Infamously prickly, can-explode-will-explode India captain has been a man becalmed but there are hints the rage is returning
How are we doing? Hanging in there? I’m talking specifically to the cricket fans, a collective who will truly deserve their participation medal when the World Cup reaches its conclusion next weekend. Sure, football lovers may claim their work suffered when England’s women made it to the semi-finals. Wimbledon aficionados will soon be bragging that they’ve done nothing but secretly stream tennis on their phones for two weeks. To followers of the Cricket World Cup, however, they are as the mayfly.
Even the most highly trained of box-set bingers would struggle to keep up with a regime of 58 eight‑hour games (yes, I’m including the warm-ups). You can watch all seven seasons and two presidential terms of The West Wing in six days and 10 hours. If you recorded every game of the Cricket World Cup so far – thank you, series link – and watched them back to back you wouldn’t get off the sofa for a full fortnight. You’d also be a gibbering, disassociated mess.
Related: Virat Kohli knows he’s there to score runs for India – I’m there to get him out | Moeen Ali
Related: Two games from history: England’s action plan for World Cup glory | Rob Smyth
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