ICC Cricket World Cup is less than a week away and it’s a tough time for those who love to bet as there is no clear favorite for the World Cup as the teams like India, Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka are looking good to clinch the title. All these teams have performed well in the recent past or the conditions are suitable for them. So there is no doubt that this is going to be the most competitive ODI Cricket World Cup.
Well, few experts have already mentioned in the media that India looks the best team to win the 2011 WC. The team has done well in last couple of years and is motivated enough to win this time for the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar. After failing to qualify in the Super 8s stage of the World Cup 2007, Indian team has reached at 2nd position from 5th under the leadership of MS Dhoni. Team has won every ODI Series played in India since last 3 years and have won ODI series overseas as well in Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. The team has performed well in all the departments of the game. The fielding of the team is weaker than the teams like South Africa, Australia and England but it is perhaps the best Indian fielding side ever with Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli being in the team. Indian team played a superb ODI series in South Africa which they lost 2-3 but they performed brilliantly. One setback for the team is that Praveen Kumar has been ruled out of the tourney so the team will miss his swing bowling but Sreesanth has replaced him and people are hoping that he doesn’t talk much on the field and allows ball to talk on the field. The team will rely on its master blaster Sachin Tendulkar who probably will be playing his last World Cup and willing to win one this time around. Zaheer Khan, Sehwag and Yuvraj will be few of the vital players whil hard hitting batting all-rounder Yusuf Pathan will be a trump card. I guess the Indian team has the best part time bowlers.
Trending
Australian team has been losing the test series but when it comes to the shorter format of the game they are the No.1 team. They lost Ashes 1-3 but straight after that they beat England in a 7 match ODI series by 6-1 that too without few key players like captain Rickey Ponting and Mike Hussey. The 2 biggest positives for Australia were Brett Lee’s excellent comeback in International Cricket and Micheal Clarke’s coming back to form. Shane Watson continued his good form and David Hussey played couple of match winning knocks. The sad news for the Aussies is that Mike Hussey has been ruled out of the WC because of a hamstring injury. The other week point for them is the spin department. Nathan Hauritz will not be there in the WC because of an injury and Jason Krejza has replaced him who was surprisingly selected over Xavier Doherty. It will be important to see how Aussies’ pace attack works in sub-continent’s conditions. The pace department looks too good in Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait. Australia have featured in 4 WC Finals in a row and winning 3 out of them, that too in a row So there should be some amount of pressure to defend the title.
South Africa is known as chokers but you never know when the things can change around. The team won the ODI Series vs India in South Africa. The team’s tope order looks very good in Hashim Amla, captain Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and A.B.DeVilliers. They also have a very lethal bowling attack in Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe. Johan Botha is also a good spin bowler who can frustrate the batsman by bowling some tidy spells and can get the wickets. And no need to say about their fielding as they are the best fielding side in the world. This WC is going to be Graeme Smith’s last as an ODI captain and he must be looking forward to end his ODI captaincy on a high.
Sri Lanka is also playing on their home soil and that will surely help them in a big way. The team has dropped their One Day specialist Sanath Jayasurya and that shows their confidence in the new generation players. The batting order looks good in TM Dilshan who will have the responsibility of doing some fire work, Upul Tharanga, Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Thilan Samarveera provides good solidity to the batting line up. Angelo Mathews can play some big shots down the order in batting powerplay. Bowling attack will be led by fast and furious Lasith Malinga and World’s leading wicket taker Muthiah Muralitharan. This team can be extremely dangerous in the home condition.
So there are at least 4 teams who are in the race of wining the WC, though there is no doubt that teams like West Indies, England, Dark Horse New Zealand and Bangladesh can surprise any of those big teams and can spoil the party.
