The fourth round of matches in the 2023 World Cup is underway, with plenty to unpack from the first two weeks of competition.

The story of the competition so far has been India’s dominance, with surprise wins for Afghanistan and the Netherlands over England and South Africa respectively stealing the limelight this week. Tactical trends have also emerged, with the use of spin predictably important and sides opting for different balances between disciplines.

Here are five things we have learnt so far from the competition.

India’s fairytale is on track

India came into their home tournament as favourites, but predictions were largely short of the kind of dominance they are currently displaying. When their first three wickets of the tournament all fell for ducks, a healthy dose of fear would’ve flashed through the hearts of one billion home fans. But since then, there’s barely been a blip. Rohit Sharma is in frightening touch, Bumrah’s a cut above the rest of the pacers on show, and a thumping victory over Pakistan provided the perfect end to the first act. The whispers of confidence are starting to get louder that, just like 12 years ago, this too could be India’s perfect fairytale. With three wins on the board, they’ve almost booked their place in the semi-finals already.

The blueprint for an underdog victory has been established

Afghanistan staked their claim to being the ‘giant killer’ of this edition when they mullered England in Delhi. Having targeted their wayward seamers at the start and the death, surviving the spin in the middle overs, they spun through them in the chase. It was the perfect example of how to beat a team stronger than you on paper, and the Netherlands were clearly taking notes. They implemented almost the exact same strategy against South Africa, albeit given the opportunity by Temba Bavuma putting them into bat. Inspired by Scott Edwards and Roelof van der Merwe, they trumped Afghanistan’s feat in under 48 hours. Afghanistan could have been on track to do it again against New Zealand, had they held simple catches. But the precedent has been set for how to execute the perfect upset, and the big six need to beware.

Finger-spinners can cause chaos

While spin was expected to play a big role in a subcontinental World Cup, the dominance finger spin has had over the early stages was less expected. Mitchell Santner has been the pick of the spinners in the tournament so far, with Ravindra Jadeja behind Rashid Khan in the spinner standings. The control finger spinners have offered, as well as the ability to take important wickets, has been a feature of the top three sides in the standings so far. Alongside India and New Zealand, Keshav Maharaj has also been important for South Africa to rely on as often the sole frontline spinner in their attack. Notably, New Zealand and South Africa have largely chosen to leave out Ish Sodhi and Tabraiz Shamsi, two wrist-spinners, thus far.

Couple that with the lesser importance of dew than expected at this World Cup – which largely affects finger spinners more than wrist – and rather than gaining their places through the help of their batting credentials, finger spinners have been the go-to.

Differences between ODIs and shorter formats are more important than ever

It was a common theme among most sides that they were undercooked in terms of ODI cricket played before the tournament. The Asia Cup helped Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka, but otherwise warm-up series were forced into the schedule to allow teams to find their best XIs. With the general trend going towards considering ODIs as elongated T20s in the intervening years between 2019 and 2023, that theory is proving less and less relevant in this World Cup. The need to be able to rebuild rather than go harder and harder, and adapt bowling plans throughout an innings, has separated the most successful sides from the rest.

Plenty of entertainment but few close results

It’s not just fallen to upsets to provide entertainment. Watching South Africa hammer their way to 400, Bumrah bowl perfect bail-trimmers and Pakistan veer from brilliance to capitulation has been enough to feed the desperation for this World Cup to reignite the format. But, with four-and-a-half weeks of competition still to come, how long can that momentum continue without close results? The closest finishes so far have been by five wickets and 38 runs, with the least amount of balls remaining in a successful chase being eight.

At some point, watching sides knock their way further into an innings with little hope of chasing a target, all in the name of boosting their NRR by a decimal point, will start to wear thin. Perhaps it already is.

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