Looking Ahead to World Cup 2015

Vishwas Ahuja is an engineering graduate who blogs at Arbitrary Notions - a Blog about anything and everything and is a big Cricket Fan just like you and me who are reading my blog. In this first guest post of the Cricket World Cup on CricketWise, Vishwas looks ahead to what tournament has in store for us. Read on!

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It is again that time in the cricketing world when every Indian irrespective of age, caste or religion transforms overnight into a cricket expert. It is time for biggest of them all, The Cricket World Cup. Whether you follow cricket or not (though the chances of you being in latter category are slim) you cannot be untouched by this fever which grips the nation every four years. Everyone, and I do mean everyone has their thoughts and opinions over the coming cricketing extravaganza and I am no different. Here is how I think the world cup will unfold over the next one and a half months and what to expect:

Round 1 - Round Robin, 14 teams divided in 2 pools A & B

I never quite understood why do they call it a pool? Wouldn’t calling it a group be better? Everyone knows this so let me just put it out there. It will be long and may (will) get boring at times (except perhaps a few matches, like the evergreen India Vs Pak). The round robin which will have 42 of the 49 matches (that’s 85% of the matches) played over one month to get the best 8 of the 14 teams as if we don’t already know which 8 will go through. And with the team distribution that’s done, if any of the associate nation does make it through this round, they should be given the permanent ODI membership with immediate effect.

POOL A

This pool has  ‘cricket’s first nation’ England, ‘favored hosts’ Australia, ‘dark horses’ New Zealand, ‘forever finalist’ Sri Lanka, ‘eternal minnows’ Bangladesh with Afghanistan and Scotland completing the seven teams. Apart from maybe a few spirited performances from Bangladesh or Afghanistan, which might make matches watchable, this group will have the standard result, i.e., Australia will cruise at home, England will entertain with their performance, Sri Lanka will go about with their business as usual (group matches don’t matter, they need a game plan for the finals) and NZ will look to make the most of the home advantage.

POOL B

This will be the pool where you might get some entertainment (Yes, I am biased because of India’s presence in this pool). This group has ‘losing-in-crunch-moments’ South Africa, defending champions India, ‘force-to-reckon-on-their-day’ Pakistan, ‘super entertaining’ West Indies with Zimbabwe, Ireland and UAE. Matches like India-Pak, India-SA, and all the matches involving Chris Gayle will be the entertainment provider in this round. South Africa will do well just like they always do, India will go through riding on their batsmen, Pakistan riding on their bowlers. The three associates don’t really look threatening (but then, they are associates). We can expect the ‘giant-killers’ Ireland to spring a few surprises.

Knock Outs - QF, SF and Final

The business end of the tournament surely will be very intense.  It will all come down to who plays whom and how well they play on the day to finally give us the champions of the world this time around.

Australia is the favorite playing at home and recent series goes on to prove it. SA just has to hold their head in those crunch moments and they might just make it. With 6 Semi finals under their belt, NZ might just make it one better, especially playing at home. SL will take inspiration from the 2014 WorldT20 final and try to forget their last two ODI WC finals. The Indian in me wants to see India defend the cup and #Don’tGiveItBack, but the current bowling unit has looked toothless down under (the batsmen too haven’t really fired). I really hope some miracle happens and they come good when it matters the most. The neutral cricket fan in me really wants to see either SA or NZ to lift the cup this time.

So here is to an entertaining month and a half of fair, intense, well fought and entertaining cricket. Sit back, relax and enjoy. May the best team win!!