Small guns may fire big

THE SURPRISE: Bangladesh captain Sakib-ul-Hassan is a dangerous
allrounder and his team has the potential to upset some big teams

After the seven big teams in the fray, we now come to the second bunch of another seven teams. After what India achieved in 1983, it can be quite absurd to term any team as minnows in this unpredictable format but surely this next cluster of seven teams appear to be on a level slightly below the top seven.

The West Indies were once a formidable unit in the early days of the World Cup and won the title on the first two occasions (1975 and 79). They lost to India in the finals in 1983 and since then, the Caribbean team has been on a steady decline in the World Cup.

This time around as well, they have talented players in the form of Chris Gayle and Keiron Pollard but their inability to gel as a cohesive unit has led to their undoing in the past. The same can happen again.

Coming to Bangladesh: They have achieved some important victories in the World Cup in the past. In fact, they jolted India in the last World Cup in the West Indies. But they have been inconsistent.

The opening game of this World Cup between India and Bangladesh on February 19 can be a revenge match for India. But Bangladesh will have a raucous home crowd backing them.

As for the remaining five teams in the fray (Ireland, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Canada and the Netherlands), they will surely benefit from this international exposure. This time the format ensures that all teams get to play at least six matches each before the knockout phase begins and that gives these sides a chance to match their skills against the best teams. And that can never be a bad thing if the game has to grow globally. We will now have a look at these teams one by one.

With ‘big cats’, ‘big birds’ and ‘muscled masters’ having passed into the pages of history, the West Indies cricket team is shorn of its once formidable fangs. The Caribbean team had what was once a unique record of winning the World Cup back-to-back, in the first two editions in 1975 and 1979, but they were never the same again after Kapil’s Devils shattered their reputation to capture the coveted trophy in an epic final at the Lord’s in 1983.

That one trophy gave Indian cricket and Kapil Dev a unique place in the hallowed history of the game, and the image of an impregnable, unbeatable West Indies was shattered forever.

Now the Caribbean islands find it difficult to cobble together a decent team, with player revolts on the issue of contracts and lack of depth in talent having created a big dent. Now more and more youngsters from the Caribbean islands are turning away from cricket to take up lucrative sports like basketball and football, which will give them an easy passage to the promised land in the US. In the last two editions, one hosted by the West Indies themselves, they could not even go beyond the first round! What a fall for former champions, who were once considered invincible.

The paucity of talent in the Windies team is now so acute that the national selectors had to recall Ramnaresh Sarwan into the World Cup squad, though the 30-year-old has not played an ODI in the last eight months and the Guyanese batsman is a veteran of two World Cups. Jamaican fast bowler Andre Russell will make his ODI debut, ahead of the World Cup, in a three-match series against Sri Lanka, scheduled this month, after being postponed due to the rains earlier.

The World Cup will return to the Indian subcontinent for the third time, and no one is wagering on a spent force like the West Indian team. Pundits have put India, Australia, South Africa, England, Sri Lanka and Pakistan among the serious contenders for the throne, though a team from the West Indies can never be completely written off, however weak the present combination may be.

Though the team lacks mesmerising players after Brian Lara also made his exit, the West Indies can still live on past reputation to give yet another crack on the most prestigious ODI trophy — the showpiece of international cricket.

The 15-member squad, to be led by Darren Sammy, may not have many star names, but they still have some proven performers who can turn the form book around on their day. The 10th edition of the tournament, to be jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, from February 19 to April 2, 2011, will be, as International Cricket Council president Sharad Pawar aptly put it, "an event in which heroes will be made, dreams realised and hopes dashed. A new generation will be inspired by the world’s greatest players." And the West Indies team fervently hopes that a good show by them will bring more money and attract more talent to the game back home, to take cricket to the dizzy heights once again.

Bangladesh are a strange side. Strange in the sense that they seem to be able to upset many a side on their day, but their days are few and far between. They have participated in three World Cups so far, with their performance in the 2003 edition, a pathetic one, bracketed by two interesting editions, in 1999 and 2007.

In 1999, Bangladesh notched a win in their very first visit to the top tournament, beating Scotland. That in itself wasn’t a big surprise since Bangladesh have been playing international cricket way longer than their rivals. But then, when they got past Pakistan by 62 runs, the cricketing world was rattled, more so since as is the wont with Pakistani cricket, there were immediate allegations that match had been thrown.

The Bangladeshis went one step further in 2007 in the West Indies when they first took care of India, then lost to Sri Lanka. But they did enough to beat Bermuda and make it to the Super Eight, while India packed their bags.

However, Bangladesh’s Super Eight was a disaster — three straight losses. This time too, Bangladesh will be looking to snare a few big fish, especially since they would be playing their group matches at home. They are almost surely going to beat Ireland and Holland and may even get one of the bigger teams. However, if they make the quarter-finals, that will be a huge achievement.

Shakib al Hasan has proved himself to be an astute skipper and there is a lot of batting talent in the side, not the least little Tamim Iqbal and the enigmatic Mohammad Ashraful. Their medium-pace attack will not be too impressive, especially with spearhead Mashrafe Mortaza not in the picture. But their left-arm spinners have often been quite a teaser for the rival batsman.

Bangladesh will be competitive, as always. But whether they have actually arrived on the international scene is still a big question mark. They will surely try to answer in the affirmative this time around.

Zimbabwe probably had the best possible World Cup debut of all the ‘lesser’ teams. They began with a win over Australia in 1983. Incredible as it may sound, they did manage to stave off a very complacent bunch of Aussies to post victory in their very first game.

They almost had India too, but for Kapil Dev’s legendary 175 not out. But Zimbabwe did make their entry with a flourish.

The African nation has been part of every World Cup since 1983 but have always flattered to deceive. Their pinnacle was in 1999 in the UK when they won three of their eight matches, beating Kenya and India in successive games before taking on South Africa later.

The India match is part of the World Cup folklore. The Indians were coasting to a win, but in came Henry Olonga and removed Robin Singh, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad in the 45th over to give his side an incredible win. But those were the days of Andy Pycroft, Dave Houghton, Duncan Fletcher, Eddo Brandes and Olonga. Zimbabwe did make it to the Super Six stage in 2003, thanks to a couple of wins, including a walkover from England in Harare, in protest over the political situation in that nation. They were completely out of sorts in that stage, and crashed to three losses.

Three losses are what they got in 2007 as well, as the politics and economy at home began to eat into the cricket. Zimbabwe seems to be around just to make up the numbers.

Strange though, since it is not like they don’t have the players to be competitive, at least. Veteran Sean Ervine will see action again, and in Charles Coventry, they have a batsman, who shared the record for the highest individual score in ODIs with Saeed Anwar of Pakistan, before Sachin Tendulkar broke it. Zimbabwe may be restricted to seeking some good individual performances. They don’t look strong enough to beat the top names, but some of the lesser sides may come to grief against them.

With all due respect to the Dutch, Oranje isn’t quite a cricketing colour. The Netherlands have played in three World Cups and some odd triangular series at home, but cricket never really will be a passion in this country, which thrives on football, and, at times, some hockey.

One often wonders, where and how The Netherlands became a part in the scheme of things in the World Cup. They first played in 1996 and lost in all five matches, even to the United Arab Emirates!

Post that, they were part of both the 2003 and 2007 editions of the World Cup. In the two tournaments, they played nine matches with two wins — against Namibia in 2003 and Scotland in 2007. In the last tournament, the Dutch lost two matches to South Africa and the ultimate champions Australia, going down by a total of 450 runs in the two games.

This year isn’t likely to be too different. The Dutch will be well served to be even competitive. The line-up for this tournament too, is not much different from 2007. But then, to believe that there will some international-level players coming out of Holland is a bit optimistic. The team includes Ryan ten Doeschate, the South African-born all-rounder, who even has an IPL contract with Kolkata Knight Riders. But one swallow doesn’t make a summer.

One can only hope that the Dutch find it within them to pick up a fight or two on the field. Sometimes, they look way too laidback to be competitive. In terms of skills, too, they seem to be a little astray, especially in the bowling. So this can be another adventure in moderation for the Oranje.

(Inputs by Jaideep Ghosh, Sunil Narula and M. S. Unnikrishnan)

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