World of Cricket Blogs

Weak-links / Obstacles For The Top Teams of The 2011 WC

India

 All will agree that India’s bowling is going to be their weak link as they head into the World Cup. They are also by no means the most athletic team on show so I expect their fielding to come up short at times as well.

However, despite the above I still feel that India can go the distance and win the cup. In my opinion their biggest obstacle to winning the 2011 World Cup will come down to how they handle the pressure of playing on the grandest stage of them all, the pressure of playing in front of a billion people who believe without a shadow of doubt that this time the Indians will be the World Champs and finally the pressure of playing a big final (should they get there) As most of us already know India have the worst finals record (only better than Bangladesh) in ODI tournaments featuring three or more teams over the last 12 years.

So if they can take care of the above, this World Cup is India’s to lose.

Sri Lanka

This is a simple case because as far as Sri Lanka is concerned their bowling is top notch and together with Australia and South Africa they will in my opinion be the three top fielding sides in the tournament.

The weak link and huge obstacle standing between Sri Lanka and their quest to win a second Cricket World Cup is their fragile and inconsistent batting. In the recent years (including most games of the 2007 WC) it was Sri Lanka’s bowlers rather than their batters who contributed substantially towards their wins and I can’t see that trend changing much during this World Cup either and this is also the reason as to why I feel that Sri Lanka will fall out at some stage before the final.

Sri Lanka’s chances of going the distance will depend greatly on how their batters perform especially Jayawardena and Sangakkara.

Australia

The loss of Mike Hussey was a huge blow and their already questionable batting has only been made to look a lot worse as a result.

The lack of a quality spinner will also hurt them just as much as their batter’s inability to handle spin.

I will be surprised if the Aussies go past the QFs.

South Africa

Something tells me that the perennial chokers of cricket will finally silence their critics and go a bit further this time and along with India I would rank them as one my favourites to win it all.

The ability to handle the pressure games in the knock out stages will raise its ugly head again and as long as the South Africans don’t fall victim to it ‘again’ they should feature in the final.

England

I just don’t think England have the team to be successful in the Sub-Continent. They were absolutely thrashed by India when they toured two years ago and Graeme Swann was neutralised by the Indian batters with consummate ease. While I expect the English batters to struggle I also can’t see their one dimensional bowling attack causing too many problems on Sub-Continental tracks.

Pakistan

Well their biggest obstacles will be themselves and their urge to constantly court troubles and controversies on and off the field. If they can remain focused and keep their head in the right place one will have to be very brave to bet against them.

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