5 Indian players to watch out for in 2015 World Cup

With the Cricket World Cup even less than a month away, the excitement around it is bordering pretty close to the word insane. Though AB de Villiers’ South Africa and Michael Clarke’s Australia remain firm favorites to claim the trophy, you cannot count out the consistency of the perennial semifinalists in New Zealand and the unpredictability of the West Indies & Pakistan. Sri Lanka, who have played more ICC finals than fathomable since 2007, meanwhile, must be well aware that this is their last real chance for a while to win the coveted trophy and the trio of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan will be motivated like never before. And then we have India.You can say that the Indian batting lineup is shambolic abroad and hardly ever click collectively. You can say they do not have any sort of bowling quality in Australia. But you cannot, simply cannot, count the Indians out or take them lightly even for a nano-second as they will take the game away from you in a canter.Today, we look at 5 players who have the ability to carry India to World Cup victory:This article has been done with inputs from Bala Ji 

#1 Virat Kohli

No prizes for guessing. No prizes at all for that matter. Very few in the world, after all, have matched his brilliance since the last World Cup.

In 2011, Virat Kohli was a bubbly youngster in the side who was perhaps not as important to the team plans as say a Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh or Virender Sehwag. But he played his part utterly and exceedingly well, especially in the finals, where he came in to bat upon the dismissal of Tendulkar.

Come 2015, however, the whole team hinges on the performance of this young protege. And to his credit, he seldom fails to deliver in the 50-over format.

Kohli’s fantastic run of form in ODIs perhaps started against England in 2011 at Cardiff, where he scored a blistering century in the illustrious company of Rahul Dravid. Though India went on to lose that game owing to their poor bowling attack, Kohli remained the star of that contest.

The centuries kept on coming at a mind-boggling speed, the conversions even more staggering. However, the innings that perhaps defined his career was a 133-run blitzkrieg against Sri Lanka at Hobart a few months later where India chased down 320 in less than 40 overs to keep their chances of a final spot in the CB series alive, followed by the innings of a lifetime against Pakistan in Dhaka. Needing 330 runs for victory, Kohli struck a magnificent 183 as India won the game with more than 2 overs to spare.

India’s chances are as good as gone if Kohli doesn’t make it big this World Cup, plain and simple. Kohli himself will be well aware of this fact and the way his legacy is building up right now, a World Cup victory will put him right up there with the greatest players of the game.

Kohli’s ODI record since 3 April, 2011:

Innings	Not Out	Runs	Average	Highest Score	Strike Rate	100s	50s
89	13	4267	56.14	183	94.73	16	20