CWC 2019: Three reasons why India might not win the World Cup this year
The mega event for this year is approaching really quick and most of the teams have announced their squads for the World Cup. India too have announced their squad and there was no surprises there barring the exclusion of Ambati Rayudu but given how he had been performing recently, even that seemed to be on the cards.
A lot of cricketing personalities, captains, former players etc have stated that England and India are the two favourites to win the World Cup this year. Both teams have been undeniably good since the Champions Trophy. While England haven't lost a series since then, India have lost two - one to England in England and one to Australia at home.
As India prepare for the World Cup, there seems to be have occurred quite some issues like the inexperience of Vijay Shankar etc. There are a few factors that might hinder India from winning the World Cup. Let us have a look at three reasons why India may not win the World Cup 2019.
#3 Out of form players
Virat Kohli and co. had clearly stated that the squad selected for the World Cup will not be selected on the basis of IPL performances. It was quite evident from the squad selection that they did go by their words. However, looking back at it now, was it a wise decision to make?
There have been a couple of players who have been woefully out of form recently. These include not only batsmen but bowlers and all-rounders too. Although, there is no denying the fact that the World Cup has a completely different format of the game, if players are out of form, they carry it on to different formats of the game.
India's premier spinner's form is one of the biggest concerns for the team management right now. Kuldeep Yadav has had a terrible time in the IPL so far. He has been read by batsmen very easily and has been hit centre left and right. He has held the second worst figures in the IPL so far and has gone for more than 25 runs an over at times. His bowling average is one of the worst amongst all the bowlers and bowlers who have played just two matches have picked up as many wickets as him whereas he has played nine innings.
Another player who has been out of form is Rohit Sharma. He has scored just 228 runs this season averaging just about 25. However, what is more worrying than his average is that he hasn't crossed the 50 run mark even once this IPL. He is one of the most reliable batsmen of the team and the management would want him to find his form back.
Vijay Shankar, Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav have also been out of form. While the KKR captain averages just about 15, his strike rate isn't something great either. Though he did knock up a 97* in his last game, he needs to more consistent.
Kedar Jadhav too has just averaged 22 this season and with the number of failures the top order has had in his team, he should have scored a lot more runs than he has and he has been a complete failure in the Chennai middle order. He received a lot of opportunities but failed to make it big in any one of them.
Shankar too has had a horrid time. He started off well in the IPL scoring 40* against KKR but since then he has played 8 matches and has registered 4 single scores in them.
With the current form of players, the team does not look to be winning the cup as the onus will be just on 2-3 players again which cannot get a team a cup in a format like the round-robin format which requires a lot of consistency.