Am picking a New Zealand - India final!!

I could start this either way - by boasting that I had picked three of the semi-finalists much before the World Cup began (which any Jack or Jill with not half a clue on Cricket could have done), or by admitting that I had not an idea about the impending turnaround in the way, the Men in Blue would play. Going by the build-up to the tournament, I was in fact, categorical in my prediction that India would not go past the quarters. I got that woefully wrong.  

The result of a majority of the matches up until the first round of knockouts could have been predicted soon after the first half had been played, if not before. But given the quality of their performances so far, the last four teams should give us exciting contests.

Have heard some past cricketers pick a South Africa – Australia final, going by their strength on paper. But am going to stick my neck out and pick a New Zealand – India final. These teams have had more all-round performances and have momentum seriously going their way. With Adam Milne ruled out of the World Cup, New Zealand could find it difficult in the bowling department, but Boult, Southee and Vettori have been right on the money, backed by McCullum’s aggressive captaincy. And if South African batting gets into trouble, the tail does not have a particularly great reputation to hang around, that could work against them. 

India, on the other hand seem to have almost everyone in form, except for Ravindra Jadeja, though he too has bowled some useful spells. In the spinner friendly track that SCG is expected to be, he could well justify the reasons for being backed all along. After the way Aussies played against Pakistan last week, am expecting some short stuff from the Indian pacers, we’ll have to wait and see if India decide to exploit that recently exposed chink.

Can’t wait for the match to begin tomorrow and see if I got 'em right this time. 

Pool B has had some interesting activity in the World Cup

Every World Cup comes packed with its set of surprises and disappointments. My personal disappointments from this edition have been the way the West Indies and Pakistan have played, two teams that I love watching when they’re in form. Though neither of them have reasons to give their fans very high expectations, West Indies have improved leaps and bounds from the last decade and Pakistan move around with an ‘unpredictable’ tag attached to them all the time.

West Indies are not as bad a team as their performance in the tournament seems to indicate – with Gayle, Smith, Samuels, Sammy and the unpredictable Russell, they have a reasonable batting line-up. Their bowling is not the strongest in the competition but they have some good quicks in Taylor, Roach and Holder. The bowling options beyond the top three has been a problem but what seems to have affected this flamboyant set of players the most is the morale. The players and the board have had an uncomfortable relationship for years but it touched a low-point at an inconvenient time last year when the touring team in India decided to head back in the middle of the series under the captaincy of Dwayne Bravo. That probably prompted the selectors to drop Bravo and Pollard from the World Cup squad. Dropping Bravo has had a huge impact to the team’s chances and their belief, he makes his presence felt in every aspect of the game – batting, bowling and fielding. Some players including Chris Gayle decided to go public on their disappointment with the decision. Their body language just does not seem to suggest a positive intent at the moment. They are likely to be fighting against Ireland for the last spot in the Quarters from Pool B. 

Pakistan, in the meantime, after having started poorly in the World Cup, have managed to regain some confidence with back to back wins against the UAE, Zimbabwe and South Africa, the last of which was a big upset. Bowling has always been their strength and despite the absence of Saeed Ajmal and Junaid Khan, is starting to come good. The batting has been struggling, there has been nothing much to cheer about other than skipper Misbal-ul-Haq’s form. Their moves in dropping Younis Khan down the order and getting Sarfraz to open the batting could do the trick for them. If they continue to pick up momentum as they have in the last week, that could hike up the spice content in the knockout stages.