The International Cricket World Cup 2015

CRICKET WORLD CUP 2015

The 2015 Cricket World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand begins on Feb 14 and ends on Mar 29. The Mega event kick starts with the Kiwis taking on the 96’ champions Sri Lanka in the afternoon and the Australians taking on their arch rivals England at night. The next day it would be the defending champions India who face their arch rivals Pakistan to begin their title defence campaign. Also this would be India’s first World Cup match post Tendulkar’s retirement from India colours. The tournament is spread into 49 matches across 14 different venues in which Australia host 26 and New Zealand host 23. Total of 14 teams take part in this tournament and there are talks that this could be the last edition in which the Associate Nations take part. Out of 14, the 10 test playing nations gained direct qualification whereas there are qualifier tournaments held for the other four spots. Ireland have gained qualification and the rest 3 places are down to decide.

               
These are how the teams stand in their groups-

          POOL A: Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Qualifier 2 & Qualifier 3.

          POOL B: India, Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland & Qualifier 4.

The cutoff date given by the ICC was 31/12/12.

          Let us see the stadiums where the matches are going to be held

          AUS: Canberra, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Hobart

          NZL: Christchurch, Dunedin, Napier, Hamilton, Nelson, Wellington, Auckland

          For the past 6 events the tournament has seen 1 finalist being an Asian team with the last edition where both finalists were Asians.

          1992- Pakistan –WINNERS under Imran Khan

          1996- Srilanka – WINNERS under Arjuna Ranatunga

          1999- Pakistan - RUNNERS under Wasim Akram

          2003- India – RUNNERS under Sourav Ganguly

          2007- Srilanka – RUNNERS under Mahela Jayawardene

          2011- India- WINNERS under Mahendra Singh Dhoni

- Srilanka –RUNNERS under Kumara Sangakkara

          After the 42 league games are finished it is then on to the Quarter Finals, then Semis and then to the Grand Final at Melbourne.

          The Quarters match up would be as follows:

          QF1: 1A vs. 4B

          QF2: 2B vs. 3A

          QF3: 1B vs. 4A

          QF4: 2A vs. 3B

          Winners of QF3 and QF4 play SF1

          Winners of QF1 and QF2 play SF2

          Winners of SF1 and SF2 play the Finals.

          When it comes to the World Cups, All Indian Fans would put their permutations and combinations of having a famous old rivalry match against Pakistan. But now India and Pakistan placed within the same group, there are no chances that they will face-off again in the Quarters. But there are chances that they can face-off in the Semis or the Finals. So Crazy Cricket Fans here is your combination

 FOR India vs. Pakistan

          In Finals                   

India Finishes	Pak should Finish
1	2/4
2	1/3
3	2/4
4	1/3

   

          In Semis

India Finishes	Pak should Finish
1	3
2	4
3	1
4	2

The same would be the feeling of the fans of the Ashes rivals Australia and England. So fans replace India by Australia and Pakistan with England to see your combinations.

Let us see how teams see their chances in the 2015 campaign.

          AUSTRALIA:

          The 4-time World Champions were knocked out in the Quarter Finals in the 2011 cup by the title holders India are under going through a transitional phase after the retirements of Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, Hussey and Lee who once formed their formidable line-up. It would be a tough task for them to win the championship but the positive they can take is that they tournament is held in their backyard where they are considered to be strong.

          NEW ZEALAND:

          The other co-hosts New Zealand, more known as the Black Caps, fire well when it comes to the World Cup, even though they falter on other tours. They would be often mentioned as the Black Horses of the tournament. Having made it to the last 4 on 2 previous editions, this time they would like to go 1 step ahead and make it to the finals which would be their first time in World Cups. They have a pack of entertaining batsmen to watch-out for when they play at home.

          INDIA:

          The defending champions have made some drastic changes to their team since the 2011 campaign, Sachin retired and the other top order batsmen Sehwag and Gambhir struggling for runs. Meanwhile the fringe players who were given chances held to it well by producing some stellar performances in the recent times. India now are beginning to show some faith in their bowlers to change the game particularly in Bhuvaneshwar Kumar who has the ability to swing the ball both ways. Though they develop as a strong unit, there lies a tough road ahead in their path to title defence.

          SRILANKA:

          Two-time runner up Srilanka have to take up the transition stage otherwise it would be hard for them to tell themselves as World Champions if they win the campaign. Cause their batting relies on Dilshan, Sangakkara and Jayawardene. The young Kushal Perera and Skipper Mathews need to find consistency in their form. The bowlers on the other hand, perform at their best in a match and then scramble in the next matches. If the new players find that consistency in their form, they would be well-knit unit to make them a favourites for the campaign.

          SOUTH AFRICA:

          Next the South Africans. Often called as the CHOKERS. They would be the strongest team to beat when it is in the league phase but when it comes to the knock-out phase they give a performance that they would want to forget after the end of the campaign. They also have some star players such as Kallis, Steyn, Amla, de Villiers and Smith. As the pitches in Australia and New Zealand would be almost to the same as that of South Africa, they could win their first World Cup.

          PAKISTAN:

          The Pakistanis, almost like the SRH of IPL, with their bowling unit doing the rescue job after a poor show by their batsmen. The fragility in their batting was seen in the Champions Trophy, where on an average they scored 160. Apart from the skipper Misbah, the form of the others are poor. They can take chances that the pitches would be bowler-friendly provided the batsmen aid the bowlers with some consistency in their form so that they can fight for the championship

          ENGLAND:

          The topic is cricket, forgetting someone….? Yes, the team which invented the game, the Ashes rivals of Australia, England. Under Alaistar Cook they are reforming into a strong unit and this was evident as they reached the finals of the Champions Trophy. It could also be a fact that they were playing at home but they beat some of the strong nations. 3-time runners, they would want to win it at least once and this time they have some potential players who can guide them to the Championship.

          WESTINDIES:

          England, they introduced the game, but they could not advertise the game they needed some medium to advertise and came the advertisers in the form of a cricket team. Yes, the West Indies… They just showed how cricket can be played the hard-way by their devastating bowling and hard hitting. But now the present West Indies seemed to have lost that magic. Though they have match entertainers like Gayle, Pollard e.tc, they lack to fire in unison. If they somehow overcome that flaw, they are a team who could turn the tables and become a potential champions.

          Apart from these 8 major cricketing nations, there are some teams like Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Ireland who can inject major upsets in the tournaments. Who would forget the Kenyan team which made all the way to the Semis in the 2003 campaign…? So, we can expect a interesting International Cricket Carnival held by the International Cricket Council in the month of FEB and MAR of 2015 down under…..

-S.T. Guha Karthikeyan