting scores in the 40s.
They are now more or less assured of extending their record of appearing in every 50-over World Cup semi-final since 2003.
In making a dapper 32-ball 42, Ravindra leapfrogged Quinton de Kock at the top of the run charts for the tournament.
It has been a breakout tournament for the left-handed all-rounder, and his name reverberated around the stands again.
“It's a pretty surreal feeling,” said Ravindra, who was born in New Zealand to Indian parents.
“I’m grateful for the support, especially playing in Bangalore. Having the crowd chanting my name is something I will never take for granted.”
World Test Championship table
1 India 71 per cent
2 New Zealand 70 per cent
3 Australia 69.2 per cent
4 England 64.1 per cent
5 Pakistan 43.3 per cent
6 West Indies 33.3 per cent
7 South Africa 30 per cent
8 Sri Lanka 16.7 per cent
9 Bangladesh 0
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Company%C2%A0profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
EMIRATES'S%20REVISED%20A350%20DEPLOYMENT%20SCHEDULE
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Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai