World Cup 2019: Why India is a deserving contender
ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is about to commence. This time the host is England, a team which hasn’t won this prestigious title ever since they have started playing cricket. Perhaps, England is the favourites among all the nations in the 2019 World Cup.
We have the facts which witness our words that this time England has the potential to clinch their first ever World Cup triumph. England has won 17 out of 24 matches which accounts for a 71% win percentage, the highest rate by any team in last year. Many of the cricket pundits have been reverberating England as the winner of one of the most coveted tournaments.
Amidst all this, we should not forget that India has got the potential to overturn all these conceptions. India, winning 14 matches out of 20, out of which two matches have tied, amounting the winning percentage of 70, is not far behind its nearest contender England.
India has always been the batting powerhouse. The likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, K.L Rahul, Ajinkya Rahane form a lethal batting order that would be arduous for any bowling unit to penetrate. Virat Kohli is one of the most dependable players in the team who can play any world-class bowler facilely.
Here is the record witnessing how lethal a player he is.
In 2018, Kohli has played 14 matches. Cumulatively, he has scored 1202 runs with an average of 133.56. In this list, Virat Kohli is just a glimpse of India’s destructive batting line up. Rohit Sharma, the only player in world cricket who has three double centuries under his hat. Also known as Hitman, he is the player of fortune who can change the face of any game single-handedly.
When it comes to bowling unit, India lacked behind as compared to its along-runners. But the script has turned to India’s favour and so have the fortunes. If you look at the bowling unit, several blazing guns can completely change the complexion of the game. Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed and Umesh Yadav are in stock for India’s quest of finding out the best bowling combination ahead of World Cup.
Bumrah is the fastest among all the bowlers, and his performances at the death overs with consistent yorkers deliveries is something worth noticing. Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s swing bowling and his art to move the bowl both ways around have troubled even the most skilled of players. Not to overlook Khaleel Ahmed as he is a new entrant in the Indian team and already showed his class when the Indian team was playing the West Indies. India has world class spinners and to name a few are Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. All these guns are a hope for over 130 crore aspirations.
Fielding is the ultimate requirement for any team. It is one of the aspects which plays an imperative role in the outcome of any game. Indians were not that adept at fielding a decade ago, but from then, India has evolved into a world-class fielding unit. Indian fielders are now adapted to dive and catch the match comprehensively with their fielding efforts.
To find who’s going to be the winner, we will have to wait a bit, but it's sure-shot that this season of cricket is going to be a cracker and has a lot to offer.