by Dr Cricket » Mon Feb 09, 2015 9:13 pm
I have no idea which country will win the world cup.
Aus, NZ, SA look the biggest three but I know/got a feeling one of them will be knocked out in the quarter-final round possibly because SA could face one of Aus/NZ in quarter final.
India if they win against Pakistan then the game against SA essentially becomes a very important game winner probably tops the group with the loser finishing 2nd and could in theory face Aus/NZ while the team finishing top faces far easier quarter final game.
If india somehow finishes top of the group I suspect they should get to the semis considering they will either face Sri lanka in a turning/dry pitch or England which would have finished 4th and probably struggled because the pitches are too flat and probably india would be favourites in a flat pitch with England favourites if the pitch as pace/bounce or movement.
Group A are quite lucky since they only really have to avoid SA and possibly India if pitches are flat but got 2 very winnable games in Pak, WI/Ireland, placing isn't really that important.
Group B can't really avoid anyone Aus/NZ look very strong, Sri lanka playing in Sydney only india would fancy them in those conditions. England look dangerous, being top could be the difference between semi finalist and quarter final exit.
Depending how the group and quarter final fixtures work out Sa, NZ, Aus, Eng, India, Sri lanka could all make the semis and one big team/favourite could be out in quarter finals.
Probably gonna vote for West indies since I am not confident on india winning the cup and can't really pick any other nations to win it since not sure which country can actually win 3 knock-out games in a row to win the title.
If only Pak, WI were strong this could have been very strong world cup, the last world cup that was probably this strong was 2003 but politics ruined it apart from australia all the other teams were evenly matched.
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