New Zealand batters Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra lit up the opening match of the ICC World Cup with twin tons against England as they eased to a nine-wicket win at Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Having won the toss, England elected to bat first and scored 282/9 in their 50 overs, which seemed like a decent total, but New Zealand had other ideas as they got a measure of revenge against the defending champions.
In a mostly empty Narendra Modi Cricket, the World Cup vibes were missing despite the first match involving two top teams that played in the massively dramatic final of the last World Cup.
The first innings was mostly unremarkable on all fronts, despite England having a long batting lineup and a lot of firepower.
Joe Root was the top-scorer for England there with a 77-run innings from 86 balls while for New Zealand, Matt Henry was the pick of the bowlers with 3/48 in his quota of 10 overs.
Things picked up in the second innings as the galleries filled up a bit more in the 132,000-capacity stadium with Ravindra and Conway scoring the two fastest tons by a New Zealand batter in ODI World Cups.
Conway scored his hundred from 83 balls while Ravindra broke Conway’s record of the fastest ton by a Kiwi batter in World Cups by scoring his off 82 balls.
The two centurions would go on to put up a 273-run partnership for the 2nd wicket as Conway ended on 152 not out from 121 balls while Ravindra managed 123 from 96 balls.
The partnership is also a new record for New Zealand as it’s the highest one for the 2nd wicket, beating the previous best of 235 set by Martin Guptill and Will Young.
India, despite the lack of buzz around the country for the World Cup as ODI cricket jostles to stay relevant and exciting in the midst of growing T20 popularity and hype, is set to be boosted economically by $2.2 billion.
This is according to economists at the Bank of Baroda who estimate that the total Indian viewership for the tournament, including both on television and streaming platforms, will be far larger than the 552 million seen in 2019. That may generate 105 billion rupees to 120 billion rupees in TV rights and sponsorship revenue “on a conservative basis.”
