THE WORLD CUP FEVER BEGINS

The World Cup 2011 is fast approaching and every team must be raring to give their best performance for the 1 and a half  month mega event. The fact that only 14 teams play the tournament and there are only two groups means that the six minnow teams participating in the tournament - Kenya, Canada, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Netherlands and Ireland - will have the least chance to qualify for the next round. Once the group stages of the tournament are over then it will be a knock out from there on where eight teams will be left over and those eight teams will play for the title.

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One could remember the history that in a similar group in the 2003 WC Kenya gave their best performance in history of their cricket and they made the Semi finals. So you never know who would go how far in the tournament. Now looking at each teams performance in the past six months are so, you will conclude that no team has stayed consistently at the top in the limited overs format but for Australia and England. These two teams have been the most consistent teams in both T20 and the ODI format the latter being better than the former in both the formats. This is a golden period of cricket for English cricket. They won the ashes 2009 and won the World T20 2009 and now also the Ashes at Australia home.. Australia were on the losing end in all these occasions and they lost the Ashes at home by quite a big margin. But still they could be a strong contender. They won the Champions trophy in 2009 just after the Ashes loss. Australia have always come back hard. One could never forget the 6-1 series win in England just after the Ashes loss and even now The OZ have come back hard, they are 3-0 up in a seven match series. Clarke and Ponting are not finding form, but the Aussie captain and the vice captain are well known fighters and they will come back hard in the world cup. Comeback of Lee could have boosted the team.

The team missed him badly in the Ashes. England on the other hand have got their best team at present and have got almost all of its players in form. Pietersen and Collingwood would be the players that England would look out for. Collingwood is going through a lean patch but the most experienced ODI player from the Country knows how important his role in the world cup for his team is.

South Africa are a strong team on paper and they have got the quality to win any team. In fact, they have won almost all teams all over the world. They won Australia in Australia, India in India, England in England and this side has got almost everything to be there at the top. With the likes of Kallis, Duminy, DeVilliers, They got the strongest middle order at present on the planet and if these three can strike form, then this team would be the team to look out for. Harsha referred to Kallis
as Sobers of the current age and rightly his bowling ability has provided a lot of flexibility for Smith to go for an additional batsman over a specialist bowler. 

New Zealand look a weak side in itself. It lost to a second rated Indian team 5-0, lost to Bangladesh 5-0. They have in no way impressed me and I think they would be one of the underdogs in the tournament. Vettori would be wondering of what he can do for the team just before quitting the captaincy. West Indies have been the same. The side has failed to impress in the past 6 years since they won the champions trophy in 2004. That finals was a fighting performance, they won the game after they were 7 down. But its a long time i have seen them put up a fighting performance.

The sub-continental team will have an added advantage of the conditions and the captains and players will be in a right position to choose the right combination for any given match. Pakistan has got its best chance to prove to the world that it is still one of the powers in world cricket. The team is not gelled and it will be in the hands of Afridi to knit the team together and give one of their best performance. Pakistan have not qualified over the group stages for the past two world cups after they were the finalist in the 1999 world cup. Sri Lanka had an improved 2007 world cup. The runner ups of the tournament declined since the world cup and much will depend on how Sangakkara keeps his team focussed towards the tournament. Sri Lanka have already won the tournament in the sub continent in 1996 under Ranatunga and this history would make them feel better.

India could be one of the strongest sides in the tournament, their top three names could suffice the entire opponent. Gambhir will definitely play at no.3 with Sehwag and Tendulkar opening the innings. At no.4 what may be called as the position India were struggling to find a player, Kohli would be the best player to play in. It will be tough job for Dhoni to select two players out of Raina, Kohli and Pathan. Pathan could be a lot destructive at the end and can change the course of the game in just matter of 5 -6 overs as he did in South Africa in the last one dayer and against New Zealand in the just concluded series. Kohli is in top form. He has got 1672 runs from 45 matches at an average of 46 and in home conditions, he could really be the man to look out for.Raina is struggling to find form and he could be the scape goat but he can be destructive too on his given day. Dhoni will also have tough time choosing his bowlers. Zaheer will be the spear head, but who will take the new ball along side him? Praveen kumar is a genuine  Swing Bowler and he could be one of the good options. Ashish Nehra could be good bowler at death - he has got good yorker which are still a good technique of picking up wickets. Harbhajan will have to perform well, he would be the main bowler and India's trump card.

India has got good chance of winning the tournament but what they will have to do is believe in themselves that they can win. I would put Australia, England, South Africa and India into the semi finals and from there its any body's tournament.