It is an overused cliché that cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties and hence anyone who predicts the winner of a cricket world cup may have to swallow the humble pie once the tournament reaches its climax. However, without making a prediction on the winner of the tournament, this writer aims at analysing the chances of the eight test playing nations competing in the tournament.
India: Let us start with India, the defending champions will play once again under the charismatic leadership of MS Dhoni. There is no doubt that India will have a very tough task ahead in defending their title. With the kind of team India has, with weak bowling and out of form batting, it will find it extremely difficult to face even average oppositions. Indian bowling has never been particularly strong, but the current crop of bowlers is appalling as far as discipline and abilities are concerned. With the absence of Ishant Sharma, fast bowling department of Indian bowling is awfully weak. When Bhuvaneshwar Kumar is a pretty decent bowler, it can’t be said about either Muhammad Shami or Umesh Yadav. Lack of consistency would be a major handicap for both of the bowlers. Their lines and lengths are wavered and their inability to master yorkers or slower balls, vital skills in an ODI bowler’s armoury, will definitely put them under the sword against quality batting.
It is yet to be seen how much purchase spin bowlers get in Aussie and Kiwi pitches. Though wrist spinners have had some good record in those pitches, finger spinners rarely had good times there. Therefore it is highly unlikely that Aswin, Jadeja or Axar Patel will have big say in the affairs of a match.
Indian batting line up is also in tatters and with the exception of Rohit Sharma and may be Rahane and Raina, no one is in the thick of their forms. Dhawan and Kohli are struggling, Rayudu is at best a mediocre operator and captain MS Dhoni appears past his prime. And if Stuart Binny is the best all rounder in India, then you know India is struggling quite terribly in that department. All in all, if India survives the first knock-out stage it will be a real wonder, but you can never completely write off Dhoni’s men.
Australia: Australia will always start any world cup as one of the favourites to win the cup and when the tournament is played in their backyard, they become the hot favourite to win the championship. It is yet to be seen if Australia will begin the tournament with Michael Clarke as captain as he is still unsure to play owing to the injury he suffered. The opening combination of Aaron Finch and David Warner will threaten any bowling side in the world. Steven Smith is in the form of his lifetime, Glenn Maxwell can blast away any attack with his unconventional style of batting, Mitchell Marsh can use the long handle well in the slog overs, James Faulkner is the best finisher among the current crop of players, wicket keeper-batsman Brad Haddin is as resilient as ever and if Shane Watson and George Bailey find their form then stopping Australia from scoring big will be extremely difficult.
When it comes to bowling Australia has one of the most deadly combinations of fast bowler including Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, all three who can bowl at 145kms/hr and above. The two Mitchells have been at their top form and when they get the support of the pace and bounce of Australian pitches, they would be a handful. Though the spinning department with Xavier Doherty is a matter of worry, it could be so that Australia may even never look at playing him in the eleven. With Smith and Maxwell bowling their part time spinners well, Australia may look at using them as the spinning option. All-rounders Watson, Marsh and Faulkner add more firepower to the Aussie attack, not to mention the importance of brilliant strategies formed by the astute manager Darren ‘Boof’ Lehmann.
South Africa: On the sheer basis of talent there is no better team to win the world cup than the Proteas. It is another matter that the most important thing that they have to fight off to emerge as champions is their own ‘choker’ image. In world cups they have had many a slip between the cup and the lip, starting from 1992 when they played world cup for the first time after many years of Apartheid. However things could be different this time around under the fiery captaincy of the one and only AB deVilliers.
One of the biggest headaches for bowlers around the world in this world cup would be how to tame the batting power of South Africa, and particularly the explosive, innovative and unstoppable AB deVilliers. ABD, as he is often called, is perhaps the most dangerous batsman of the present day. When he is going, nothing, absolutely nothing seems to be able to stop him. There is no challenge for a bowler in cricket world cup 2015 greater than stopping ABD. Add to it the brilliance of Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, David Miller, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy and the new kid on the block, Rilee Rossouw, you have the most dangerous batting line up in the world.
When it comes to bowling, South Africa has the best opening bowlers of the day – Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. The pace and bounce these two fearsome men generate will test the best of the batsmen. Supporting them would be Vernon Philander, Kyle Abbott, Wayne Parnell, Imran Thahir and Aaron Phangiso. The high standards they set on their fielding would mean that an opposition team will get 10-15 runs short than they would have got against any other team.
Sri Lanka: “Let’s do it for Mahela and Sangakkara” would be the war cry that Sri Lanka would be making in this world cup. This would be the last time that the legends, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara would be playing World Cup for Sri Lanka and their team will do everything to give them a great farewell by winning the world cup. For the past few years, Sri Lanka has played a lot of final matches but was not able to finish off at the winning side. Last two world cups, they played the finals but lost at the last pitstop. When in 2007 Australia denied them the cup, in 2011 it was India.
Under the new captain, the super all-rounder Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka is a formidable side. Other than Mahela and Sangakkara, they also have the experience and skill of Dilshan to call for. Add to it the youthful spirit of Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne and Dimuth Karunaratne, they have a very strong batting line up.
Bowling will be spearheaded by the inimitable Lasith Malinga, who will be supported by Nuwan Kulasekara, the all rounder Thisara Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Rangana Herath and others. However one weakness that would affect the Lankans would be the lack of precision in bowling with the exception of Malinga. Herath and Senanayake are good spin bowlers, but at the wickets in Australia and New Zealand, they both are unlikely to be effective.
New Zealand: It was in the year 1992 that a very brave Kiwi by name of Martin Crowe took his team to the cusp of glory when it played Pakistan in the semi-finals. But they fell there and were not able to make it to the finals of World Cup till now. Now is there chance to make immense and put their hands on that coveted cup. When the Kiwis take the field under the spirited leadership of Brendon McCullum, the cricketing world would look at them with great hope. Their captain is in top form and on his day he can tear apart any bowling attack in the world. Add to it the young, champion batsman Kane Williamson and the very talented Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill, the comeback man Grant Elliot and the Aussie-turned-Kiwi Luke Ronchi, New Zealand is a champion batting line up. And we haven’t still mentioned about the whirlwind batsman, Corey Anderson, the all-rounder who till recently had kept the record of the fastest hundred in ODIs.
Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Nathan McCullum and the ever so young Daniel Vettori will manage the bowling attack. The fast bowlers of this side can test the reflexes of many a batsman with their speed. The guile of Vettori, perhaps the greatest left arm spinner of our times, is renowned all over the world. If New Zealand can really get together and put their best efforts, they can be the world champions this time.
England: Under the captaincy of Eoin Morgan, England will play this world cup with an intention to leave behind their ordinary world cup record and to emerge as a new champion of world cricket. They have swashbuckling opening pair of Alex Hales and James Taylor. They would be followed by Joe Root, Ian Bell, Moeen Ali, Gary Ballance, Ravi Bopara and Jos Buttler.
English bowling is also strong and under the leadership of James Anderson they boast an incisive attack that also includes Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan and James Tredwell. Though they are good side, recent form doesn’t give a lot of confidence to their supporters. But one can’t never write off the Englishmen either.
Pakistan: Pakistan is the dark horse in this world cup. It has always been an unpredictable team, which could win from an awful position and can lose from a favourable position. Under the captaincy of Misbah-ul-Haq, the finisher par excellence, Pakistan boasts a good batting line up that includes Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad, Nasir Jamshed, Umar Akmal, Younis Khan and an army of un-tested, new batsmen who would be raring to go and show their strength.
However, though Pakistan is generally known for their strong bowling line up, in this world cup it is pretty weak. In the absence of Saeed Ajmal, Pakistani bowling would be spearheaded by Wahab Riaz. Giving him company would be Rahat Ali, Mohammad Irfan, Ehsan Adil and Sohail Khan. But what opponent batsmen would really fear in this Pakistan line up would be the fast leg spin of Shahid Afridi.
Pakistan has really been handicapped by the absence of many of their important players, noted among them would be Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafiz and Junaid Khan.
West Indies: Like Pakistan, West Indies is also an unpredictable team. The absence of their key players Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard, however, would affect their tournament performance. In the absence of those two key players, greater responsibility would come on the shoulders of Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Darren Sammy. With the kind of firepower that the above mentioned batsmen can generate, West Indies can always threaten any opposition.
Once upon a time West Indies bowlers had intimidated batsmen around the world with their pace. But today it is a thing of the past and the West Indies bowlers no longer generate a lot of fear among the minds of batsmen. Under Kemar Roach and Jerome Taylor, they still have some pace, but not the sharpness to threaten batsmen. However in limited over matches they can be quite handy and we could write them off only at our peril.
Bangladesh: The Bangladesh Tigers have often defeated bigger teams in world cup tournaments and outside. Though they emerged as a good team a few years back, they no longer have the firepower to be considered a giant killer. Bangladesh experimented with many captains and in this world cup they play under the captaincy of Mashrafe Mortaza, when two other former captains, Sakib al-Hassan and Mushfiqur Rahim are also in the team. Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah are also key players in the team, but the fortunes of the team would depend mostly on how Sakib will show his all-round performance.
Though he might end up having egg on the face if he resorts to prediction in a world cup cricket tournament, this writer would predict the four teams in the semi finals. Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. From there on it would be anyone’s game and the team that gets two good days will become the champion. As an Indian cricket fan this writer however hopes that some miracle would happen and India would defend their title. In the end, let us stop with another cliché, may the best team win.
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