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Establishing the World Cup pretenders

Roar Rookie
22nd January, 2015
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Roar Rookie
22nd January, 2015
13

The ICC Cricket World Cup is just three weeks away, and the hype could not be higher in India. The joint hosts of the 2011 edition, defending champions and 2015 champions in waiting, well thats the belief in India.

The build up to the tournament in India has been fantastic with the Star Sports team featuring number of different shows on the World Cup. Sachin Tendulkar and a number of other recently retired greats are seen giving an insight of what they dreamt of from the day they first set foot on the cricket field. And for all of them, it involves lifting that World Cup trophy.

So, who is going to lift the World Cup 2015? The pundits of the game, all over the world, have already answered this question by choosing their top three contenders for the World Cup. So, I thought to reverse the process by choosing top three non-condenters for the World Cup.

This article might raise some eyebrows because the list does not feature any minnows but some of the giants of the sport. It is divided into three parts, with each part featuring one team. So let’s start with the first team, India.

India
Squad:

MS Dhoni(C), Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Stuart Binny, Ambati Rayudu, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav.

Pieces that do not fit the puzzle

1. Axar Patel
Axar Patel is a hugely talented and promising player, but he is simply not experienced enough to be selected in the Indian squad. He has only played 11 international matches with no experience of playing against the big teams overseas prior to the tri-series that India is currently playing in.

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He has been a star in the Indian Premier League but there have been very few players who have made it big at the international level after shining in IPL. No doubt, he is a very bright, young talent in the Indian circuit at present, but with less than 10 ODI games under his kitty when he was selected, his place in the World Cup squad isn’t fully justified.

Let’s assume two pressure situations in World Cup in the Knockout stage. Suppose India is chasing a target against a quality bowling side. They require 120 from last 15 overs with only five wickets left. The other situation is where India is defending a target against a quality batting side. The opposition requires 40 from last five overs with seven wickets in hand and two set batsmen are playing.

Now, let’s put Akshar patel in these two situations. In these type of situations, his temperament is going to be tested and he may handle that pressure well, but there are more chances that he may succumb to the pressure, not because he is not a good player but because he doesn’t have the experience of being in such crunch situations.

Players who amassed thousand and thousand of runs, and who took a bagful of wickets, have cracked under the pressure of a World cup. Sachin failed twice in finals of World cup (2003 and 2011), Waqar younis, Shoaib Akhtar and co, were belted all around the park by Sachin in what was a sudden-death match for Pakistan at the 2003 World Cup; pressure you see.

Akshar patel is a great future prospect for India and it remains to be seen how he will handle the pressure and come to terms with Australian and New Zealand pitches, but the fact is that the World Cup is surely not the stage to experiment new players.

2. Ravindra Jadeja
Can one select an injured player, no matter how big a player he is, for the World Cup ignoring all other better prospects? The answer is yes, if the country is India and the player is Sir Ravindra Jadeja.

Jadeja is nursing a shoulder injury and is hoped to get fit by the time World Cup starts, but will he be the same player as before? Surely not.

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Most players take three to four games to get into their groove and you can’t play such a gamble in World Cup. Also, Jadeja will likely be a little tentative in pushing extra efforts in the field, bowling a touch quicker than usual or playing shots, especially the pull shots and hook shots.

The reason again being the shoulder injury. He wouldn’t want to aggravate his shoulder problem again. Jadeja is one of the main weapons of MS Dhoni but of late, even when healthy, he hasn’t been at his best.
He has become quite predictable with his line and length, and has become easily playable, scoreable and negotiable. With Australian pitches not best suited for the spinners and the shoulder injury, there is surely a big question mark over Jadeja’s selection.

3. Stuart Binny
What came as a shocker to some experts and spine- chiller to many cricket fans, was the selection of Stuart Binny in the Indian squad for the World Cup. Stuart Binny has nothing to offer to justify his place in the Indian squad.

He is an all-rounder who bats right handed and bowls at a medium pace. His best bowling figures are 6/4 against Bangadesh. What’s interesting to see is that, this bowling performance was a result of swinging and seaming conditions.

Unless, the conditions are bowler friendly, his bowling won’t make any sort of impact and he is bound to go for runs. In the batting department, he is yet to prove his worth. Prior to the trip-series he had only played six ODIs with a batting average of merely 13. His highest score is 25 and that came against Bangladesh.

He was, however, one of very few shining lights in India’s capitulation in Brisbane on Tuesday, top-scoring with a composed innings of 44, a career best against some fierce English bowling. On top of this, he was the pick of the quick and medium-paced bowlers, with figures of 1/34 off seven overs.

He, too like Axar Patel has not been in a pressure situation before and his numbers don’t account for his place in the World Cup squad. He is surely not a cog that fits into this Indian machine.

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Past record in World Cups held overseas
India was not a force to be reckoned with in international cricket until they won the World Cup in 1983. So excluding their performance in the first two World Cups, let us examine, how they have performed in the ‘Grand Slam’ of cricket.

From 1983 to 2011, the World Cup tournament has happened eight times out of which, there have been five occasions when the tournament was held overseas. India won in 1983, were shown the exit gate in the Round Robin stage in 1992, knocked out during super six stage in 1999, reached the finals in 2003 and crashed out of the competition in the very first round in 2007.

Thus, their percentage of making it to the semis in WC, held overseas is 40, which neither the Indian team nor their fans would find pleasing. One cannot write away the fact that India are the ‘defending champions’ of the World Cup, but does this tag certify them to be the favourites, to win the World Cup? Certainly not.

See the trend of India in all the World Cups since 1983; Winners in 1983, semi- finalists in 1987, Round Robin stage and finishing seventh out of total nine teams in 1992, super six stage in 1999, semi- finalists in 2003, first round exit in 2007, and winners in 2011. This trend shows that India’s performance in World Cups has been Inconsistent and their ‘defending champions’ tag cannot help to rule this out.

Past record in Australia
India has not enjoyed any sort of success in Australia for a number of years. They were white-washed in the Test series in 2011, were knocked out of the tri-series in 2011 with Australia and Sri Lanka going on to play the finals.

They had quite a similar fate in recently concluded Test series losing by a 2-0 margin. They have made a disastrous start to their triangular series campaign against Australia and England, adding more worries for themselves. Taking the past records into consideration, the odds do not look in their favour for the tri-series and certainly not for the World Cup.

Worries
1. Batting
India has a formidable batting line up on paper, but on-field, this batting line up crumbles like a pack of cards.

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India’s batting woes have haunted them from time to time. Shikhar Dhawan looks like an average batsmen with no foot movement when playing overseas. Another batsman who inspires no confidence in Indian fans is Rohit Sharma. Once tipped to be the next Sachin Tendulkar, after over 100 games for his country he has still failed to live up to his potential.

Dick Cavett once said, “perhaps the saddest irony of depression is that suicide happens when the patient gets a little better and can again function sufficiently”. This is quite applicable to Rohit because whenever his form improves, he plays some suicidal innings which puts us in depression.

You can never be sure whether he will score runs in a particular match or not, even if he has scored a century in the previous game. He scored a magical 100 against Australia, but I still don’t know whether he will able to repeat this performance in his next match or not. Thats’s the kind of faith he has been able to entrust within us. He is surely the ‘Mr. Inconsistent’.

No batsmen, other than Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane, seems to be in touch. One can always rely on Dhoni and Raina, but what about the remaining lot? Surely, a void that needs to be filled quickly and effectively.

2. BOWLING
Which one word best describes the Indian bowling? The answer to this question is ‘toothless’.

Yes, Indian bowling is the weakest bowling unit going into the World cup. India’s bowling has always been a matter of concern and their bowlers never fail to deliver the worst. Indian bowlers were clobbered all around the park in the Test series and they are set to meet the similar fate in the World Cup.

Their bowlers don’t have the fire power that can run through the opposition. A saying is “if you can’t bowl them out, contain them”. Indian bowlers don’t follow this principle and they love to give as many runs as possible; an act of philanthropy, you see.

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They are not genuinely quick but medium paced and if there is someone who is quick, then he doesn’t have the control over his line and length.

What adds to this misery are the big grounds and the mandatory rule of five fielders being inside the 30 yard circle, all the time. Imagine, India defending a low total in quarter finals under such conditions. Will Indian bowlers be able to defend the total? Will they be able to bowl the opposition out? Its better not to imagine such scenario than to say ‘NO’ in the answer. India’s think tank has to do something to cover this loophole ASAP.

Conclusion
The ‘men in blue’ will enter the tournment as the defending champions. They are placed in Pool B along with South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and the UAE.

The current Indian World Cup squad hardly features any match winners except Kohli, Dhoni and Suresh Raina. One cannot expect these three to turn up every time and win matches for India. Dhawan is out of form and one cannot rely on ‘Mr. 2 Minutes’ Rohit Sharma. Raina has to prove himself in Australia and Jadeja is still nursing his injury.

So, on whom the onus lies? Kohli and Dhoni? Too demanding. The bowling unit comprises average bowlers and it still remains to be seen, how India works out this weakness. They are bound to finish in the top four in the league stage unless something funny,India losing to minnows, happens which knocks them out of the tournament. If they progress past the group stage, India will surely have their work cut out in the quarter-finals.

Only four players from 2011 squad have made it to the 2015 squad. India doesn’t have a permanent opening combination and a permanent opening bowler. They also don’t have a settled batting order with Kohli being shuffled between number three and four, Rahane batting at six, three and sometimes at the very top of the batting order.

The tri -series in Australia plus the two warm up games before the World Cup, give India the oppurtunity to fix the issues and experiment their inexperienced players to check the amount of gas they have in their tank. It also gives them the oppurtunity to set their batting order, try all the permutations and combinations, and get accustomed to the Australian conditions.

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They need to identify all their weaknesses, and then address them, so that they can come up with the answers to the questions that include who will provide the impetus at the top like Sachin-Sehwag? Who will do the job at the start and in the death with the ball, as Zaheer Khan did? And the most important question of all, who will perform the way Yuvraj Singh did?

Until and unless, India doesn’t come up with answers to these questions, India’s quest for glory will end in darkness. Its easier to become number one than to remain number one. Defending the title is always an uphill task and when you have a weak bowling line up and most of your batsmen out of form, the job becomes tougher. India is surely not in contention for the World Cup 2015.

Here is a staggering fact- The total number of centuries hit by the Indian World cup squad 2015 is 48, which is one less than the number of centuries hit by the Little Master, Sachin Tendulkar.

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