A Pot Boiler In The Making
Cricket enthusiasts, critics, commentators, former players, fans and anyone with even the faintest knowledge of cricket are filling up the print, visual and social media space. Its pouring views on the upcoming ultimate challenge in cricket, the World Cup, to be held in India early next month. The Buzz is not deafening yet, but as a slow-burn potboiler, the mega event is steadily catching up in drawing room discussions.
My Hat In The Ring
With 10 worthy teams lined up for the World Cup with each playing against the other once, it is going to be a stiff competition without any easy games, barring (maybe) the Netherlands’ fixtures. With due respect to the talented Orange army and their latest exploits to qualify for the World Cup, they still would need a monstrous effort to cause any major upset in the tournament. Apart from Netherlands the 9 in the mix, make for an interesting cocktail, and therefore I too decided to throw my hat in the ring and pen down my assessments and predictions going into the World Cup.
My Dark Horses
Though many may disagree, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are the dark horses in this edition of the World Cup and I have strong reasons in support of my claim. All three teams have top-quality spinners in their ranks and in Indian conditions if the pitches begin to grip and turn even a shade, these bowlers will be difficult to play. Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Mohd Nabi for Afghanistan, Theekshana and Wellalage for Sri Lanka and Shakib Al Hasan and Mahedi Hasan for Bangladesh can be a real handful unless one is a damn good player of spin. In fact, Bangladesh has a decent pace attack too.
On the Batting front, these teams do not look wafer-thin either. Kusal Mendis has been in terrific form for Sri Lanka and with the highly rated Sadeera Samarawickrama and Dhananjay de Silva in their ranks, Sri Lanka on their day can be dangerous. For Afghanistan, though they do not boast big names barring the dashing opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, they still showed tremendous gumption and had almost knocked out the Lankans in the Asia Cup. Mohd Nabi had played a blinder of a knock and was well-supported by the other players. Bangladesh have huge batting talent with Litton Das, Shanto and the veterans Shakib and Mushfiqur, but what plagues them is their inconsistency.
The Dark Horses have some serious skills and if they get the rub of the green, a few big names might get hurt. Beware of this trio.
My Steady War Mounts
I have a trio here too in New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan. All three teams have been playing some steady cricket and have a strong team to boast. South Africa recently beat Australia 3-2 after losing the first two games of the series. I was impressed by the batting they possess. There is massive firepower and if the batting comes off consistently for South Africa in this World Cup, then they will be no pushovers. It all depends how Quinton DeCock, Bavuma, Aiden Markram, the extremely prolific Heinrich Klassen and David Miller negotiate spin in India. Their bowling looks good with Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, the much-improved Marco Jansen, and the wily Keshav Maharaj, with Tabraiz Shamsi a decent option too. In my opinion ‘The Proteas’, after the hammering they gave to Australia, are looking dangerous.
New Zealand would be reinforced with the arrival of Kane Williamson after a long injury layoff and the return of Trent Boult, the majestic left-arm bowler, to National duties. Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchel have been extremely consistent with their batting performances too. The pace of Lockie Ferguson and a more than decent spin pair of Ish Sodhi and Mitchel Santner eventually gives New Zealand a well-rounded look. And not to forget in ICC tournaments and particularly World Cups the Kiwis have had a remarkable record. They are a different side when it comes to big tournaments. They were the losing finalists last time and would be more focussed than ever to prove a point or two yet again.
Till recently Pakistan were the no.1 team in ODIs and though their last couple of games have not gone their way, they remain a tough team to beat. The injury to Naseem Shah, their young pace bowler has pegged them back, but with Shaheen Afridi and a fit Haris Rauf, the bowling surely has a lot of teeth. The batting revolves around Babar Azam, Imam Ul Haq, Mohd Rizwan and Iftikhar, but the key would be how Shadab Khan, their leg spinner and vice-captain can turn his awful form into some meaningful performances in India. With just two players from the entire squad, Salman Ali Agha and Mohd Nawaz, having visited India earlier, the spectre of playing on unknown soil would be a serious challenge, but still Pakistan could be a handful.
The three teams above are serious contenders for the top 4 spots and their progress eventually will boil down to the ones who hold their nerves in crunch moments and are more mentally and physically well cushioned.
My Best Bets – The Two Stallions
India and England are the top two teams going into the tournament without an iota of doubt in my mind.
England, the defending Champions have transformed the approach to playing cricket in the past 4 years. They have backed their skills, thrown fear out of the window, packed their guts and faced opposition with unrelenting audacity. No wonder they won the T20 World Cup with relative ease. Their batting looks strong and pugnacious with a solid Dawid Malan expected to hold the fort, with the likes of Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Livingstone playing around him. The highly-rated Harry Book might get a last-minute call-up to the squad to bolster the batting further. The bowling looks threatening too with Chris Woakes and Mark Wood spearheading the pace attack and a more than able spin duo of Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali. All eleven in the team can bat, such is the depth of the side.
India look the best in shape. The batting appears flawless with absolutely no weak links. Shubhman Gill is in the form of his life, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, and Hardik Pandya all have got runs. The return of Jaspreet Bumrah has strengthened the bowling no end. Siraj is bowling like a dream, Shami is not far behind and Kuldeep Yadav with his left arm spin is making the ball talk. No wonder he would be vicious in Indian conditions. The team has tremendous depth much like England and with the Asia Cup under their belt, India is a massively formidable opponent going into the World Cup. The hammering which they handed over to the Aussies in the first two one-day internationals recently, is proof of things to come. A 2011 encore, might just be on the cards.
The No Takers
I run the risk of being criticised for putting Australia in this category, but again I have my reasons to pull my point through. They just don’t look the side they ought to be. Most of the players are beyond their prime and the fresh ones barring Cameron Green, don’t look fresh either and even Cameron Green doesn’t look too assured with his bowling or batting. Adam Zampa their best spinner was taken to the cleaners by South Africa and on Indian pitches he is not looking too effective. The loss of Travis Head with a fractured hand is a major blow for Australia as well. Head can change the game quickly. Who will play the long innings is going to be the question. David Warner was indifferent in the first two matches against India and got out in a rather clumsy fashion for the sake of improvisation against our intelligent Ashwin. And even if the batting clicks, the bowling looks very weak. Off late Pat Cummins, Starc and Hazelwood have not been great in White ball cricket and their bench strength looks rickety. The hammering they got from the South Africans and India recently is proof enough. Australia look far withdrawn and betting on them may be a huge disappointment.
The above is my understanding of the Teams and it would be interesting to see how the warm-up games take shape before the tournament actually kicks in and the show begins. We may analyse and opinionate in-depth, but cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties and will always keep ‘ the pot boiling ‘.
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