Countdowns are ticking away. Teams are getting ready. Everyone’s writing about it. There’s nobody who doesn’t know about it unless he/ she is staying outside India! There’s no team to bet our money on. I am not betting on any team today. But let me atleast list down my favourites. And the difference between the top and bottom on the list is almost nothing.
Australia, the traditional favourites, are on a losing streak 
and are presently a team of patients. Symonds, their best player, is injured. And they are a worried lot. They are talking all kinds of nonsense of making 500 runs in a single innings. Yeah, right, if you have teams like Bermuda, Scotland, etc. am sure the nonsense will enter into the records book. Whatever it is, I am not going to bet on Australia. But they still are my top favourite to win the cup. Yet again.
Australia’s line-up is still formidable. But they have lost that overwhelming feeling that would come over the opponent just on knowing that their opponent was going to be Australia. Every team now believes that they can beat Australia. And that’s what has made this World Cup the most open tournament ever in the history of international cricket.
South Africa are the #1 ODI team on paper. Their reputation for choking precedes their talent unfortunately. There is no doubt about their talent, but it’s the nature of pitches that they will get to play on that actually brings them down to being the second favourite. Any average spinner like Jayasuriya, Sehwag or even Tendulkar can bring this team on their knees on the West Indian pitches. They are on a roll and hence they might reach the semis on momentum but by technique and character they will not last the full race.
West Indies are next. Unpredictable bunch of cookies. They know their terrain well. Lost 
their away series against India, but performed creditably. Lara’s last World Cup and we know the consistency with which he performs on the big stage. Whenever I watch Lara play I always feel why can’t Tendulkar play like him. With Lara sure to perform and with Gayle, Sarwan and Chanderpaul on their homegrounds, WI seems to be the third best team to win this World Cup.
Coming to my emotional favourite now. The most unpredictable set of people. We have 
picked a team on the “hope” that a few players will perform. And the other hope is that the remaining few will be able to stay fit and play consistently. Even assuming the best case scenario I doubt if we can beat the top three teams in this list. [Beating WI by 9 wickets today and losing the next match with the same team on the same venue by the same margin is this team's specialty - refer to the "most unpredictable" tag that I shower on them in my first sentence] I will need to add a host of if’s and but’s to ensure a victory for us. But I don’t see anyone stopping us till the semi-finals. Sri Lanka is being rated highly by every sports writer, but I don’t see any reason why we can’t beat theam comfortably. We have worked Jayasuriya around, it’s about playing Murali sensibly and milking Vaas. Yes, it is as easy as it sounds. The most fitting tribute we can give the quartet of Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble and Ganguly is to send them off with a victorious World Cup. If not for the quartet, this tribute is well-deserved for the eternally optimistic fans like me!
The Kiwis, (Lankan) tigers and the (English) penguins (my nomenclature please) are at the same level as far as I am concerned. A winning streak here and a losing streak there, they are on a shaky recent form. The Kiwis have beaten the Aussies comprehensively but they run into some sort of a jinx at the World Cups. Ditto with the penguins. The Lankans are a mercurial lot. Jayawardene and Atapattu will have to prove that they are out of the shadows of Ranatunga and Aravinda-De-Silva. With Sangakkara, Jayasuriya, Murali and Vaas around they seem to be the team with a slight edge compared to the others in this band.
Without Akhtar and Asif I won’t even consider giving Pakistan the ‘darkhorse’ status. If they can get over their internal problems and get the duo into the team and if Akhtar can behave himself as well as keep himself fit, then Pakistan has a ‘darkhorse’ status of winning this edition. Looks like they are going to send off Inzy with only one World Cup win to his name. Something that eludes the so-called living legends of Indian cricket.
On the whole, I find this World Cup to get very interesting after the first few weeks i.e. once the minnows are eliminated. The Super eight stage will get very gripping provided the pitches live upto a certain standard. We don’t want bad pitches affecting the quality of cricket we want to see. Whoever wins, for me this World Cup is going to see some of the best talents of my time perform for the last time on this stage. And it doesn’t get bigger than this!
When players like Dhoni – super sixes, Sachin, Ganguly – a totally different personality after the break, Dravid – the person who leads the team with his head on his shoulders etc…etc… what makes India fall on the fourth place in the rating???? India can definitely beat WI as it has already proved in its previous matches….. South Africa ya is a good team, but India has good changes of wining matches against them also… as u have itself mentioned Australia has not been performing its best in the recent matches which leaves India to WIN THE WORLD CUP 2007!!!
let’s see how much this prediction holds up: neither australia nor south africa will win it all.
- s.b.
Kirthana:
I will be the happiest if India wins!
S.b.:
India will! ;)
I have a feeling there will be lots of surprises…
It’s going to be interesting contest… It’s all depends on how well the batsmen play against slow bowling… For me, Ind,SA,WI and Aus are the four team who can make semi finals and I’m expecting Ind Vs SA Final. If SA has little luck ,then who knows ?
More importantly, I don’t any want any minnow to enter next round of the worldcup, which just spoils the entire fun.
Pakistan is badly missing Abdul Razaaq than Asif and Shoeb, wat say?
Good take… Ozzies are still the best.. if not the best behaved.. lol at the cartoon…
Pradeep:
In fact I deleted one sentence from my write-up during the editing stage and that read something like: “This World Cup is one where nobody is going to be surprised whoever wins or loses” Then I deleted that thinking I would definitely be surprised if Australia didn’t lift their game enough to win this edition. So, I agree with you. There could be a few surprises in store!
Sudhakar:
Our predictions match up well! My wildest expectation is an Ind-WI final. That’s the best combination with India winning! Imagine this scoreline for the Semi-Finals:
Australia 331/4 (50 overs)
Hayden: 141* (132)
Ponting: 102 (100)
Gilchrist: 76 (42)
lost to
India 332/2 (47.2 overs)
Tendulkar: 195* (151)
Sehwag: 82 (36)
Ganguly: 44 (78)
If this happens, then World Cup is ours only! :)
Sudhakar:
Got carried away with that scoreline stuff and forgot the rest of your commment:
Minnows entering the next stage is very frustrating. Like the Kenyans did the last time. The problem is not with any country as such, but the problem is that they take the quality of cricket down so much that you almost feel like switching the TV off and going to sleep!
Pakistan is surely missing the trio. They are almost nothing without them on these pitches. How much can Inzy, Afridi and Yousuf deliver? I am not giving them an iota of chance to enter the semis even. Gone case!
Vijay:
Thanks! That’s right! :)
It’s nice to see so many well wishers for Indian cricket team to win. As in most cases i don’t want India to win because
1. This would mean more and more money poured into cricket in this cricket polarized country without much development to the sport or process involved in the sports development. Of course other sports are totally left untouched.
2. This would mean we would lose almost two months of our valuable time in anticipation of India winning the tournament and lose lot of emotional energy in the course. In case they lose in super 8 or before it would mean we would be left with more of excitement for other teams to win and less of emotions.
3. I guess the best team should win the tournament, as of now I feel SA, New Zealand or Australia are best teams. Not in that order maybe.
4. I hope this would be the time for a team that never won world cup to win. Bangladesh?? SA?? New Zealand?? England??
Sundeep:
Thanks for your comment!
Coming to your point-wise opposition to an Indian win:
1. BCCI may not be working in the most ideal way that you want it to. But they are atleast producing sportsmen in one sport that produce a hope in the countrymen of excelling at the highest level. I am not getting into how ‘other sports are totally left untouched’ because it is out of context here.
2. Hmmm… this point sounds somewhat okay. But seems to be getting derogatory somewhere. If India wins the World Cup the country will stop for 2 days minimum!
3. That’s anyone’s guess.
4. Bangladesh?
Aus Vs India – thats too much of asking… even if Sachin scores that 195, I don’t think Sehwag will be in playing 11 if Ind reaches semis :|
I like your response on my comments!
Coming to your point-wise supposition to an Indian win:
1. Yeah! I sincerely agree that BCCI is creating lot of hope in youth by picking up some good individuals to play for India. But the hope seems to be deteriorating somewhere down the aisles of bribery, lack of good pitches(with bounce and pace) and a lack of hope for development of the above mentioned points in near future. I totally agree that lack of development of other sports is a complete debate on itself but the argument has some roots starting at the current discussion.
2. Thanks for considering! I agree India would stop for 2 days and there would be festivals to celebrate it. There would be more and more teens who want to play cricket. What would be the outcome if educated parents (mostly middleclass) don’t support them and poor uneducated people are not able to pay for playing in Ranji.
3. It’s my guess as well as what I strongly want.
4. Yeah! I guess it could be called improbable Optimism.
I apologize for sounding so cynical, actually I just wanted to be critical.
Adithya and Sundeep,
I agree Australia and S.Africa are the best cricket teams,but not New Zealand.They are just hype-experts.In 2002,Indians were badly defeated in New ZEALAND.When India complained that the pitch there was a key factor for their defeat; Fleming said such lame excuses are silly.But,what happened in WC-2003?India was a finalist and also thrashed those naughty ‘black caps’ in the super six match.The same will happen now too.Australia will reach the final.The question is who’is the other and who of the 2 will win?Let’s hope that India be either in 2nd or 3rd position in the semifinal,so a clash with Australia wil be only in the finals.
Aditya,
Hope Kirthana madam post comments regularly here.It’ll be quite interesting to read a wife’s comments on her husband’s blogposts!
Prashanth M:
Sometimes pure fantasising does the trick! ;) Hence the fantasy!
And regarding Sehwag: I honestly think he can fire and fire well that too. Let’s see! :)
Sundeep:
1. With reference to “the argument has some roots starting at the current discussion”, I refuse to get to the root here in this post. This is purely about the cricket world cup and who will win. Not even about the way cricket is run in India. So, my argument ends here.
2. That’s (paying for playing at Ranji) like saying I want the Mercedes Benz of cars, but I can’t pay so nobody should make them!
3. Let’s wait and watch!
4. Improbable optimism - right!
S. Ganesh Kumar:
Hope your words come true! I shall definitely forward your comment to Kirthana. She will be happy! :)
Thanks!
I would have to comment on the second point.
I guess the comparison used is in appropriate in this context.
As per my friend’s (who played for districts in Karnataka) inputs as well as an article in news channel, a person should pay money of somewhere in lakhs to get a chance to play for states/Ranji in spite of talents he has.
So the following comparison would have been more appropriate “A person might be given a Mercedes Benz free of cost if they can pay 5 lakhs now and perform very well for 5 years or so and the chances of getting the car is 1 in 10 million”.
Again this is only thinly related to world cup and who wins this time. Had to continue the thread because of misdirection of the comparison used by you.
Let Bangladesh win ;-)
Sundeep:
You are talking about corruption I guess. I hope that’s not the actual fees you have to pay to play for the district/ state.
If it’s a system thing, then I am with you on this one. It should be canceled and players must be taken in solely on performance.
If it’s corruption, then I can only say this. There are more important areas in our country that need our attention with respect to this (rooting out corruption). Refer any TV channel and you will have a tough time counting the number of scandals!
“S.b.:
India will! ;) ”
mysorean:
india will do what? :-)
- s.b.
//I hope this would be the time for a team that never won world cup to win. Bangladesh?? SA?? New Zealand?? England?? //
Sundeep;
If that’s your view ;let the deserving among them win i.e South Africa.If Bangladesh or New zealand wins;it’s a shame to cricket.
Adithya;read my post regarding the World Cup:
http://sganeshkumar.blogspot.com/2007/03/shockingnot-boring.html
By the way;Sundeep,Bangladesh has been rated as the most corupt country.So;let’s dream they win the cup.What is happening in BCCI now(If I have to believe you.) will happen with much more magnitude in Bangladesh.Anyhow;you’re in U.S.A,what matters whether such corruption hapens in India or Bangladesh?
S.b.:
India will do something or the other! But will make it to Super eight I am sure!
S. Ganesh Kumar:
I read your post on the World Cup. You are right, there is no need to be so pessimistic about Indian cricket just after one loss. We need to wait for another one, right?! ;) Just kidding. Seriosuly speaking, I am still positive about India’s chances in the World Cup!
Fyi, Sundeep stays in India only now! And he has always been an Indian. He stayed abroad for a brief period of a few years. He’s back now!
S.Ganesh Kumar
Sorry for delayed reply! I havent visited the site for some time. I was tied up with few other tasks of late.
Coming to your first point please read through my 3rd point where I mentioned “I guess the best team should win the tournament, as of now I feel SA, New Zealand or Australia are best teams. Not in that order maybe. “ if you see closely i didn’t mention about Bangladesh. I would be very surprised myself if Bangladesh wins but would be really happy for them as I have known how hard they worked under Dave watmore. He must be the best coach for upsets, nobody gave a penny for sri lanka to win the 96 world cup and they won. I guess he creates immense confidence and self-belief in the team.
As far as second point, I know that Bangladesh is one of the most corrupt countries, but when it comes to Cricket they are not nearly as corrupt as India. The good thing in their favour is they don’t have any regional politics to deal with. Otherwise they wouldn’t have replaced many old players with promising youngsters.
Mysorean & S.Ganesh Kumar
I guess hopes of India going to Super 8 ends. India loses to SL by 69 runs Dude. Even though there is a slight chance of India making it to Super 8, I wouldn’t bet on it.
Sundeep:
Neither would I now. It’s practically gone. Agree with you.
//India still has a slim chance of sneaking through to the next stage, if Bangladesh loses to Bermuda on Sunday.//
It’s like a minnows’ charity and accepting such charity will be worse than consuming poison.
Let’s hope to win it in 2011.
I simply loved that cartoon…arguably the best one I have seen off late…almost feel off my chair when I saw that :))
Read my latest post:
http://www.mysorean.com/2007/03/09/the-world-cup-2007/#comment-4138
Sorry,wrong link.Here’s the right one:
http://sganeshkumar.blogspot.com/2007/04/australia-winsgood-for-cricket.html