Harry Brook was involved in an action-packed duel with New Zealand youngster Rachin Ravindra leading up to his wicket in the opening game of the 2023 World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad today (October 5).

England were put into bat on a flat surface by New Zealand after losing the toss. Packed with a deep batting line-up, they tried going hard upfront, but kept losing regular wickets.

Dawid Malan was the first to go, edging a length ball outside off by Matt Henry through to the wicketkeeper. Jonny Bairstow, after getting off to a good start (33 off 35), handed a catch to long-off in an attempt to go over extra cover off the bowling of Mitchell Santner.

Harry Brook, who wasn’t in the 15-member provisional squad, found himself coming out to bat at No.4 in the opening game of the World Cup, thanks to a niggle to Ben Stokes.

He started well, hitting a boundary off his second ball against Trent Boult. Another boundary followed off Jimmy Neesham seven balls later. With New Zealand having opted for a similarly batting-heavy line-up to England’s, they needed to get overs out of their part-timers.

Ravindra came on to bowl the 17th over and was treated with disdain by Brook. Ravindra failed to find his length, dropping the ball consistently short. The first ball that Brook faced in that over was cut straight to the point fielder. The next three went for boundaries, each through mid-wicket. The first two were pulled for fours, the third was pulled for six.

Sensing an opportunity to put pressure on the fifth bowling option, Brook decided to go all out with his attack. Ravindra dropped another one short. Brook rocked back to pull again, but this time the ball stuck on the surface ever so slightly, forcing him to mistime his shot.

He ended up slicing the ball in the air. Devon Conway, who was standing at deep square leg, ran in to take a comfortable catch as Ravindra had the last laugh. Brook’s enterprising knock came to an end for 25 off 16 balls, as England slipped to 94-3 in 17 overs.

Five overs later, Glenn Phillips got the wicket of Moeen Ali to rock England back further. At the 25-over mark, their score read 135-4 with Joe Root batting on 43 off 45 and Jos Buttler batting on six off 13.

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