2019 World Cup Fever

Cricket world cup 2019 is the most discussed topic at the moment. The elimination round is over as all the teams have competed with each other, the top four teams: India, Australia, England and New Zealand have qualified for the semi-finals. In the semi-finals India will face New-Zealand and Australia will face England. In the elimination round, the match between India and New-Zealand had been washed out due to the rain. Therefore, practically India is facing New-Zealand for the first in this world cup excluding the warm-up match. The reason India lost against New-Zealand in the warm-up match could be because of the unstable or undecided team. The Indian team was not completely sure about the playing XI because of the varied skill sets of each player especially the middle order batsmen and all-rounder’s.

Looking at the stats, according to the points table:

· India has lost only against England and tops the table with 15 points and a net run rate of +0.809.

· New-Zealand has lost against England, Australia and Pakistan but still managed to qualify for the semi-finals. New-Zealand has luckily come to the semi-finals as Pakistan and New-Zealand have the same results out of the 9 matches they have played. Fortunately, New-Zealand has positive net run rate thereby qualifying for the semi-finals by pushing Pakistan behind them.

Stats about the Old Trafford ground:

· The ground

From the point of view of the Statham end (bowlers bowl from this end), the ground is a little big on the right hand side and comparatively shorter on the left. The length on the left (leg) side is 77m and right (off) side is 65m relative to a right-handed batsmen. This is will be difficult for right-handed batsmen as they have to clear a bigger boundary, and comparatively easier for the left-handed batsmen. From the Pavilion end, the ground’s length will be the other way around making it comfortable for the right-handed batsmen to clear the boundaries. From both the end’s the straight boundary is 70m and 73m, this can also be an advantage during the power-play.

Therefore, the right-handed batsmen can completely dominate over the bowlers for 25 over’s with ease. These stats can be used by the bowlers while bowling from the pavilion end to bowl to the off-side of the batsmen as this will be difficult to direct the ball to his leg-side. While doing this the bowler should keep in control his length and grip because, a shorter ball can be easily picked by the batsmen for a six down the ground and loose grip can turn out to be a wide.

· The weather on the day of the game

Accuweather predicted a slight rain during noon; this will be after the first hour or so after the game starts. The pitch will favour the bowlers as the wet pitch and humid climate will help the bowlers swing the ball more. I would personally advice both the captain’s: Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson to choose bowling if they win the toss. This is because of the reason that after 10-15 overs there are chances of slight drizzle which can cause the ball to swing more. This can be an upper hand for the bowling team as the batsmen will be surprised by the movement of the ball after facing the first 10 over’s. The weather forecast also predicted that the drizzle will stop after some time, practically making it less difficult for the second inning’s batting team.

After all this there is one last thing that should be taken into account, team work and the effort. The playing XI squad will decide most of the match and the rest by their performance. India has the most difficult decision to make about their playing XI, wondering if to include Jadeja, Pant, and Chahal. On the other hand New-Zealand has to decide on either choosing Matt Henry or Ish Sodhi and Henry Nichols or Colin Munro. Looking at both the teams’ previous matches and team selection I will rely on the team India purely because of the raw talent that each of the players carry and their output together as one team. 11 years before, Kohli and Williamson led the Indian and New-Zealand teams respectively in the 2008 U-19 world-cup, they are now going to face each other leading the senior team.

I believe my predictions go right about the winning team and the pitch, eagerly waiting for tomorrow's match.