Kolkata: Former captain Sourav Ganguly feels defending champions India have a good chance of reaching the final of the forthcoming cricket World Cup to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand later this month.
Despite India’s poor performance in Australia, the country will do well in the World Cup, Ganguly felt.
“You need one game in one afternoon to be a star and change the situation. This team (India) under M S Dhoni have the ability to excel and I won’t be surprised if India reach the final,” Ganguly said adding that the Indian team had been in Australia for last two moths and which would help them acclimatise to the the conditions better.
Ganguly feels to win a World Cup a team has to perform all through and handle pressure.
“I don’t think there are many problems in the Indian team. In big-time cricket India excelled. I shall be surprised if India perform poorly,” he said.
Asked to name three players who would emerge as top performers in the World Cup, Ganguly said, “My choice would be Virat Kohli, A B de Villiers and Steve Smith.”
ICC considering crackdown on bat size
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is considering a limit on bat size less than two weeks before the 2015 World Cup beginning February 14 in Australia and New Zealand.
The ICC chief executive Dave Richardson feels the balance in the modern-day cricket “may have shifted a little bit too much” towards the batsman, especially in limited overs cricket.
“The balance may have shifted a little bit too much because sometimes poor shots or mis-hits are going for six,” Richardson was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
“The bats are so good these days that the sweet spot is much larger than it would have been 10-15 years ago. The MCC (World Cricket Committee), as law makers, and the ICC will be looking at giving perhaps some consideration to placing limitations on the depth of a bat in particular,” said Richardson.
However, MCC’s World Cricket Committee had decided against changes to the law governing bat size. According to Appendix E of the Laws of Cricket, the length of the bat is limited to 38 inches and the width to 4.25 inches. (PTI)
