Straight Talk Arjuna Ranatunga

India should win the World Cup. I have never seen a stronger Indian one-day side: it’s well-represented in batting and the bowling is very, very impressive. It’s so good, I guess, that raising the issue of fielding appears a bit improper.

I see a lot of similarity in this side to the one I captained in the 1996 World Cup. It starts at the top and Robin Uthappa showcases the feel-good factor. I was really charmed by his strokeplay in recent weeks.

Uthappa and Virender Sehwag are team’s openers in my book. Rahul Dravid should occupy the position I did in the 1996 campaign: hence his slot is between Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Only a player of his quality can shift the gears so effortlessly.

True, a lot other things go into making a champion side. You need to be an extremely smart fielding side; in a long campaign such as this consistency will be critical as well as the number of injuries you can avoid.

Dravid is a fine captain and he must let his match-winners — the Tendulkars, Sehwags, Souravs and Yuvrajs — perform with freedom. They must be unfettered for their creativity to take the centrestage.

As a captain, Dravid needs to get the maximum out of his men, even a per cent’s loss of their ability wouldn’t reflect well on him. It should be true not just of 11 but all 15 members of the squad.

Luck is no small issue either: even in our campaign in 1996, we were very lucky to lose the toss in Calcutta in the semi-final. I would have surely fielded had we won the toss. As I see it, India, Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand will be the semi-finalists in this edition. Sri Lanka, because their bowling attack is better than it was in 1996. Chaminda Vaas and Muthiah Muralidharan need no introduction and Lasith Malinga could be the flavour of the team’s campaign.

I still feel they should have had Upul Chandana and Nuwan Zoysa in the squad for in a campaign of this order, you need members who can fulfil more than one role: an allround side and that’s one invariable the best sides of different eras have shown.

Australia you can never discount. They didn’t have 5-6 of their best players in New Zealand and I sometimes wonder if it was pure bluff or real fatigue and other issues which kept them away. But now all of them, except Brett Lee, will be back and they would be a force to reckon with.

I would have had South Africa as the fourth semi-finalist but for a disturbing trait they show in big tournaments. They crumble in big matches.

New Zealand, on the other hand, are blessed with that essential quality of allround ability: their batting runs deep and there is really no tail-ender. .

Pakistan’s have been a curious and sad case. They have a very strong middle-order and there was a good mix of all-round cricketers, but bowling has taken a beating in the absence of Abdul Razzaq and now Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif.

West Indies will be the dark horse who can upset the applecart of the best sides. They are a top-notch fielding side and have a good mix of youth and experience.

(PTI)