World Cup 2019: Rating the jerseys of all the teams

The former Indian Skipper, MS Dhoni had once said, “The World Cup is the most important campaign, everything else can wait.” Four years down the lane, this quote still remains true. The 12th edition of the Cricket World Cup is around the corner and the preparation of the cricketing nations are going on in full swing. The teams are toiling extremely hard to do well in this much-awaited tournament. The enthusiasm amongst the fanatics all over the world is at its peak as the tourney is less than a month away.

The group stages of the tournament are all set to begin on 30th May 2019 at The Oval, London. The extravaganza, which will culminate on 14th July, will be played in the round-robin format where each team will lock horns with the other nine teams.

Apart from practising for the on-field performance, the teams have made changes in their off-field affairs as well. Several teams of the fraternity have recently launched their new kits, which will be donned by them during the mega-event. Barring the West Indies, New Zealand & Afghanistan, every other cricketing country, which will be a part of the World Cup, has released a new pullover.

Here we rate the jerseys of each of the 10 teams:

Afghanistan – 6.5/10

The Afghanistan cricket team is currently touring to Scotland where it’ll take on the home team in a two-match ODI series. The team will play another ODI series of 2 games against Ireland prior to the Cricket World Cup 2019. The team has been toiling hard for the upcoming tourney. It is one of the only two teams, which is playing the World Cup 2019 after winning the qualifiers last year.

However, one aspect, on which the team didn’t make any changes while going into the World Cup, is its jersey. The Gulbadin Naib-led side will walk into the tournament with the same shirt. It has been working for them over the years and going by the luck factor, the board might have decided to stick to the same jersey. It will be interesting to see, how the new Asian team perform in their second appearance at the mega event.

Apart from the same jersey, they have also opted for an alternative jersey which is dominated a bit by the red colour on the shirt. There are also stripes on the trousers. It is still not clear though when and how they will change the jersey during the tournament.

Windies – 7/10

Windies are another team who have not brought any change in their kit before the World Cup. The Jason Holder-led team will play the tournament with the same maroon coloured jersey which they have been carrying for a long time. The jersey, which has a sponsored logo in the front and the sign of Cricket West Indies (CWI), at the top-left corner, will be worn by the Windies team in yet another World Cup.

Despite the fact that the Caribbean squad hasn’t made any change in its jersey, the Men In Maroon are expected to be the dark horses of the tournament. The team, which consists of both experienced as well as young talents in the form of Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer etc is likely to perform well in the upcoming World Cup.

New Zealand – 8.5/10

The New Zealand cricket team arguably has the best jersey amongst the current teams. The team has a kit which is loved by fans from all over the world. The pullover that the team wears is made by Canterbury New Zealand and has earned appreciations from all over the world.

Although, the team is yet to win a World Cup titles despite having a superb kit. The Black Caps haven’t won the title ever since their inception in world cricket. Nevertheless, under the leadership of Kane Williamson, the Kiwis would definitely like to change their fortunes and lift the silverware for the first time this year.

South Africa – 6/10

The South African team is the official underperformer of World Cricket. There is no denying to the fact that the team possesses a brilliant squad. But the Proteas have still not been able to win the 50-over World Cup. There have been several instances when they have been trolled by the fans and cricket pundits because of their continuous failure in ICC tournaments.

Recently, what became another cause of trolls for the teams was its official kit. The South African team’s jersey was announced on 18th April for the mega-event. The jersey, as usual, was light green in the front but what raised the eyebrows of several folks was the sleeve corner. The sleeves were made up of a dark green colour with multiple black shades. Howbeit, this didn’t go well with the fans as they disliked this combo of light green, dark green & black. Hence, the Proteas get 6 out of 10 marks in terms of their official kit.

Bangladesh – 7/10

The Bangladesh cricket team’s jersey was launched a few days ago. Howbeit, what followed the event was lots of uproar and controversies. The Bangladesh Cricket Board had first released a kit which was all-green. The kit was decided to be used by the team in home conditions however, there were lots of havoc regarding it. The pullover oddly resembled the Pakistan cricket team’s jersey and wasn’t good as per commercial values.

Hence, as a result, the design of the jersey had to be eventually altered. The traditional red stripes were once again added back to it. Howbeit, the shades of red didn’t suit the green colour, as the previous one looked a tad better. Thus, the kit gets 7 out of 10 points as the actual image of it is yet to be unveiled.

Sri Lanka – 8/10

The Sri Lankan jersey has been making the headlines ever since it was released. The kit of the country has been praised by people from all over the world. The jersey, which was launched a few of days ago, is surrounded by the shades of yellow and blue from upwards to downwards respectively.

Another great aspect of the pullover is the fact that it has been made by recycling oceanic plastics, which have been collected from the beaches around the country. This heartwarming gesture was applauded by cricketing fanatics of the whole world as the jersey which the island nation players will don during the upcoming mega-event carries a very respectful message.

England – 5.5/10

The England Cricket Team is undoubtedly one of the hot favourites of the World Cup 2019. The no. 1 ODI side, will not only be hosting the mega-event but is also one of the strongest contenders to lift the silverware. The team launched its new kit for the World Cup on May 21.

England have gone back to 1992 retro kit with the navy blue colour dominating. There are a few dark blue patches on the shoulder while ‘ENGLAND’ is written at the centre with the ECB symbol at the left corner. It is completely different from what the Englishmen wore over the years in the last four years and would be hoping to lift the title this year.

Australia – 6/10

The Cricket Australia, a month ago, had unveiled the jersey, which will be donned by the Australian cricket team during the Cricket World Cup 2019. The apparel partner of the cricketing board i.e. the ASICS had launched the kit on 9th April 2019 and had made several changes in it. The ace batsman Glenn Maxwell had played the role of a model for this ceremony. The uniform shares many similarities with the jersey which was worn by the team earlier this year, whilst facing the Indian Cricket Team.

The pullover carries a retro look and resembles the kit which was worn by Allan Border’s men during 1987 World Championship. Howbeit, the response to this idea was very critical as the fans didn’t like the lime green shades in the collar region, and the light-ish yellow shades, which dominate most of the parts of the jersey. According to the fans, they do not look good with each other.

Pakistan – 6.5/10

Pakistan is coming into the World Cup with a nine-match losing streak. They lost to Australia by 5-0 and then recently went down to the hosts by 4-0 in the five-match series. But no team can take them for granted in the mega event. After finalising the World Cup squad on Monday, PCB launched the new kit for the Men in Green and it looked a bit decent.

The kit is dominated by the dark green colour which has always been the case with Pakistan. On the front side of the jersey, there is a World Cup logo on the right side while the PCB logo (the star with something written in Urdu in it) is on the left side. The country name ‘Pakistan’ is written at the centre even as the proper green colour shade is also present.

The same kind of colour is present at the back side where the player’s jersey number is printed. Just above that, the name of the player is printed and uniquely the Pakistan flag is also printed in a small rectangle at the top on the back side. The sponsors ‘Pepsi’ has been printed on the left sleeve of the jersey, unlike previous years when the sponsor name was printed at the centre.

India – 7.5/10

The Indian cricket team’s new kit has been in the limelight ever since it was released. The new jersey got released on 1st March 2019 in presence of some veteran servants of the Indian cricket. The official apparel partner of the Board of control for cricket in India i.e Nike had released the pull over prior to the Australia home series earlier this year. The jersey consists of various features like the date and venue of the three World Cup titles, tricolour stripes on the collars etc.

Howbeit, the kit still got mixed reviews as the majority of fans disliked it. Some of the Indian fans demanded the BCCI to rather opt for a retro kit, whilst, others, on the other hand, didn’t find the combination of dark blue and light blue attractive. Hence, we would like to give the rating of 7.5 to the Indian kit and hope that it turns out to be lucky for India in the upcoming World Cup.

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