World Cup 2011 is a vital tournament as for as 50 overs format is concerned. The previous One-day World cup was held in the year 2007. In this span of four years, cricket faced an acute diversion in the interest among the viewers. The Twenty Twenty format is dominating the cricket world. No one can deny that Test cricket has its own dignity and in my opinion it is not in jeopardy.
It is the One-day game which is facing the real test for survival. I hope this World Cup will be a real boost to bring its pride back.
So who will be the Champions?? The answer was so easy when posted prior to last World Cup as Aussies were imperious then. Now its anybody's Cup.
Australia as i said earlier was magisterial and the World Cup Final was never a thriller except the 2007 World Cup where Sangakkara and Jayasuria had put some pressure in the inital stage. But now its totally different. They have a mediocre bowling attack. None of them have a consistent rhythm or length to generate pressure to the opponent. Compared to Test cricket, they have a decent batting line up in the one day format. But its never sufficient to lift the cup. To me Australia will positively make up to the semis, not more than that.
South Africa on the other hand have a lustrous line up of both batting and bowling. Experienced players like Kallis, Smith and Amla topping the order followed by some big hitters in the middle. Their pace bowlers are pretty much promising. But they lack in good threatening spinners which is very much imperative especially in the sub continental pitch. Also they show very poor game play when they are under pressure.But for that, I feel they have a good chance of entering into the finals.
Coming to Sri lanka, if you had noticed they march towards the victory as an extra ordinary team effort when it comes to some champions trophy where all the countries participate. And now its more advantageous for them as they are well versed in sub-continental pitch. They have the upper hand over almost all the other teams in reaching the finals.
To me India is my favorite country to lift the Cup. I wont say they have a strong batting or bowling line up, but its really a promising side. Yuvaraj and Pathan's role are very important and if its India that is going to take the Cup away then these two guys have to be in good form.
Teams like England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand are very much unpredictable. They may rise up or shatter down.
World Cup 2011 should be for India in my opinion. With fingers crossed, waiting for the event to kick start.
Our skipper's strategy is also a promising one regardless of his play.
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