There were a host of superpowers on show as India took on Sri Lanka in the World Cup
Alagappan Muthu02-Nov-2023I am Iron Man.Those four words gave rise to a whole new universe and there was a moment, at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, that had the potential to do the same. Our hero had been struggling until then, getting beat on both edges of the bat. One of those was a catching opportunity and as soon as it went down he decided enough was enough.Out came the cover drive.That’s his signature.That’s him saying “I am Virat Kohli.”Related
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He had mistimed five of his first 20 balls. He hit that shot and would mistime only seven more for the rest of his 94-ball innings. No. 49 looked inevitable. And it was going to happen right in front of real-life Sachin Tendulkar and reel-life Sachin Tendulkar. A whole universe’s worth of content was about to come to life until …Long before Dilshan Madushanka dismissed Kohli for 88, he had already created his Avengers moment. He was Hawkeye, who for some reason is happy to go up against armies from outer space and overpowered AIs with nothing more than a bow and some tricked-out arrows. Madushanka’s offcutter is like a tricked-out arrow. And it went up against one of the most domineering batters of this World Cup and brought him tumbling all the way down. One second Rohit Sharma thought he had it covered. The next he was looking back at his off stump lying flat on the ground.Shreyas Iyer was injured for a lot of this year. His back was shot. His power gone. He even wondered if he’d ever get it back. Today, batting under the shadow of two Little Masters, and playing alongside their heirs apparent, he wound that previously-injured body of his up and whacked Kasun Rajitha for a straight six that went 106 metres, the biggest of the tournament. Somebody grab that footage and superimpose the words “Shreyas Smash!”.Mohammed Shami is running red hot in this World Cup•Associated PressJasprit Bumrah should start running in to Led Zeppelin. He’s already doing all the other Thor things. The ball that comes out of his hand zig-zags like lightning. Imagine facing lightning. Pathum Nissanka took on that responsibility and he didn’t fare well at all. The ball that took him out and got the Sri Lanka collapse going was angled in, then straightened after pitching. Zig. Zag. Nissanka was totally squared up and when the umpire judged him lbw, the noise that Wankhede created was like thunder.So we’ve run through the OGs and those guys are great but there’s one from the Gen X era that might become bigger than them all. You know the one. Shubman Gill certainly knows the one. He voiced Spider-man in the Hindi dubbing of . And while his hands may not be able to shoot webs, they do this other thing that is equally cool. They enable him to hit balls that are clipping the top of middle and off stump – essentially balls that aren’t short or wide – with a horizontal bat – like the cut and pull – and find the boundary.That’s badass, because those balls require the full face, and when you turn the bat horizontal to meet them, you’re offering less than the full face and therefore reducing your chances of making contact and increasing your chances of being dismissed. This bit of logic seems to not matter at all to Gill because he took balls that would have crashed into his wickets and sent them for fours not once but twice – a cut shot in the fifth over and a pull shot in the 30th over.There is a fan theory about Avengers Endgame that the directors, the Russo brothers, sidelined Captain Marvel because she was too powerful. At the start of the movie, she says something about other planets needing protection as well and leaves Captain America and Black Widow to tackle Thanos with whatever resources they had. Then she comes in for the final fight and destroys everything in her path. Sounds familiar? Mohammed Shami didn’t play the first four games of this campaign. But since he’s come in, he’s picked up a five-for, a four-for and another five-for. He is now India’s highest wicket-taker in World Cup history.India’s Avengers have assembled. And they’re all heading to the semi-final.
