The 11th edition of the Cricket
World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is a huge event to look forward to for
any cricket fan. The tournament which is merely 3 weeks away will host 49 games
to be played among 14 teams. What do we really look forward to?
A Competitive
Tournament
I feel that this World Cup could be more
competitive than its previous editions and this is simply because of the form
and combinations that various key teams carry from last year. India are the
defending champions and will always pose a shot under the leadership of MS
Dhoni. Australia will always be the favourites, being the host and also because
of the team they are posing now under the young leadership of Michael Clarke (should
he recover from his injury) or George Bailey. Same
goes for the second host New Zealand. I believe the Kiwis enjoyed a great 2014
and they have a team to compete for any situation.
South Africa has always been competitive in
these tournaments and will do everything to reach another semi-final and may do
better. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have always surprised us in World Cups and
England are lining up to get the team combination right (under a new captain
Morgan) to try and reach their 4th final.
More
runs down under
Generally, Australia and New Zealand have
been providing bowler friendly pitches and that has over the years made the
case for low or medium scoring games down under. But this time around, we may
see batsmen enjoying much more friendly pitches and hence, much on the lines of
Subcontinent, this tournament may also provide some high scoring games
Young
Leadership
This tournament may well see a very young
leader lifting the trophy. World Cups in the past have generally seen senior
leaders like Imran Khan, Arjun Ranatunga, or consistent leaders like Dhoni and
Ponting lifting the trophy and their nations. This time around, it might well
be a young leader like George Bailey or Brendon McCullum or AB de Villiers.
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