3 best deliveries in the 2023 World Cup so far ft. Jasprit Bumrah
The 2023 World Cup started in India on October 5. The first half of the tournament is in the history books, and home team India have managed to win all their matches so far. South Africa and New Zealand have been quite impressive with their deliveries in the competition as well, while Australia and Afghanistan have made fantastic comebacks after a sluggish start.
The race to the semifinals will begin soon in the 2023 World Cup. It is a common saying in cricket that batters win you matches and bowlers win you tournaments. The team that bowls the best generally ends up winning the World Cup. The same should be the case in the ongoing mega event also, where fans have already witnessed some unbelievable deliveries from the bowlers.
Batters have dominated a majority of the games in Indian conditions, but here's a list of three such deliveries which left the batters clueless.
#1 Jasprit Bumrah stuns Mohammad Rizwan in Ahmedabad
The much-awaited India vs Pakistan match happened at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 14, 2023. Local boy Jasprit Bumrah emerged as the hero for the Men in Blue by bowling a top-quality spell of 2/19 in just seven overs.
His two victims were Mohammad Rizwan and Shadab Khan. Both lost their wickets in similar fashion, but the delivery to Rizwan stood out. Rizwan had spent a lot of time in the middle and was looking to complete his half-century.
On the last ball of the 34th over, Bumrah cleaned up Rizwan with a ripper. It was a slower off-cutter at only 122 kph, which deceived the Pakistan wicketkeeper batter. It pitched outside off-stump before sharply deviating into Rizwan, who had no answer to the delivery from Bumrah. Rizwan lost his stumps and departed to the dressing room.
#2 Shoriful Islam uproots Liam Livingstone's off-stump
Defending champions England battled Bangladesh in their second match of the 2023 World Cup. Dawid Malan's hundred helped England cross the 300-run mark. All-rounder Liam Livingstone came out to bat in the 42nd over when the team's score was 307/4.
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Fans expected Livingstone to take the total near 400, but Shoriful Islam stunned him with a beauty on the first ball that he faced. The Bangladeshi left-arm pacer bowled an off-cutter near the good length area. Livingstone misjudged it completely and was surprised to see his off-stump rooted after that delivery.
#3 Roelof van der Merwe roars after dismissing Temba Bavuma
Roelof van der Merwe bowled one of the best deliveries by a spinner in the 2023 World Cup while playing against his former team South Africa. The Netherlands spinner tossed a ball near the full-length area on the off-stump line to South African skipper Temba Bavuma.
The South African captain expected the ball to turn away from him and attempted a forward defensive shot. However, the ball angled into him, went through the gap between his bat and pad and uprooted the leg-stump. The Netherlands eventually upset South Africa in that encounter at the HPCA Stadium.