The Canadian batsman Rizwan Cheema said that former Pakistani captain Imran Khan is his hero and he is trying to emulate Imran. He considers Imran who lifted the World Cup for Pakistan in 1992 as one among the World’s greatest all-rounders like England’s Ian Botham, India’s Kapil Dev and New Zealand’s Sir Richard Hadlee. Matt Prior who had been considered as the Best spin player of the England team paid glowing tribute to the former Pakistani player Mushtaq Ahmed who, after his retirement from Pakistan team was made spin bowling coach of the England team. Prior has spent lot of time with Mushtaq talking to him and working with him and according to him he was benefited a lot by the friendship with Mushtaq Ahmed. Intikhab Alam, manager of Pakistan team informed that despite their defeat in the warm-up match against England, the Pakistan team is with full enthusiasm and they are confident of winning all the group matches. The team manager also informed that there is no indiscipline in the team after Shoaib Akhtar and Wahab Riaz were fined for coming late at night. Alam also appreciated the rookie paceman Junaid Khan whose bowling against England was highly impressive. Pakistan’s match-winning ODI player Inzamam-ul-Haq wanted Shahid Afridi and his team to perform very well in the World Cup not only for their country but, also as a tribute to their late coach Bob Woolmer who firmly believed that the Pak team can come as the world’s No.1 team. The former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf who is now in London wished good luck for the Pakistan team in the ensuing World Cup. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that if Pakistan could perform well in the World Cup Foreign teams will change their mind and will go to Pakistan.

Captain Kumar Sangakkara is confident of a promising start by his team in the opening match with Canada. The middle-order batsman Chamara Silva has been replaced by all-rounder Tisara Perera following the demise of Chamara Silva’s sister. Sri Lanka who was the runners-up in the last World Cup is a strong and well organized team. The giant bowler Muttiah Muralitharan is fully recovered from his injuries and his capacity to take wickets is known world over. Muralitharan’s bowling will be a nightmare for the opposing teams. The Sri Lankan team is a wonderful mix of experienced players and energetic youths. Many of those great veterans in the earlier team of Arjuna Ranatunga are no more in the team. But the very strong bowling department of the present team can rescue them from any odd situation. The variety in their bowling is the key aspect of the team’s strength. The spin bowling by Muralitharan and Mendis will certainly curtail the scoring by the opposing batsmen and the fast bowlers are also experts in making variations so as to arrest the scoring even in those pitches which are favorable to batsmen. With such a full fledged bowling line-up Captain Sangakkara is confident that the team can thrive on any type of pitches. Sangakkara looks forward to a better performance from his team than that of the last World Cup. Lasithn Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Angelo Mathews and Perera will excel in pace attack and Muralitharan will be the leading wicket-snatcher. Through the strongest bowling, perfectly applied batting and best fielding, Sri Lanka is expected to give shocks.

A powerful team of yesteryears, the Windies are presently very much out of form. Over the last couple of years, they have played not less than 30 matches but, could win only 7 of them, that too they defeated Zimbabwe, Ireland and Canada. During the initial round of the World Cup itself, they may be facing either South Africa, England or India However their team consisting of great players such as Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne and Darren has arrived with an eye on the finals. Their unfailing confidence, adventurous playing and special abilities make them dark horses. They are capable of tilting the trend at any moment. Though they have a strong batting line-up, the team is short of efficient bowlers. Two players, Barath and Baugh may not be playing the World Cup series due to injuries and the WICB is yet to decide regarding the replacements. This will create lot of confusion among the players. In the present team, Kieron Pollard is able to withstand the attacks and Kemar Roach is the paceman with speed. The absence of good bowlers will really affect their prospects. They have to wait and see how the left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn will be performing. It is possible that earlier wicket keeper Denesh Ramdin may join the team. The West Indies team under the captaincy of Darren Sammy will play their first match in Delhi against South Africa. Being in Group – B, they will also face England, Ireland, Bangladesh, Netherlands and India in the coming days.

All analysts, veterans and others are of the same opinion – Indian team cannot have a better chance to win the World Cup. Captain Dhoni has the greatest advantage of having a highly resourceful team comprising experienced, especially talented and highly intelligent players. A line up of eminent batsmen to build up runs and a variety of bowlers who are already giving sleepless nights to the other teams are at his disposal. All the players, especially the new ones are very much fortunate to play the World Cup series along with the maestro Sachin Tendulkar. For Sachin as well as his team mates each match played by them in this series will be memorable. Indian team can also make the weak points of opposing teams to their advantage. After the defeat in both the warm up matches the Aussies are plunged into confusion. Both their batsmen and bowlers were fumbled. But, the facts remain that they are equipped with fast bowlers and also they have won many world cups. The English batsmen are easily caught by spin bowlers and also they are yet to prove their might in ODIs. However, players like Pietersen and Collingwood are capable to change the trend. Just like the English the South African batsmen also easily fall as victims to spin bowling. Moreover, the team is not sufficiently equipped with bowlers and finishing batsmen who are capable of performing under the most severe pressure. However, their batting-line comprising Kallis and Amla cannot be under estimated. Also, this time they have come with a strong determination to move forward from the semi-final level in the World Cup. Sri Lanka is a very powerful opponent for India. With batsmen like Sangakkara, Tharanga and Jayawardene and bowlers like Muralitharan, Mendis and Malinga they are considered as a very strong team which can reach the finals. Barring the finals, they will be playing all matches in their homeland only. While they are well equipped in all ways, the variety bowling by India will certainly scare them. As far as Pakistan is concerned, irrespective of their drawbacks and weakness, they will go all the way to demonstrate before the world that they are back to cricket in full spirit. So, it is now up to the Indian boys to utilize the weakness of others and simultaneously correcting their on weak points. The biggest challenge before them is to rise up to the expectation of the home crowd which will be exerting maximum pressure. Instead of getting perplexed, they must feel the inspiration and play the best cricket.

The achievements of Jacques Kallis in Tests as well as ODIs are incomparable. The performance of South Africa in the World Cup-2011 is revolving around this great all-rounder. His unbeaten 49 runs in the recent warm up match against Zimbabwe at Chennai and as high as 498 runs against India in the tests demonstrate the power of his batting. Kellis made history by taking 10000 runs and 250 wickets in one day and test matches. His number of test centuries is second to Sachin Tendulkar only. When South Africa won the ICC Champions Trophy in 1998, Kallis bagged two ‘Man of the Match” and “Man of the Serious” awards. Thus Jacques Kallis found his place among the best all-rounders of the world. During 2003-2004, Kallis made century in five consecutive test matches. The other batsmen who had similar achievement are Sir Donald Bradman, Mohammad Yusuf and Gautam Gambhir. His excellent batting average of 57.43 made him one among the best batsmen of thee world. But, Kallis established his position as a classic bowler also by snatching not less than 250 wickets. Kallis is the first batsman from South Africa who could make century in each innings of the same match. The world fully realized the batting efficiency of Kallis on the last day of the seventh test against Australia at Melbourne in 1997 when even Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath miserably failed to dismiss him and Kallis saved South Africa in the match. Jacques Kallis every year participates in the fund raising events of ‘Jacques Kallis Scholarship Foundation’ which provide the opportunity to promising youths to excel in their academic as well as sporting career.