ICC World Cup 2019: 5 most balanced sides
ICC World Cup 2019 has captured everyone's imagination. ICC is leaving no stone unturned to promote the tournament. The excitement around the competition is quite palpable with six games being sold-out well in advance.
2019 World Cup promises to be a high-scoring one and the format adopted this time around makes it all the more interesting. ICC decided to revert to the round-robin format used in 1992, where teams will have an opportunity to make a comeback, and the best are expected to survive by eliminating the factor of a one-off upset.
The pitches can be a little bit tricky in England as there might be movement on offer due to an early start in the season and having a good group of fast bowlers will help teams. Spin is expected to play a significant role as well and having variety in spin bowling attack will benefit teams during the middle overs.
Batting will be a deciding factor and having the batters in form will play a crucial role if teams have to go all the way in the tournament.
On that note, let us have a look at five teams who are perfectly balanced and have a chance to go all the way.
#5 Australia
Australia has been a team in transition, and their ODI cricket fortunes have nose-dived from the time they won the 2015 World cup. Due to his role ball-tampering saga, it would be hard to imagine Steve Smith leading the side in England. Aaron Finch has taken up the duties of captaincy and Australia have struggled to find the right balance without the presence of their star players Smith and David Warner.
However, by the time the marquee event commences, Australia will have the tainted duo back in the side. The team also has one of the best seam bowling attacks in the form of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood. They are adept enough to utilise the seaming conditions and bowl those toe-crushers in the end as well. Adam Zampa provides the variety to the attack with his wrist spin.
Glenn Maxwell and Travis Head give Australia the flexibility with the bat with their power hitting capabilities and also a few overs of part-time off-spin.
Australia might be struggling, but it would be hard to rule out the World Champions as they have shown us time and again that they can bounce back from any adversity.