With Sachin Tendulkar planning to quit after this World Cup, the bar is set much higher for the Indian players. Team India stands as one of the favorites alongside a formidable Sri Lanka, a strong South Africa, T20 Champions England and the reigning ODI champions Australia.
The players selected by BCCI are: MS Dhoni (Captain), V Sehwag (Vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, R Ashwin, Piyush Chawla.
Cricket experts say that bowlers win you test matches while batsmen win you ODI?s. If this is indeed true then India stands a bright chance for they have a splendid batting line up.
Sachin ,Sehwag ,Gambhir take up the first three slots while ,Dhoni and Pathan will be at six and seven respectively. Num 4 and 5 slots will be a tossup between Kohli,Yuvraj and Raina. The bowling side has 3 spinners and 4 seamers. The bowling department may not look that strong with Nehra and Munaf there but considering Patel?s recent form he also becomes a force to reckon with. The spin attack led by Bhajji looks good and also the part timers have proved their worth.
Strengths:
Balanced Team: The team is a perfect combination of both experienced as well youth. Though the bowling department looks a little weak, presence of Zaheer and Harbhajan should exude confidence to others in the team. After a long time Indian tail has started wagging which was evident in the last Series as well as the warm up match against Australia.
Home Conditions: Since the World Cup is being played in the subcontinent, the Indian cricket team can expect the maximum crowd support. The Indian stadiums will be expecting a crowd of about 50,000.
Weakness:
Consistency: Off late team India has not being able to perform consistently. A lot of the games show that individual performers have saved the game. If the team India aims to win the WC then they have to perform collectively and every player have to play to their fullest.
Brittle Middle Order: Yuvaraj and Raina are not in good form and have been picked mainly based on their past performance. It is an altogether a different issue that both of them are game changers but their current forms are the weak links.
Absence of a genuine Allrounder: For the past 4 years selectors have been trying to groom one genuine allrounder , but with little sucesss. The fifth bowler slot is absent which makes the team to rely on bowlers like Yuvaraj and company.
Opportunities:
Spinning Subcontinent Pitches: The pitches in the subcontinent are very favorable for spinners and India has opted for 3 spinners. Its part-timers are also spinners. Both Ashwin and Chawla have a chance to shine in their 1st WC and aid Bhajji in the sub-continent conditions. With spinners, India would be restricting the opposition at the same time will be an attacking team.
Virat Kohli: The young star has been in brilliant touch and was India's highest run-getter in 2010 so this is the big chance for him to stand out and fix his place in the team's middle order.
Sachin Swansong: The only accolade missing in Tendulkar's illustrious career. The entire country wants it for him and also the entire team wants to win the cup for him. This should act as an extra motivation for everyone in the team.
Threats:
Injuries: A lot of Indian players have just come back after injuries. Though fully fit their fitness would still be suspect and they would be short of match practice.
No back-up keeper: So who keeps if MSD is declared unfit right before a match?
Team Pakistan:
Pakistan team doesn't seem to be playing under any pressure. The reasons are obvious, earning a malign reputation by spot fixing scandals and infighting, the Pakistan cricket fraternity is on a recovery mode. With Salman Butt, Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amer suspended, the first choice bowling attack of Pakistan is gone. With the captaincy issue getting resolved recently, the team morale won't be that high. But still a sub-continent team in sub-continent cannot be ignored.
THE SQUAD
Shoaib Akhtar, Muhammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Umer Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Umer Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir, Ahmed Shehzad.
Young Players
Out of the 15 chosen, 8 are those who have never been part of an event of this importance. Clearly the Pakistan selectors did not have an option and leaving out Imran Nazir reaffirms the fact that they wanted to start afresh. If we start taking the replacements for the suspended tainted trio, Ahmed Shehzad is in for Butt and Shehzad has definitely proved himself.
He has a distinction of playing at the highest level and then going back to represent Pakistan in the Under 19 World cup. He only has one gear and that is to clear the in-field any how, he is not afraid to take on the fastest of the bowlers and even on bouncy wickets he has played some magnificent shots on the rise. He won't get that pace in sub-continent and moreover his 7 match experience might not be enough.
Umar Akmal, a prodigy in the making, probably a complete batsmen Pakistan have produced after the era of Saeed Anwar. Though Younis Khan is probably the best Pakistan has got at the moment. This would be the make or break tournament for Umar and to utilize his complete ability he must be slotted at No.3 nothing below that.
Wahab Riaz, is the replacement for Mohhammed Asif and to be fair on him he is a decent catch from the bowling factory. He has not exactly filled in the shoes of Asif but his approach ahs been commendable and as with Umar it would be make or break trip that he would be making to India.
Weakness
On the other hand there is Mohammed Hafeez, Pakistan selectors does seem to have a blind faith on this player. With an average of 22 in 62 ODIs, how he has made it to the squad is a question, only reason one can think of is, he is not swashbuckling as Shehzad so they assumed he would be the calmer and wiser partner.
Mohammed Amer could have been the potent weapon for Pakistan instead they had to content themselves with the old potent weapons, Shohib Akhtar. as an old war veteran, it is not his pace or form which has made him survive this long, it's probably his never say die attitude and this never "say die attitude" unfortunately looks good .
Being hit for an economy of more than 8 and again coming back to bowl the full quota of overs to end up with run rate of 7 does not fit the bill for never say die attitude. That plainly is poor bowling but Pakistan selectors as I mentioned earlier tend to assume a lot of things.
Putting Kamran Akmal in the slot is just because of the poor form he is in, he tried his hands as an opener then at number 3 with no effect. In recent times, he has been very successful in the sub-continent primarily against India and his being in form would be of prime importance. He is more like Suresh Raina of Pakistan, unpredictable yet assuring figure.
Inspirational Misbah Ul Haq is a player of calibre but his big match playing credential is doubted.
Abdul Razzak is more of confusion; unpredictability has hovered all around his cricketing career. Not as strong a bowler he used to be but he is the variation guy of the team. He can pack a punch and on a given day could be more barbaric than Yusuf Pathan, but its all about him clicking or not. Not exactly a worry but can't put him in chances section as well.
Chances
Chances have to be read as Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi. Gul is the strike bowler, best exponent of death bowling and Shahid Afridi along with Saeed Ajmal, is the best spinning duo in the world cup. With one having the knack of picking up wickets and other is choking down the batsmen.
Younis Khan just cannot afford to have a bad day on the field as he would be the spine of Pakistani batting attack.
Semi-final could be the maximum they could reach but again unpredictability is what Pakistan cricket lives with.
