Through the results of Warm-up games, here is a SWOT Analysis of 8 Top test Teams prior to the kickstart of the world cup.
India played against Aussie and New Zealand - Won Both.
Strength: Dhoni striking century against New Zealand. Does world of good to his confidence. Captain should always be in striking form.
Weakness: Yuvraj's Batting form.
Opportunity: Playing in home conditions for most part. To use Sachin's experience.
Threat: Fear of Losing in elimination rounds.
South Africa Played against Aussie and Zimbabwe - Won Both.
Strength: Smith & Amla's Opening combination
Weakness: Heavy reliance on Fast Bowlers to win matches for them, as Botha and Petersen are not match winners in my book.
Opportunity: To cash in on Kallis' experience
Threat: Choker's tag
Sri Lanka played against Netherlands & West Indies - Won Both.
Strength: Dilshan
Weakness: Hard to find, Goes on record as a very balanced side.
Opportunity: To repeat 1996.
Threat: Elimination round - Not having home advantage.
England played against Pakistan and Canada - Won Both.
Strength: KP opening the bat
Weakness: Eoin Morgan missing world cup due to broken finger. Andy Flower went on air and said that Morgan was instrumental for their success for last 18 months.
Opportunity: To wipe out Choker's tag in India this world cup.
Threat: To look back at their history and practice Gentlemenship again.
Australia played against India and South Africa. Lost both.
Strength: Ponting and Lee.
Weakness: Mike Hussey's Injury
Opportunity: Defend the title
Threat: Indian Conditions.
New Zealand played against India and Ireland. Won 1 Lost 1
Strength: Guptill's consistent run
Weakness: Match winner in Bowling department
Opportunity: Major upsets during elimination round
Threat: Humiliating defeat at the hands of B grade teams.
Pakistan played against England and Bangladesh - Won 1 Lost 1
Strength: Afridi's captaincy - Aggressive
Weakness: All the confusion circling around captaincy, team selection, Ban on players.
Opportunity: To beat India in a world cup
Threat: Shoaib Akhthar playing in 11, but 10 are only fighting.
West Indies played against Sri lanka and Kenya. Won 1 Lost 1.
Strength: Pollard and Gayle
Weakness: Bowling attack
Opportunity: No pressure, as nobody backs them.
Threat: Being in a scenario, where its them or Bangladesh going into elimination rounds.
Zimbabwe and Bangladesh would look for upsets, but then Bangladesh's chances of that are more pronounced than Zimbabwe.
Ireland, Kenya, Canada and Netherland would play for pride.
Players to Watch out for:
India - Sachin Tendulkar & Yusuf Pathan for Batting. Harbhajan & Zaheer in Bowling.
West Indies - Chris Gayle & Pollard for Batting. Suleimann Benn & Kemar Roach in Bowling.
Sri lanka - Sangakkara & Dilshan for Batting. Murali & Lasith Malinga in Bowling.
England - Kevin Pietersen & Strauss for Batting. Swann & Broad in Bowling.
Australia - Watson & Ponting for Batting. Nathan Hauritz & Lee in Bowling.
Pakistan - Afridi & Umar Akmal for Batting. Razzaq & Umar Gul in Bowling.
South Africa - Amla & Kallis for Batting. Steyn & Botha in Bowling.
New Zealand - Jesse Ryder, Brendan Mcullum & James Franklin for Batting. Vettori in Bowling.
Bangladesh - Shakib & Tamim Iqbal for Batting. Shakib & Abdur Razzaq in Bowling.
Kenya - Steve Tikolo & Carlus Obuya for Batting. Kamande in Bowling.
Zimbabwe - Brendan Taylor, Coventry & Craig Ervine for Batting. Ray Price in Bowling.
Ireland - O Brien brothers for Batting. D Johnston in Bowling.
Canada - J Davison & Rizwan Cheema for Batting. WD Balaji Rao in Bowling.
Netherland - No Clue.
With respect to Fielding unit, Australians and South Africans lead the show. Indians, England and New Zealand follow closely. Bangladeshis are a young side and they should be good.
Top 5s, according to me in different departments. Not in the same order.
Bowlers - Lee, Steyn, Zaheer, Harbhajan and Murali
Batsmen - Sachin, Amla, Ponting, Watson and Pollard
Fielding - Raina, Collingwood, Guptill, AB De Villiers and Bravo
Wicket Keeper - Dhoni, Mcullum, Haddin, Sangakkara and Kamran Akmal.
Kindly contribute with your top 5s.......
Regards,
Prashy.
Nice article.
ReplyDeleteGroup B:
Tough group Most likely order is (1-4) South Africa, India, England, West Indies.
But Bangladesh can upset any team and make it to quarters as they have a very balanced side.
Group A:
Not as tough as Group B but still Probable finish will be (1-4) Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand.
3rd and 4th place might get altered.
South africa will rely more on Steyn and Morkel than Spinners.
Correction: Nathan Hauritz is not in Australian Squad and he is replaced by Jason Krejza.
My 5:
Bowling: Dale Steyn, Shaun Tait, Stuart Broad, Zaheer Khan, Muralitharan.
Batsmen: Kallis, Sachin, Ponting, Watson, Jonathan Trott.
Fielding: Ponting, Collingwood, Ian Bell, Yuvraj Singh, Dilshan.
Wicket Keepers: Sangakkara, Matt Prior, Dhoni, Haddin, Mccullam.
@Venkat - Thanks for the correction, Its Jason Kretza. South Africa - West Indies match will open the tournament really well. Say, if west Indies beat them and South africa is ruled by Bangladesh also, its exit doors for RSA. Going by your argument, that Bangladesh can beat any side, this is a possibility. I am eagerly waiting for RSA Windies match.
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