Once again it’s time to rejoice the festival of cricket. Once again it’s time to bring out our wishlist. Once again it’s time to scream in joy and pain, yes, cricket world cup is here. This time expectations are sky high as sub continent gets ready to host the world cup for third time.
World cup has to be the best arena for a cricketer to show off his skills, after all eyes of world of cricket will all be hoping to witness a display of cricket of highest skills. This is the moment all teams in the world wait four years to lay their hands on the prettiest cups of all. It’s hard to pick out one favorite among all, as most of the teams stand very close in ICC rankings. One might pick India as the favorite as they will be playing at home and obviously, will have the advantage of familiar conditions and support of millions of wild and enthusiastic spectators. If they perform well, that latter will definitely prove to be an asset, otherwise they would have to find the ghettos to save themselves.
South Africa, like always, seems very strong. But their inability to get over chokers tag always leaves a speck of disbelief that they would emerge as winners. If they ever want to get rid of the chokers tag, this is the opportunity, or shall I say, one last opportunity before the legend Kallis retires from cricket. Australia might not have performed well in the last year, but they will always remain favorites in any cricket event. Events like this spur the energy in Australians. I believe, they are relied more on their confidence and commitment than the skills. Once they get the momentum going, it would take a gigantic effort to stop them. Certainly, their last three world cup performances talk tons about their ability to strangle the weaker teams and their never give up attitude even in the realms of discomfort. I would never ignore Australia, they always pose a threat.
SriLanka has team with a good mix of experienced and young players. Their bowling is as powerful as batting. 3M’s bring variety and subtlety in bowling that any captain would love to posses in his armory. Sangakkara and Jayawardhane provide strength and stability to their batting order and there is always DIlshan at the top order to kick start the innings to a flier. Then again, it all depends how they will perform under pressure. Playing at home doesn’t always give the comfort of playing freely. World cup record shows that hosts have never won the world cup so far. This world cup might emerge as trend setter.
There are many reasons this world cup will remain memorable. This world cup will be his 6th appearance in the world cups and will give Sachin Tendulkar one last opportunity to grab hold on the holygrail. This remains one dream unfulfilled in his long and illustrious career, so far. Other than him, there are many others who will say good bye to cricket after this event, Legend spinner Muttaiah, one of the best all-rounder Kallis, one of the best batsmen of modern cricket Rickey Ponting, and many more. I am glad that I have one last opportunity to witness display of greats. We might not see all these legends combat again but these memories will always remain fresh.
Enough with talk shows, enough with analyses and let’s not divulge more in past records. Let’s not squander our time discussing wasted opportunities. Let’s not evaluate the performances based on the warm up games. Now that dance shows are done, let’s open our ears for some sweet chin music, intoxicating sound of leather hitting timber, melodious mantra of leather contacting middle of the bat. Enough words, let the game begin!!
