If you believe former Indian master blaster Virender Sehwag, the 15-cricket nations touring India for the Twenty20 World Cup may as well not show up.
Sehwag made the bold prediction that India were deadset certainties at a cricket function.
“India have 99 per cent chance of winning the World T20. India have been winning and they have the perfect combination,” Sehwag said.
Dumb & Dumber
“The pitches will assist spinners as the tournament goes on. We have a better chance than other teams.”
Of course, you have to take what any former Indian cricketer says with a grain of salt. Ravi Shastri emphatically predicted India would win the 2015 ODI World Cup.
“[India] are not going to give any chances to any of our opponents and we are going to lift the trophy,” he said before the tournament.
Yes, you would expect any former player from any major cricket nation to talk up their country but with India it’s a different kind of confidence. It’s not an ‘if we play well and player x fires I think we can win’. It’s more ‘we will win and there are no two buts about it’.
That positive talk about India’s chances seems like the only sensible way for past players to approach it, lest they create a storm of not being patriotic enough.
Sunil Gavaskar has been one of few former players to be critical of India after their ordinary tour to Australia in 2014-15 where they lost the Test series and suffered a heavy defeat in the World Cup semi-final.
To be fair, Twenty20 is a different kettle of fish. India’s top order has been firing on all cylinders and only four times in the last 13 matches has the team lost more than five wickets in an innings. But it still doesn’t make them invincible.
Early in February, the team showed when the top order doesn’t fire, there’s not much behind it after Sri Lanka bowled them out for 101 and won by five wickets.
Saurav Ganguly blamed that performance on an off day for the team and a juicy pitch. He proved to be right as India have won their last seven, but in a Twenty20 tournament that one off day could happen in a final, just like in India’s semi-final loss against Australia at the 2015 ODI World Cup.
India were always going to be favourites with home conditions but a 99 per cent chance of winning, Virender? To quote a line from The Castle: “Tell him he’s dreaming”.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
England's tour of India has ended in abject fashion as the tourists were hammered by an innings and 64 runs inside three days, with…
India have bowled England out for a below-par 218 and cruised to 1-135 in reply to seize early control of the fifth and final…
India have accomplished a nervy run-chase to secure a five-wicket victory against England in the fourth cricket Test in Ranchi. Chasing a modest 192…
In the build up to the India vs England Test series, there were reasonable predictions that India would be the ultimate challenge for Bazball.…
Until quite recently, you would look through an Indian Test XI and see experience everywhere: Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja with the…
Ben Stokes feels England were let down by technology at a crucial moment as they slipped to a series-levelling Test defeat against India -…
