Harshit Bisht tells you why all teams have an equal chance to win World Cup 2019
Speculations are rife as to who will lift the cup this time round. Fans of Team Blue are routing for a win. However, given the fact that England has never won the WC, even then they are the hot favourites. What makes this World Cup somewhat easy, giving each team a chance to win is that there are no group stages. For the first time in the competition’s 34-year history, there will be a 10-team round-robin format. Each team playing the other nine times. The top four countries will go to the semi-finals. In other words, the team that wins a minimum of five matches has a shot at the semis.
What makes India as one of the major contenders this time is the potent bowling attack. With the rules and favouring batsman game in modern day cricket, it becomes important for any side to restrict the opposition team for as low score as possible. And unlike yesteryears this time India posses that attack which has the capability to do so.
The presence of World Number 1 Jasprit Bumrah, who hardly had a bad day in business since he made his debut in 2016 is the wrecker in-chief of the Indian attack and to his support is the consistent Bhuvneshwar Kumar and recharged Mohammad Shami.
While the pace trioka is responsible to get the early breakthroughs and limit flow of runs in the dead end of the innings it is the wrist spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal that will be the biggest headache for the opposition sides this summer.
Even though Kuldeep isn’t his prime and is coming out after a forgetful IPL season, his ability to produce variations is something that is going to be very hard to catch for overseas batsman.
Talking about the evergreen batting line up, it is the captain Virat Kohli leading from the front. The modern day cricket legend who now creates some or the other record everytime he comes out to bat will look to add another feather in his list of achievements. And to support him in this quest, there’s Rohit Sharma and his opening partner and man of ICC tournaments Shikhar Dhawan.
But out of all that the player to watch out for will be the Men in Blues Beating Heart Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Ready to romp in his fourth and probably last World Cup appearance, the 2011 winning skipper is back to his best days and is all guns blazed to leave a big impression before his final hurrah. His presence will be massive boost for India’s campaign not just as a batsmen but also as someone who could be a helping hand to Virat Kohli and bowlers during the crunch moments.
After a humiliating first round exit in the last tournament World Cup hosts England made an array of changes in the setup and the result of such brave calls is the reason why this Eoin Morgan led side has had to much hype surrounding them.
Once an Irish world Cup campaigner Morgan’s unit has some of the most prolific batsmen of the limited over format and time and again in the last four years Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Jos Buttler with the skipper himself proved why they are such a brutal force to reckon with.
They have twice broken the record of highest team total and that to against quality bowling attack of Pakistan and Australia and keeping in view that flat favourable batting tracks prepared for the World Cup, it will be very hard for any opposition to put a hold on such a star studded destructive line up.
Also the late addition of Jofra Archer in the side has provided them the versatility in the bowling department. The Barbados born pacer is just three ODIs old but his experience of playing in the Twenty 20 leagues around the world will come handy during the due course of tournament.
Apart them Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali are three- dimensional players with multiple skill sets that can upset plans of any of position.
In the last couple of years and more precisely after the infamous ball tampering scandal that took place in March 2018 against South Africa which led to the suspension of David Warner and Steven Smith from international cricket, Australia suffered back to back setbacks and were even referred as the fallen giants of world cricket. But the side found it’s mojo back just at the right time and after a superb comeback away series win against India, the Kangaroos dashed Pakistan with a series sweep.
And now with Steve Smith and David Warner back in the set up, it only adds strength to the unit.
Warner found his form straightway in the IPL where he scored 692 runs in 12 matches, Smith got the bearing in the warm up games in the lead up to the tournament where he scored a match winning hundred against England.
Add to it, Usman Khawaja, Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell add more strength in the batting front while Mitchell Starc, Patt Cummins and spin duo of Adam Zampa, Nathan Lyon give them a formidable look in the bowling section.
Pakistan is heading into the World Cup with a string of 10 consecutive defeats and an unsettled side where Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz were recalled into the squad because of their past experience. But the 2017 Champions Trophy winners have the likes of talented young players like Fakhar Zaman, Imam Ul Haq, Babar Azam who are consistent among the runs while experience comes in from of Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez.
Their bowling department is always the side’s biggest strength and now with the batting unit capable enough of scoring 300+ runs continuously, they can pull big upsets if they play as a unit.
There is always something about New Zealand which keeps them in the mix at all global events. The 2015 finalists have a mature captain and a world class batsman in form of Kane Williamson. And the likes of Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor on their day could make a difference.
Kiwis also have Trent Boult, Tim Southee who are more than handful in seaming conditions and committed all-rounders like Colin de Grandhomme and Jimmy Neesham will give it their all to go one better than 2015 edition.
West Indies cricket has gone through enough turmoil but the amount of talent at their disposal easily makes them the dark horse with ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle being nightmare for any opposition.
Shai Hope is probably in the form of his life. While the 50 plus sixes that Andre Russell hit during IPL has scared the bowler. Batting is the strength which has some serious talent and the Caribbean’s will rely heavily on it as the bowling remains a bit weak.
This edition is one such when there isn’t too much hopes pinned on South Africa, who have always been eternal chokers but in Faf du Plessis, the Proteas have a quality leader. Dale Steyn’s fitness issue will remain a worry for South Africa but Kagiso Rabada’s pace and Imran Tahir’s spin magic will keep rivals on their toes. It will also be interesting to see how they manage to do settle things without Ab de Villiers.
Afghanistan’s rise in world cricket is a beautiful story and one would expect them to upset a few plans of the traditional powerhouses. Rashid Khan has already established himself as one of the best spinners in T20 leagues.
The hard hitting Mohammed Shahzad, free-flowing Hazratullah Zazai, Hashmatullah Shahidi and the veteran Mohammed Nabi are capable of producing eye-catching performances.
For Bangladesh, at least a semi-final berth is something that their fans would expect. Mashrafe Mortaza has world’s premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan at his disposal along with seasoned campaigners like Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah Riyadh and Mushfiqur Rahim, all keen to make a mark at the global stage.
The only team which is looking out of depth is Sri Lanka, who only have Lasith Malinga’s experience. Dimuth Karunaratne has big shoes to fill, who is himself back into the team after four years and straight away given the responsibility to lead the side.
