Kapil, Richards, Imran back India but Ranatunga bats for Lanka

NEW DELHI: Kapil Dev and Sir Vivian Richards feel that India are run-away favourites to win next year's ICC Cricket World Cup, but Imran Khan and Arjuna Ranatunga added a note of caution about their ability to soak in the pressure of playing at home.

That, in a nutshell, was how the former captains and legends in their own rights felt about how things will pan out in a couple of months' time as the marquee event starts on February 19.

"They are the No. 1 in the world (in Test matches) and have a volatile crowd behind them. They have something to defend. The team is going to South Africa where pitches will be different but it can prove to be helpful as they prepare for the World Cup," legendary West Indian batsman Richards, who was the member of the 1975 and 1979 World Cup winning squad, said.

'King Richards', however, wasn't too sure about how West Indies will perform although he admitted that the likes of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard do have the talent to go the distance.

"Some prayer would obviously help," he said in lighter vein. "On a serious note, they do have the talent but they need to get things organised a bit. May be they need a catalyst who could inspire them like Arjuna did with the Sri Lankan team during the 1996 World Cup."

For Kapil Dev, the first step should be towards reaching the semifinal and taking it from there.

"If you want to win the World Cup, you need to play well in those 20-30 days. Also the fact that they are going to South Africa before that would be of great help like we had a tough tour of West Indies right before the 1983 World Cup. We played tough cricket in the Windies and subsequently in the World Cup.

"Similarly if the Indians do well in South Africa, it would be a great confidence booster. Even if they don't, they know they will be playing in front of the home crowd," Kapil said pointing out that the likes of Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir will play key roles.

About Harbhajan Singh's lean patch with the ball, Kapil said, "It's matter of time before he gets back to form. The only thing is that he needs to mentally feel that he can do it."

While Imran Khan termed India as favourites, he cited how West Indies and Pakistan were favourites in the 1983 and 1987 editions but buckled down under pressure.

"I remember going into the semifinal feeling confident. However, we made mistakes and couldn't handle the pressure. The same thing happened with West Indies in 1983. Just after Viv got out, they wilted under pressure," Imran said.

The iconic former Pakistan skipper also said that the key to winning World Cup lay in having two batsmen who can play well throughout the tournament and others building the innings around their knocks.

Sri Lanka's World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga termed his country as favourites and didn't forget to mention that Indians tend to crumble when they play in front of huge crowds in pressure cooker situation.

"I have seen the Indian team fail in pressure situations while playing in front of 100,000 people. There are times when the expectations are huge and it takes a toll," Ranatunga said.

The burly former skipper feels that Lankans have a potent combination with experienced players such as Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Lasith Malinga, Muralitharan to name a few.

"However, I believe the team of 1996 had a better middle-order as we had players such as Aravinda D'Silva, Asanka Gurusinha, myself, Roshan Mahanama, Hasan Tillekratne."

Read more: Kapil, Richards, Imran back India but Ranatunga bats for Lanka - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/series-tournaments/icc-world-cup-2011/top-stories/Kapil-Richards-Imran-back-India-but-Ranatunga-bats-for-Lanka/articleshow/7071195.cms#ixzz17gNAo6hj

Rampaging India look for series whitewash

CHENNAI: High on confidence after steamrolling the opposition in the first three matches before snatching an improbable win in the next, a rampaging India would look to rout New Zealand with a 5-0 series whitewash in the fifth and final one-dayer on Friday.

The young Indian side have done remarkably well in the series in the absence of senior players like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh who have been rested ahead of the tough tour to South Africa.

A 5-0 series whitewash would be a sweet revenge for India for the 2-5 drubbing during their visit to New Zealand in 2003. It would also be a humiliating defeat for New Zealand since the two sides played each other since 1975-76.

Fortunately for cricket fans in Chennai, who have seen abandonment of matches due to inclement weather in the recent past, sun has come out brightly since Wednesday after continuous rain for the past few days.

With weather gods relenting, the ground is expected to be fully dry up and a full match appears to be on the card at the M A Chidambaram Stadium.

Most of the top-order Indian batsmen have been among runs in the series, with the exception of Murali Vijay, and one or two have raised their hands in all the four previous matches to take the side to comfortable victories.

The only time India had hiccups in the series was in Bangalore on Tuesday with the home side in trouble at 188/5 at one stage while chasing a daunting target of 316 runs.

But from the way Yusuf Pathan butchered New Zealand bowlers to single-handedly take India to a five-wicket victory with seven balls remaining, it seemed that this young side would not lose any match in this series.

Yusuf's blitzkrieg unbeaten 123 of 96 balls and useful contributions from Saurabh Tiwary (37 not out), Rohit Sharma (44) and Parthiv Patel (53) must have boosted the confidence of the side that they can go for a whitewash.

Stand in skipper Gautam Gambhir has led from the front, hitting back to back centuries to top the batting averages for four matches. Gambhir has scored 329 runs with an average of 164.50, followed by Virat Kohli (232 runs; 77.33 average).

Gambhir himself was upbeat with the chance to complete a memorable series clean sweep.

"We need to win this game. It is important. It would be good to have five wins in a row and wind up the series before heading for South Africa and it would be useful," he said.

In the bowling front though, India will have to improve upon their performance in the last ODI in Bangalore where they leaked runs at the death overs, an oft-repeated problem for the side.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has done a decent job in the series so far with eight wickets from four matches though he was expensive in the last ODI. Yusuf and Yuvraj Singh have also chipped in with useful contributions with six and three wickets with the former taking 3/49 in Bangalore.

Left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra has been a bit of a let down having taken just three wickets in the four matches by conceding 197 runs. Zaheer Khan, having missed the first two ODIs due to injury, has taken two from the two matches.

For New Zealand though it has been a tough tour of India having lost the three-match Test series 0-1 and an ODI whitewash looming.

The Daniel Vettori-led side would, however, be happy with the way they had cornered India in Bangalore before a Yusuf special bailed the home side out.

New Zealand top-order batsmen fired in unison for the first time in the series in Bangalore to post 315 and Vettori would be looking for a repeat of that here if the visitors want to end their otherwise forgettable tour on a winning note.

After a much-improved show by his players in Bangalore, Vettori said he would focus on winning the last match though the series has already been decided.

"We still think we can still win matches. We will approach the game in the morrow like the way we do every game to keep motivated in not losing focus since the one-day series had already been decided," he said.

He would be looking to James Franklin, who scored a superb 98 not out in Bangalore if they want to post a big score and chase down a big target.

With the big guns like Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor and Scott Styris coming a cropper, Franklin is the top run-getter for New Zealand in the series with 170 runs from two matches

New Zealand bowlers have not done better than their batting counterparts in the series with frontline bowlers like Kyle Mills and Tim Southee coming a cropper. Andrew McKay has been the most successful bowler with seven wickets from four matches.

The Teams (from):

India: Gautam Gambhir (Capt), Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Pathiv Patel, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel.

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (Capt), Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Jamie How, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Grant Elliot, Kane Williamson, Gareth Hopkins, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Andy McKay, James Franklin.


Read more: Rampaging India look for series whitewash - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/series-tournaments/new-zealand-in-india/top-stories/Rampaging-India-look-for-series-whitewash/articleshow/7070326.cms#ixzz17gMg10E2