Team composition in the World Cup 2015 and how it has changed leading into World Cup 2019
A lot has changed since the last edition of the showpiece event.
3. South Africa
South Africa have been starting as favourites in almost all of the World Cups only to blow it up in the knockout stages. It really doesn’t take away the fact that they will be the dark horses in the upcoming event as well. Their 2015 leg ended in a heartbreaking fashion when they lost the semi-final in the penultimate ball to the Black Caps.
Their batting department suffered a major jolt when AB de Villiers announced his retirement earlier this year. The Proteas lost the ODI series against India comprehensively at their home early in 2018 but bounced back to win away against Sri Lanka and Australia convincingly.
The recent form of Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla has been slightly disturbing. In absence of Ab de Villiers, the burden falls on the skipper Du Plessis and the reasonably experienced David Miller. Their bowling looks strengthened with the return of Dale Steyn, however, the injury clouds rest on all three frontline fast bowlers.
Probable squad for the World Cup: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock(wk), Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis(c), Heinrich Klassen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Dale Steyn, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir, JP Duminy, Chris Morris
2. India
India are yet another prime favourites to win the World Cup. They ended up as the semi-finalists in the 2015 edition going down to the hosts and eventual champions Australia. Their uncharacteristic death bowling which had been an issue in the last World Cup seemed to have disappeared with the presence of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Their top three batsmen are world-class while the spin-twins in Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have also been equally reliant. The major issue that bothers the Indian team is the constantly failing middle order. This was exposed in England where their middle-order batsmen were largely incompetent. The No. 4 conundrum has been distressing the batting line-up for a while even as Ambati Rayudu has filled it up in the last few matches.
Having said that, he will need to be consistent and will be tested against the formidable teams. MS Dhoni, who has been India’s steadfast middle order batsman as well as a finisher, has lost his sheen and is struggling nowadays. In 20 matches in 2018, the 37-year old has only scored 275 runs at an average of 25.
Probable squad for the World Cup: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Ambati Rayudu, KL Rahul, MS Dhoni(wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Khaleel Ahmed, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina.
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