Preview: India vs England

Here we are with the second match of India's world cup campaign. India has defeated Bangladesh in their first match by 87 runs but still the match has lot of things showed off for India and the team has to work out on that to make their dream come true to lift the cup. On the other hand English team also had tough fight against Netherlands and it was first competitive match of this world cup. England will have question in mind about bowling in Sunday's encounter as Netherlands team scored massive 292 in 50 overs which is very good score for the minnows.

Indian bowlers have to workout and improve bowling, specially pace bowlers considering the depth of batting English team have. I am expecting some changes in team for this game. Sreesanth may be replaced by Nehra or if the pitch is supporting to spinners then Chawla or Ashwin may get a chance in team. Batting part will be the key for both teams as both teams having good depth in batting line up. Zaheer and Bhajji will be key for bowling and for rest 30 overs, Dhoni has to depend on part time bowlers. Chawla had very good figure in warm up match against Australia on this ground. He might get chance here. Viru's form is key factor in batting while Gambhir and Kohli doing very well in middle order. Sehwag's injury in practice session and Sachin's knee scan had put some question mark for them to play against England but they are now cleared to play.

Worrying factor for England is their key bowlers form. Jimmy Anderson had bad day against Netherlands. Stuart Broad, Bresnan and Swann will handle the bowling department for them while in batting Strauss, Trott, KP, Bell and Collingwood are in very good form. All they need to target is destroy India's batting line up by picking up Sehwag and Sachin early. Micheal Yardy can get chance here to support Swann in spin bowling. KP's batting order change was big surprise for many. Prior is better option to open batting with the skipper instead of KP.

Both the teams have to workout on their bowling department to restrict other team to lower total. On the whole it is going to be a very good encounter. Both the teams have tested defeats in their pre world cup series from Australia and South Africa. Warm up games and first game must have given some boost but still this is their first competitive match in this world cup.

Players to watch:

India: Sehwag, Sachin, Gambhir, Kohli, Zaheer, Harbhajan.

England: Strauss, KP, Trott, Broad, Swann.

Preview India vs Bangladesh

First game of cricket’s big event world cup 2011, is kicking of today with both co-hosts playing against each other. Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur is ready to host first knock. Bangladesh has been gripped by cricket fever all over the country.

The Tigers upset India by five wickets in their first match of the previous World Cup in the Caribbean in 2007 causing India to be knocked out in the first round itself. Following this victory they have created big upset by beating South Africa in super eight round.

India have won 20 of their 22 one-day matches against the Tigers, but Bangladeshi fans are confident about winning the day-night match. Familiar home conditions that assist the slow left-arm spin of Shakib and Abdur Razzak. Bangladesh have won seven out of 10 encounters at home soil in recent past which includes whitewash over New Zealand. They will have benifit of home soil while Dhoni’s team seems very confident to start their campaign with win over Bangladesh.

India has performed really well in warm-up matches and won both of them against Australia and New Zealand respectively. Dhoni’s men are mainly rely on batting line up which has record holder Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar who is probably playing his last world cup. Pace bowling is still a concern for India as it is totally dependant on Zaheer Khan, Other pacers are failed to impress in recent past and in warm up matches too. In this situation India has to rely on spinners to perform well in bowling department.

Yuvraj Singh’s form is also concern for India. Top order is filled with Sehwag, Sachin in opening and Gambhir following them at third place. Virat Kohli is good contender of fourth place and he has been very consistent in past few months. His contribution in past few months is very good for batting line up. Yousuf Pathan can be used as all rounder who provides good batting in death overs and one bowling option as spinner.

The main thing people looking at is who will sit out from the eleven. Dhoni might have to drop Yuvraj Singh or Suresh Raina.

India definitely have upper hand in this match but Bangladesh cant be underestimated specially on their home soil. Sakib-al-Hasan is very impressive as captain as well as all rounder.

Lets hope India start their campaign with easy win which gives lot of confident going further in the tournament.

World Cup 2011 - India

Less than 5 days to go for the biggest event of ICC World Cup 2011 and the subcontinent is ready for it. This time it is very special world cup for India in many aspects. First of all India is co-host of the event of cricket and everyone knows cricket is religion in the country. Second, Indian team looks very confident and we can say it is one of the best team compositions in last many years. Biggest reason for the world cup being special is God of cricket, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar is playing his last world cup and in his 21 years career he has played 5 world cup and he was highest run scorer twice, still India has not registered world cup glory in his time.

Indian team looks pretty confident for the event with great combination with ball and bat. With the likes of Sehwag, Gambhir, Sachin, Kohli, Yuvraj, Raina and Pathan batting line up looks really good while Zaheer, Nehra, Sreesanth, Harbhajan, Chawla looks good in the bowling department. Pathan, Yuvraj can be used as part time bowlers too. Praveen kumar who has really good record on Indian pitches is going to miss this world cup.

All the team looks really good for the mega event and as it is happening in the subcontinent expectation is more from team. Dhoni has been consistent from last few years and team is performing really well under his captainship. All the players are ready to give their 100% to win world cup for country and Master Sachin Tendulkar, every one excited to gift world cup trophy to master when he is playing his last world cup.

In the first round India is playing with five teams and it will not be difficult for India to advance in next round as matches with Bangladesh and Ireland will be easy to win. India is playing first world cup game against other co-host Bangladesh. This match could be tough one for India as we have seen few upsets by Bangladesh in last few world cups. Second match is with England. England looks very much balanced side in this world cup. They gonna surely miss Eoin Morgan in the middle order but with experienced Bopara they can manage to have strong middle order.

Third match is with Ireland who are playing as underdog team in the world cup and it would not be difficult for India to win that match. Fourth match is with One of world cup contenders South Africa, they are in really good form and recently defeated India at their home grounds. This will give them some confident to enter in World cup.

Last league match India is going to play with West Indies. West Indians can be good competitors but India will be favorites in that game.

By looking at this India’s path to top 8 teams seems bit easy but the hurdles will come after that. There is a chance of India Vs Pakistan match in next round but it is very early to say this.

Lets cross the finger, wish and support our team to clinch this world cup for country, for Sachin Tendulkar and for the Indians to make proud on country.