ODI World Cup digest: England woe continues as India make it six from six

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Mohammed Shami ripped the heart out of England as India defended a modest total in Lucknow to maintain their unbeaten World Cup run and condemn their opponents' campaign even further.

Shami claimed 2 for 4 from three overs inside the first powerplay in a breathtaking spell and Jasprit Bumrah 2 for 17 from five as England lurched to 40 for 4 after 10 overs chasing 230 for just their second win of the tournament. Shami claimed two more and Bumrah one to ensure that wasn't to be as none of England's batters passed Liam Livingstone's 27 and India romped to a 100-run victory with 15.1 overs to spare.

Nine balls, nine dots, no runs. Five balls on a good length, three a fraction shorter and one a little fuller. One leave, two charges, three balls that connected with Ben Stokes' bat. Fifteen balls since England last scored a run. 197 to win in 42.1 overs, eight wickets in hand. Six games, five defeats, two points. 32 nights since England's players left home, 14 more until they are finally put out of their misery.

Which of those numbers passed through Stokes' head when he made the calculation that the final ball of Shami's second over had to go? Maybe none; maybe so many that his mind was scrambled. Stokes planted his front foot outside leg stump, looking to make room to force the ball through the off side for four. The ball nipped in off the seam, skidded through off the pitch and clattered into his middle and leg stumps.

While this World Cup has only belatedly started offering up some nail-biters, it's been rather more generous in terms of unexpected results. As a result, despite the sides currently occupying the top-four spots in the points table being the likeliest to make it through to the knockouts, there's a cluster of teams just below them ready to capitalise on any potential slip-ups.

For Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, three wins from their final four games in the league stage will leave them on ten points, which would give them a genuine shot at a semi-final berth. But of those four games, Afghanistan will face Australia and South Africa, while Sri Lanka still have to take on India and New Zealand.

Afghanistan (possible) 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Azmatullah Omarzai, 6 Ikram Alikhil (wk), 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kusal Perera/Dimuth Karunaratne, 3 Kusal Mendis (capt, wk) 4 Sadeera Samarawickrama, 5 Charith Asalanka, 6 Dhananjaya de Silva, 7 Angelo Mathews 8 Maheesh Theekshana, 9 Kasun Rajitha, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Dilshan Madushanka