ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Best pictures from the group stages

With the group stages of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup drawing to a close on Sunday, there is no better time than now to look back on what has been an exhilarating tournament so far. There was concern coming into the tournament about whether the group stages were too long and predictable, but substantial improvement from the Associate teams ensured that it was anything but the case.Afghanistan registered their first ever victory in World Cup history beating Scotland while Bangladesh created history by beating England and progressing to the knockout stages of a World Cup for the first time ever. That aside, there were also numerous new feats achieved especially by the batsmen, with Chris Gayle became the 1st batsman to break the 200-run barrier in the history of World Cups.Here are the best pictures from the group stages of the 2015 World Cup:     

#1 James Taylor argues with Australian players after umpiring howler - 14 February 2015

Every Cricket World Cup till now has had its fair share of umpiring controversies, and the current edition has been no different with the first contentious decision being on the opening day of the tournament itself. During the Pool A match between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), James Taylor was given out LBW by umpire Aleem Dar on 98.

Taylor immediately reviewed the decision and replays showed that the ball was sliding down leg, as a result of which the decision was overturned.

However, the diminutive Englishman was still denied the opportunity of getting to a hundred as umpire Kumar Dharmasena wrongly ruled Taylors partner, James Anderson, run out after he was found short of his crease while the duo were attempting to sneak a leg bye.

According to ICC rules,the ball shouldve been deemed dead as soon as Dar adjudged Taylor to be out. The umpires were seemingly unaware of this being the case, leaving Taylor two runs short of what wouldve been a well-deserved maiden international ton.