1 billion Indians- 1 Dream- World Cup-

I dont know what would happen on 2nd April, dont know whether our country would make it to the final or not, but one thing I know that it is the best ever chance of India to make our dream true- am not saying it emotionally- its purely logical- if there is any constraints that is the format of the tournament- one bad day in office in a crucial day & u r out, otherwise India have that firepower this time to lift the Cup.

When am talking about Format I have to explain a little. This year 14 teams are participating in the World Cup and they are divided into two groups with 7 teams each. First four teams would qualify for Quarter Finals- If we see minutely, out of the 7 teams in each Group 4 teams are really strong and other 3 are minnows- thus, loosing 2-3 matches in the group league stage  doesnt matter much for the good teams- but once they qualify for the Q/f its knock out which is ridiculous- same thing happened in 1996 (Remember the famous Ind-pak Q/f in Bangalore& infamous Ind- Srilanka Semifinal at Eden gardens ??). The problem with this format is somebody might have a bad day in office in Q/f after winning all six matches in the Group League stage & they are out- Straight out, no 2nd chance- I think it would be better if 3 teams from each group qualify from Group league stage to Super Six with point carry over- It would make the whole tournament much more competitive and engaging- Chance factor would be eliminated in this format- Good Teams can have 1/2 bad day in such a long tournament but there is every chance to come back - Counter argument of thius format is every big tournaments is played like this- Many are citing example of World Cup Football- that is also knock out from Pre-quarter final stage- 4 straight win and you are world champion !!! We cant ignore this logic also !!! Team who would be crowned World Champion should have the firepower & capability to win three consecutive big matches without fail, otherwsie they dont deserve to be called World Champion for next Four Years !!! Hmmmm...am leaving this debate to you- To me super six would be a fair call for all the teams-

Now I am comin gto the main point- why this much of expectation from Team India this time? Expectation was always there in all the world cups, but this time it really have some logical base. Think about the batting- Sachin, Viru, Gambhir, Kohli, Yuvi, Dhoni & Boom boom pathan- what more do you want? everybody is matchwinner on his day- Suresh Raina, Man of the tournament of IPL, Test century in his debut warming up the reserve bench- even if we compare the batting with the 2003 WC side we would se that time India have 3 real match winners with bat- sachin, Viru n Sourav- rahul dravid was struggling with form where he was forced to keep wickets to keep his place in the team, yuvraj inexperienced-cant rely on him singlehandedly and the name of 7th batsman was Dinesh Mongia !!! that time also bowling was dependent on Zak & Vajji n same this time- As a skipper MSD is equal to sourav, rather many beleive he is better.. Only concern is fieding and in 2003 also concern was that only- & the biggest advantage is Home condition.. Raina / Yuvraj/ Sehwag / Yusuf may find the going tough in South African or Australian condition but in Indian pitches all of them are absolutely unstoppable & it is a proven fact- Somebody out of the seven batsman will play, no doubt until n unless there is a real bad day in office when everybody fails !!! 

We can only pray that this type of bad day will not come in quarter final / semifinal / final-  This is really Now or never situation- Last world cup of Tendulkar (probably !!!), Indian condition- flat wicket having some spin in every track- If you are a really good team with real character you have to stand tall tthis time !!! Go India Go...