STOP looking at the table and the fixture list. Forget the permutations. England’s World Cup has come down to this. Beat India at Edgbaston on Sunday or they are out. Probably.
Yes, the back-to-back defeats by Sri Lanka and Australia, allied to Pakistan’s victory against New Zealand on Wednesday, has pushed Eoin Morgan’s men to the brink of elimination.
The stark nature of England’s World Cup reality will be apparent by the time they take on Virat Kohli’s India in Birmingham this weekend as they are likely to be fifth in the table, with Pakistan fully expected to beat Afghanistan tomorrow.
There are possible scenarios where the host nation can still lose on Sunday and make it through to the last four, provided that they beat New Zealand in their final game next Wednesday at Chester-le-Street.
But they are highly unlikely. It means the crunch match against India – the No.2-ranked team in the world – is a virtual quarter-final for England.
The good news is that it is to be played on a new pitch. Morgan’s team will hope it is true and plays to their batting strengths.
Whether or not England will want to chase will be fascinating too.
Win the toss and they could be tempted to bat first and try to get runs on the board to crank up the pressure on India, especially after fluffing their lines in pursuit of two paltry targets against Sri Lanka and Australia.
However, Kohli is the modern master of the run chase and such is India’s batting strength, it would be a high-risk strategy.
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