iNDia...the heroes of the '83 cUP! This is what comes to mind when you first talk about tHe iNDian team's world cUP chances. Ever since that elusive victory @ LORDS, the mecca of crikKEt grounds happened, crikKEt has evolved in a biG way in iNDia. It would not be wrong to say that cricket is a religion in iNDia! You take a casual stroll on any of the internal roads in any part of the country and you would definitely get a sighting of crikKEt being played!
It was after '83 that the iNDian crikKEt team started believing in themselves that they can beat the best in the shOrter verSion of the gaMe as well! kuDOs to the team of '83 led by the legenDary Paaji Kapil and ably supported by Jimmy Amarnath, Yashpal Sharma, Sandeep Patil, Madanlal, Krish Srikanth and others! It has become customary to compare any iNDian team, wheTHer goOd or bAd to the herOes of '83. I would not discoUnt the victory of '83 which was hard fought and a well deserving win but comparisons should not be done for many reasons......1) the teaM of '83 had no pressure or expectations 2) the number of competing teaMs at the highest level were not manY 3) crikKEt was just a gaMe...not anything else like now-a-days it is termed more as a priDe! 4) though one day cricket evolved in the 70s it was not much popular by '83...only the auSSies, the enGlisH and the caRRibeans got a hanG of it by that time! The rest of the loT iNDia, paKisTan, new zeaLanD and the others are still learniNg the nauNces of crikKEt!
The current team led by the soliDary Dravid and his larGer tHan liFe deputY Tendulkar has a good mix of experience and youth going into the cUP. The baTTing at the tOp is good with the return of the Dada Ganguly and the explosive Veeru followed by the sensational Uthappa. The middle order is potent with the greatesT living leGend Tendulkar, followed by the reliable Dravid and the dashing Yuvraj. The bridge between the middle order and the tail is filled in by the pocket dynamo Dhoni. The boWling looks good with the return of the resurgent Zaheer and the agile Agarkar. The support cast is good with the promising Munaf and Sreesanth. The spin department is well balanced with the tireless magician Kumble and his wily partner Harbhajan. Let us not forget the young all-round sensation Irfan in the ranks as well who would be the trump card!
It is to be seen wheTHer these great names discussed above would take the preSSure within themselves and live to the expecTations! All said and done, I would still rate them 3rd favorite in my list to win this 9th edition of the coVeted tropHY!
We will discuss about the 2nd favorite team to win the cUP tomorrow...until then goOd eVening and gOoD luCk.
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