Melbourne, Mar 18:
Having decimated six oppositions without much trouble, India’s real title defence starts with a tricky quarter-final clash against a confident Bangladesh in the ICC Cricket World Cup, here tomorrow.
India with their power-packed performance throughout the past one month have emerged as worthy contenders for retaining the Cup alongside former champions Australia and co-hosts New Zealand.
However the format of the tournament is such that the real test starts from the knock-out stages, which means that effectively three matches can ensure the Cup as qualification for the last eight was a foregone conclusion.
However to India’s credit, the initial momentum that they seized after crushing Pakistan in the first game stayed with them throughout the league phase.
South Africa were blown away, UAE were no match, West Indies at best gave a scare, Ireland got pummeled and Zimbabwe never had the bowling to shake India up.
So convincing has been India’s performance in the six matches so far that Bangladesh, at least on paper, do not even have the slightest of chance at the MCG.
But then ‘Cricket is a game of Glorious Uncertainties’. The tiny nation has shown the gumption to fight it out having shown England the door and gave the ‘Black Caps’ a run for their money.
Call it irony but Bangladesh unwittingly made a contribution towards ICC trying out this current format in World Cup after they shocked India in the 2007 edition in a round robin match at Port of Spain.
Teams:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wk), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Stuart Binny, Ambati Rayudu, Axar Patel
Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza, Anamul Haque, Arafat Sunny, Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mominul Haque, Mushfique Rahim, Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Shabbir Rahman, Shakib al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Taijul Islam, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed. (PTI)
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