CWC 2019: Top 5 teams in the tournament on the basis of batting strength
The ICC World Cup 2019 in England is just 28 days away and every cricket fan in the world is waiting in anticipation for the mega tournament. With the squads of all 10 teams announced, everyone looks set for the world's spectacle in England.
Before going on, here are the squads of all the 10 teams:
1) India
Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Vijay Shankar, Dinesh Karthik (wk), KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja
2) Pakistan
Sarfaraz Ahmed (c & wk), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abid Ali, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik (vc), Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Hasnain.
3) England
Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Jos Buttler (vc & wk), Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
4) Afghanistan
Gulbadin Naib (c), Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Noor Ali Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Asghar Afghan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan and Mujeeb ur Rahman
5) Australia
Aaron Finch (c), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (vc & wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
6) Bangladesh
Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah Riyad, Shakib Al Hasan (vc), Mohammad Mithun (wk), Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Jayed
7) New Zealand
Kane Williamson (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee (vc), Ross Taylor
8) South Africa
Faf du Plessis (c), Quinton de Kock (vc & wk), David Miller, JP Duminy, Hashim Amla, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Imran Tahir, Tabraiz Shamsi
9) Sri Lanka
Dimith Karunaratne (c), Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis (wk), Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal
10) West Indies
Jason Holder (c), Evin Lewis, Darren Bravo, Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Nicholas Pooran, Oshane Thomas, Shai Hope (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Fabien Allen, Sheldon Cottrell, Shannon Gabriel, Kemar Roach, Ashley Nurse.
With the squads assembled, let's talk about the kind of pitches that will be on show at the World Cup. England have made drastic changes to their pitches as there is movement available and most of the pitches are hard and batting friendly
So, expect some high scoring games. Also, the small grounds make things worse for the bowlers. Keeping all this in mind, one can tell the impact batters will have on every match and in this slideshow, we state the top 5 teams in terms of batting strength.
#5 West Indies
As long as batting power goes, West Indies might have the most intimidating batting order in the tournament. With the addition of Andre Russell, West Indies now look like a side who can cause trouble to any opposition.
Their openers will be Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis, both of whom can strike the long ball and the former's form will play a huge role in West Indies' chances this year. Their middle order is also full of firepower with the likes of Darren Bravo, Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer.
Also, they seem to have the two match winning all-rounders in their skipper, Jason Holder and Russell. The weak point of West Indies is their bowling lineup but if that department can step up, West Indies will be real contenders for this year.