The tenth Cricket World Cup will held in Indian sub-continent (India, Sri lanka & Bangladesh). Whenever World Cup has been organised in Indian sub-continent asian teams have performed well. In World Cup 1987, India & Pakistan reached semifinal stage whereas in WC 96, India & Srilanka reached the semis.Till now, nine World Cups have been held, in which Australia have won four times, West-Indies twice time whereas India, Pakistan & Srilanka have been lucky once. In this World Cup, will a new champion be crowned?
World Cup is also knows as a stage for innovations like in World Cup 1987, Steve Waugh applied slower balls by fast bowlers in slog overs to dodge batsmen. WC 92, New Zealand's captain Martin Crowe gave new ball to the off spinner Deepak Patel. World Cup 1996, Srilankan captain Ranatunga opened their batting by Jayasuriya & kaluwitharana as a pinch-hitters to take advantage of field restrictions in the first fifteen overs. WC 2003, Indian skipper Ganguly used Dravid as a wicket keeper to include extra batsman in the squad. In the final of World Cup 2007, Gilchrist put a small squash ball in gloves to improve his grip. These innovations really gave good results.
In this World Cup, 14 nations are participating which are divided into two groups.
Group A- Australia, Pakistan, Srilanka, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Canada.
Group B- India, South Africa, England, West-Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands.
In the semifinals & final matches, Umpire Decision Referral System (UDRS) will be used. But besides this, we will miss some great players who have played World Cup 2007 like Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, Glenn Mcgrath, Nathan Bracken, Brian Lara, Shane Bond, Stephen Fleming, Inzamam-ul-haq, Mohmad Yusuf, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Herchells Gibbs, Andrew Flintoff and Marshafe Mortaza.
In cricket nothing is impossible and so all 14 nations are capable of winning this World Cup. But India is the best contender. They will have huge amount of home advantage. The god of cricket Sachin Tendulkar having a career best form will certainly want to accomplish his dream. After filling of no.7 batting slot by Yousuf Pathan, winning chances will be enhanced. For chasing big totals, if more wickets are in hand then India can chase any total in last ten overs. Besides this there are some disadvantages for Indian team, extra pressure of expectations of the home crowd. Injuries are also worries. Sachin, Sehwag and Gambhir missed last SA series due to injury. Also Praveen kumar who was strength of Indian bowling has been dropped due to injury. Selection of Piyush Chawla is ridiculous because Yuvraj, Sehwag, Pathan & Raina are doing good spin bowling & giving lot of varieties. The most key players are Sachin, Sehwag, Kohli, Pathan, Harbhajan & Zaheer Khan.
Defending champion Australia is also a big contender. Some advantages for Australian team. They are more experienced team than others. Brett Lee is reckoning in Australian team & also having good touch. Under Ricky Ponting's captaincy Australia have never lost a single match of World Cup. Fighting spirit & ability to bounce back at any time makes them an unbeatable team. Some disadvantages for Australia team are: Injuries, M Hussey and N Hauritz have been dropped from the squad. Lack of quality spinners & poor form of Ponting can also affect the World Cup winning streak. The players to watch out are Watson, Ponting, D Hussey, White, S Smith & Brett Lee.
South Africa also look strong contender for this world cup. They will try to remove the image of Chokers. The advatages for Proteas are: they consist world's best pace attack capable of demolishing any batting line-up. Steyn's aggression, Morkel's bounce & Kallis's all-round performance are sufficient for lifting World Cup trophy. As a skipper it is the last series for Smith so he would certainly want to leave it on a high note. Ignorance of Boucher from the squad can take a toll on African team. He is a good batsman against spin & his exclusion has put extra pressure of wicket keeping on De Villers and its affectig his form. This can be a major disadvantage for them. The key players will be G Smith, Amla, Kallis, Steyn & Morne Morkel.
But don't forget dark horses like Srilanka, Pakistan, England, New Zealand & West-Indies. Srilanka will also enjoy the support of home crowd. This is the last series of Muralitharan so it will be great to leave game with the high of a World Cup triumph. But they will certainly miss the experience of Jayasuriya & Vaas. Batting of Srilanka totally depends on Sangakara & Jayawardene. Most key players are Dilshan, Jayawerdene, Sangakara, Matthews & Muralitharan.
No one can altogether predict Pakistan's chances in the World Cup. They have capability to do well. No other team in the World Cup has genuine batting match winners at No.6, 7 & 8 in Umar Akmal, Afridi & Razzaq. It means no target is too big & no game is over till the last wicket has fallen. But they will miss the services of Yousuf, Asif & Amir. Late declaration of the captain may also have hampered the team unity. The key players for Pakistan will be Misbah, Umar Akmal, Afridi, Razzak, Akhtar & Gul.
New Zealand have the good combination of seniors and young players. The strength of Black Caps lies in the fact that most of the players are all-rounders. Plus point of this team is the support of the most demanded coach John Wright who is competely aware of the sub-continent conditions & the experience of Allan Donald as a bowling coach. But the lack of consistency and the habit to panic easily can demolish their dream of winning first World Cup. McCullum bros, Taylor, Vettori, Franklin, Oram & Southee are certainly key players.
Ashes winning team & T20 champions England would not want to lag behind and aspire to win their second ICC trophy. Losing the last ODI series against Australia & injuries can sag their morale. Strauss, Trott, Pietersen, Morgan, Swann & Broad can play a great role in the road to World Cup.
Under the lights of Gayle, Chandrapaul, Bravo & Pollard West-Indies definitely want to regain the charm of 70's.
Remaining underdogs should not be taken lightly. In World Cup 2003, Kenya amazed everyone by reaching the semis. They can surely be a headache to major teams. Indian & Pakistan defeats by Bangladesh & Ireland respectively in 07 WC can not be forgotten. The beginning of professionalism in Cricket in Ireland, Netherlands & Canada should improve their performance this time. Talents like T Iqbal, S ul Hasan (BAN), B Taylor, E Chigambura (ZIM), Brien bros, B Rankin (IRE), J Davison (CAN), S Tikolo (KEN), RT Doesachte,T Cooper (NET) can't be underestimated.
All cricket fans should be following WC 11 closely. As it might be the last time to see the legendary players like Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, Shoiab Akhtar & Muttiah Muralitharan performing on the biggest cricketing arena. All cricket fans are wishing:-
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