Wills Cricket World Cup 1996 Up For Grabs

In fact, this time around the field is so open that barring Zimbabwe, Kenya, the UAE and Holland, all the other teams could be sprinting with synchronised pace towards the tape. Says legendary leg spinner B.S. Chandrashekar: "Australia are being rated very high but, remember, they were playing at home most of last year. Though India have a good chance, only a fool would discount powerhouses like Pakistan, South Africa, England and the West Indies. Not to leave out Sri Lanka who've been playing so well recently."

While, traditionally, the hosts have never won the Cup, the Indian battle cruiser, aside from this superstitious statistic, has too many technical snitches and just one star wars super-gizmo in the form of Sachin Tendulkar, for whom the Indian team haven't yet figured the right fuel mixture. Says P.R. Man Singh, Indian manager in 1983 and 1987: "We depend too much on one or two players to pull us through. So much rests on Sachin's shoulders. Using him as an opener means, if he goes early, the rest of the batting cracks up. Even the bowling tends to wilt during the slog overs. Kapil had so many more options in 1983. Azhar suffers in comparison."

The 1983 line-up had just two superstars in Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar and the Little Master was too much of a let-down in nearly all the matches except the final where he, incidentally, made up not by his batting but by holding three vital catches. The team, however, did have cricketers of the bits-and-pieces variety—like Madan Lal, Mohinder Amarnath and Roger Binny—who chipped in at crucial moments. But tactically, the Cup has undergone a sea-change. The game is faster today, and is likely to be faster than ever before in this Cup. Since 1987 a pattern has emerged in terms of the asking score ranging around 250. Even the margin of victories is going down. A factor that could favour India is the number of captains of top teams who will make their debut as skippers in the Cup—Wasim Akram, Mike Atherton, Mark Taylor, Hansie Cronje and Richie Richardson. Of course, they've been in the team before.

While all the 12 competing nations have named their provisional squads of 20, the deadline for the final 14 is January 21.Bad planning by the BCCI, however, has seen to it that the co-hosts will bethe worst prepared of all when the matches begin on February 14. There has been just one series in the last three months and the matches against the Kiwis were nearly all dogged by rain. Depressingly, New Zealand were edged out 3-2 in the one-dayers that followed the Test series.

The selection trial for the Indian 20, completed at the recent Challenger tournament in Hyderabad, gave an opportunity for batsman Rahul Dravid and left-arm spinner Venkatpathy Raju to force their way in. But says former Test star, Dilip Sardesai: "We should have tried out hopefuls like Dravid against the Kiwis. Pushing them into the Cup, with all the home expectations, would be cruel."

THE factor in India's favour, and also Pakistan's, is that the other teams are currently playing in conditions they won't encounter on the subcontinent. Notes ex-Test cricketer Parthasharathy Sharma: "The slow pitches won't be of much help to the pacers from the Caribbean, South Africa and Australia. The important factor is who meets whom and where. The grouping for the quarter-finals would be the most interesting and I see a good possibility of India and Pakistan meeting at that stage, though the semi-finals would be ideal."

The spinners in other teams who could bother the Indians on a turning track are Australian Shane Warne, Muralitharan of Sri Lanka and Pakistan's Mushtaq Mohammed. But Muralitharan has a big question mark over his future because of his bowling action, and Warne has never hit it off against the Indians. In fact, India came out tops in their last three meetings with Australia. But those who rate Australia as the odds-on favourites range from Raj Singh Dungarpur to Mid-Day editor Ayaz Memon and Pilcom (Pak-India-Lanka Committee) member Amrit Mathur. Says Memon: "Australia have young, experienced cricketers; they are also on a tough-to-break winning spree."

 The side most rate as the toughest are the South Africans. More than anybody else, they hate to lose. And they have the best fielding side in the fray, Jonty Rhodes being just the icing on the cake. They also boast of bowlers like Allan Donald, Fanie de Villiers and Shaun Pollock and Brian McMillan, rated the world's best all-rounder. They nearly made it to the 1992 final, but lost to England in the semis, thanks to that Cup's absurd rain rule.

The team that might just blow up their chances are the West Indies. Dissent has been brewing for some time against skipper Richie Richardson. As a matter of fact, during the Windies' summer tour of England things reached a point where star batsman Brian Lara stormed out of a meeting and threatened to quit the game.

Lara still has problems to sort out with the West Indies board. Though he is in the list of 20 probables, West Indian chances hinge primarily on Lara making up his mind to play (chances are he will) and striking form. As for Richardson, he's beginning to feel the heat, what with ex-stars like Joel Garner urging that he be sacked as captain.

THE team everybody is calling the dark horse are the Sri Lankans. In the Test arena for just 15 years, they have had the pleasure of beating India in the 1979Cup itself. With explosive batting from Arjuna Ranatunga (the longest-playing international cricketer now), Aravinda de Silva, Asanka Gurusinha and Hashan Tillekaratne, backed by sharp fielding, the islanders have the capacity to upset anyone. If they could just work on their consistency a bit, they could be lethal. Sir Richard Hadlee, for one, picks the islanders as favourites to win.

Pakistan, of course, remain an enigma. Mark Taylor calls them the most hot and cold side in the world. But the season Down Under last year must have done them good, even giving Akram some space to settle into his second innings as skipper. In fact, former Indian Test batsman Brijesh Patel expects Pakistan to do well: "I have a feeling they might peak at the right time."

For some, it's a case of being superstitious. Says former Indian captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi: "In 1983 India had odds of 500-1 but went on to win the Cup. This year the Kenyans have the same odds, so I am going to put my money on them!" Kapil Dev, however, is more interested in perfecting his golf swing these days. All he had to comment was: "I don't want to talk about this." N. Ram, editor of Frontline and Sportstar, feels England's track record in the World Cup will weigh in their favour: "Though on paper Australia look far ahead, I'll go for England: they have better chances on a slow wicket. Atherton is a great captain and with Robin Smith and Graeme Hick in their side, England are the winning team." 

This is the first time a quarter-final knockout will be played, but it would perhaps not be stretching anybody's neck too far if a line-up of eight is predicted: India, West Indies, Australia and Sri Lanka from Group A; and Pakistan, South Africa, England and New Zealand from Group B.

Though all Indian fans will have their fingers crossed, Memon perhaps deserves the last word on his advice to manager Ajit Wadekar for the winning mantra. Says he: "India do not lose out on skill but in the will to win. If  Wadekar can get the team to chant, 'we will win the Cup,' one thousand times a day, the team might benefit more than from any conditioning camp." 

So if a sleepy-eyed person in Bangalore, where theIndian training camp is scheduled to be held, hear some 20-odd voices jog through their neighbourhood shouting the same chant in Kamakazi-Zen fashion, at say five in the morning, he needn't feel for his shotgun. For they would be Azhar's Devils, half way to winning the Cup for him.