The current form of Indian cricket team clearly indicates that they are not strong candidate to win 2015 world cup. Even they’ll struggle to seal berth for knockout stage. India is in pool B of tournament where they’ll face South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, UAE and Ireland.
The fact is I am saying that India should focus on beating Zimbabwe, Ireland and United Arab Emirates as Indian team won only single game in past 2-3 months which was against Afghanistan in a warm-up match.
Recently Zimbabwe surprised Sri Lanka team in practice match and defeated them by 7 wickets margin. So it’s not going to be easy for Indian team to beat Zimbabwe. One more side in pool B that can stun team India and that is Ireland. Ireland cricket team is not a small team and they have ability to beat any side.
Who can forget Ireland’s victory in 2007 ICC world cup where they surprised Pakistan cricket team and knocked out from tournament. So Indian team can’t take Ireland and Zimbabwe in an easy way.
India’s bowling against Afghanistan wasn’t much impressive as Afghanistan batsmen played 50 overs which should not be happened. Yes, Indian team bated well in the match and scored 360+ score but but but.. team lost 2 quick wickets on just 16 runs score. So that’s the concern area for Men in Blue.
India failed to beat Australia and England in tri-series and event couldn’t win warm-up game against Kangaroos. Bowlers conceded more than 350 runs which team couldn’t chase. There are few areas that defending champions should look to improve before entering in the world cup.
In the opening game Indian team will face Pakistan on 15 Feb.
Nadeem Sharifuddin
BCCI flagship team cannot under perform in a World cup.