Why India should win the World Cup???

Morning 7 AM
I woke up and as usual first thing you need is the Copy of Times of India (it has become a part of my life)…
Front page nothing extraordinary, the news of Indian cricket Team selection , which as were all expecting. But then come one of my flat mate and along with him a huge shock…his first sentence was “We can’t win world cup” without even looking at the team…what was that. I tried arguing with him, but then thought leave it….the fun didn’t end here

next scene 8.05 AM, Place: Infy Bus Stop…
My neighbor came, again saw TOI and here comes the damm comment “they should not go to World Cup”. Oh my God….look at the confidence in our own cricket team.

What a wonderful start of a day…I don’t really know the reason behind this negativity, probably it has something to do with our hysterical mentality of making a ripple look like a Tsunami. But for me only from cricketing point of view this is the best possible team, capable of winning the world cup, I am not saying that they are going to win the Cup but potential wise they can definitely do so.
People must be wondering what could be the reason for this confidence or am I a blind supporter of Indian team; firstly I am a blind supporter of every Indian Team let alone cricket, but still there is certain method about my optimism about this cricket team. We have one of the best batting line up in this world with a good mix of stroke makers and grinders. Mind you West Indies pitches will be low and slow where it will become difficult to score runs as the ball gets older so there must be a right mix of attacking and defensive players and this is where the importance of Sachin Tendulkar comes, he is a sort of floater who can play anywhere, as the situation demands and also can change his game dynamically. He along with Dravid are the one who have to take the responsibility to maintaining scoring rate during the crucial 20-40 overs slot. Next comes the slog over, where Yuvraj and Dhoni will have to play his part. They are the ones who have got the power to clear the boundary even on slow Windies pitches. So where to adjust the Mystery Boy of Indian Cricket, Virender Sehwag , he, for me should be in middle order, in between Sachin and Dravid and definitely not as opener , he has the ability to hit boundaries and change the complexion of the game pretty soon. The only problem with him is his confidence; once he got it back rest assure he can be pretty deadly. So it means no place for Dinesh Karthik, unfortunately yes but still if someone is woefully out of form or gets injured then he is always an able replacement. Ohh I forget about openers , it has to Utthapa and Ganguly , Ganguly as we all know is in form of his life and Utthapa once he got his technique against short balls right then can be pretty able foil.

So batting done , comes the next important clog in the wheel Bowling , first of all it don’t really look fearsome yet it has got a good settled look . Nothing extraordinary but to win ODI you need sedate consistent bowling rather than over the top all out class. Since in all probability Dravid’s men will go in with 4 Bowlers preferably 3 seamers and 1 spinner, On Current Form Zahir, Agarkar and Munaf select themselves. Sreesanth is there as a back up, while in spin department out of Harbhajan and Kumble you have to go for Bhaji naturally because of his fielding ability. But there still remain one piece of puzzle , Irfan Pathan…Selectors have selected him means Team management is quite sure about his ability but for him his in cutters must come back, without it he is too predictable and an easy target for opposition batsmen. So if gets back his in-dippers then probably we can sacrifice one batsman and play him. Till then its better to play 4 bowlers, then someone will ask me what about the 5th bowler Boss, that’s risk and we have to take that, again Sachin Tendulkar will have to play a big part, he has to take responsibity just like jayasuriya or Afridi does, then there is always Sehwag and Yuvraj to fall upon. So we can expect these 3 to together bowl out atleast 10 overs.

The last and final piece of the picture is the fielding ability, here no doubt that we are not so good. But now a days fielding too requires lots of strategy. Look at Australian team they too have one or two liabilities like McGrath but they always make him stand where the ball is least expected top come. Similarly good ones like Symonds and Clarke always stand in critical positions like in first 15 its point or covers while in slog over we invariably find them manning the boundaries. In the same way we have to field intelligently or smartly, place your fielders where they are best expected to work.

Thus in all the best possible team. Support it, last time we were just one step away from the glory and this time we all hope that we will cross that final frontier too.

Technorati Tags:India, Cricket, WorldCup2007, WestIndies, Playing11