Team India have won the ICC Cricket World Cup twice and are placed 3rd behind Australia (5 times) and West Indies (2) in the teams list which have won the ICC Cricket World Cup more than one time.
In the last World Cup in 2015, India was beaten by Australia in the 2nd Semi final which India lost chasing by a big margin of 95 runs and Australia eventually went on to win the World Cup by defeating New Zealand in the final at MCG.
This time in 2019 however, things are looking very different for Team India as they are a well balanced team and online bookies like www.pokiepop.com are placing bets on India as being a top contender besides England for the 2019 Cricket World Cup winner.
India World Cup 2019 Squad – Strengths
Apart from boosting one of the World Cup’s best openers in Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, India has the current World’s best batsman Virat Kohli at Number 3 followed by MS Dhoni in the middle order. It’s safe to say the top 3 batsmen will be the key for Team India to set good totals while batting first or one of the top 3 batsmen going on to play a sheet anchor role while chasing totals as was evident by Rohit Sharma’s superb century in India’s World Cup 2019 opening match against South Africa in which he curbed his aggressive gameplay and played a defensive slow game in order to save his wicket and guide India through a tough chase especially since they had lost Dhawan and Kohli early at the start of the run chase.
Apart from the top order batting strength, Team India also boosts of the most balanced World class bowling attack among the rest of the teams in this year’s World Cup. In Jasprit Bumrah they possess the World’s best Opening pace bowler who is also the best death bowler who can trouble the best of the batsmen with his nagging length and ability to bowl yorkers at will both at the start or end of the innings, Bumrah will find great support from the other end with either Shami or Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the second opening bowler, both are equally skilled to bowl good length and yorkers. This followed by two young sensational spinners in Kuldeep Yadav who can trouble the batsmen with left arm chinamans and flight and Yuzvendra Chahal who can block runs and break partnerships with googly’s and flippers. Hardik Pandya is certain to play for India and he can also fulfil the 5th bowler’s role by bowling medium pace and if required depending on playing conditions if Kedar Jadhav is fit, he can bowl useful spin with his weird action and can be a big factor in stopping the run flow and even chipping in with useful wickets to break crucial partnerships.
All in all – India with a great top 3 batsmen and 4 outstanding bowlers are quite a balanced lot and with hitters in MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya, they are assured of big hits in the end either to set good totals or to chase down huge totals.
India World Cup 2019 Squad – Weakness
The only possible weakness on paper for Team India is the Number 4 slot. Before the World Cup it was predicted Vijay Shankar might fill in the slot but after KL Rahul’s century in the Warm up match against Bangladesh, It could led to Kohli allowing him to play for a few games before deciding to replace him. KL Rahul definitely is a better batsmen with a good defence compared to Shankar. But to Shankar’s advantage, He can bowl useful medium pace as well and is a natural big striker compared to Rahul. But if the conditions are bowler friendly, India might persist with KL Rahul at Number 4.
The way Opposition can attack India is by getting the top 3 out early to expose KL Rahul and the rest, Barring Dhoni who can play an anchor role to guide the innings the same cannot be said as yet for Pandya, Rahul and Jadhav so it will be interesting to see how India’s batting plays out if they lose the top 3 early especially during a high scoring chase as was evident in the 2017 Champions Trophy final when Amir and Junaid got the top 3 dismissed early and India went on to lose the final by a big margin to Pakistan.
As India is also dependent on early Wickets and sports betting america sites also place heavy bets on Bumrah striking early into the opposition teams. The opposition needs to ensure they play out Bumrah safely and not losing early wickets, this will put pressure on the spin duo of Kuldeep-Chahal to strike and if the opponent attack them right away then team India can feel the pressure of a big total coming their way.
India World Cup 2019 – Key Matches
India vs Australia on June 9th – Australia’s batting vs India’s bowlers
India vs Pakistan on June 16th – Battle of the Arch Rivals – Fascinating to see if India gives out a 7-0 victory in Cricket World Cups to Pakistan or does Pakistan repeat their 2017 Champions trophy performance and stop India’s victory run against Pakistan in World Cups.
India vs England on June 30th – Test of Two batting giants and possibly the 2 biggest contenders to win the World Cup.
India Cricket World Cup 2019 Squad
Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (Vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami.
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