India, where cricket is termed as the secular religion and people can do crazy things in its win as well as loss. It is one of the favorites to win the World Cup. The team is known for its strong batting line up with batsmen like Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni. The first three are known for their bagful of runs and later three are known for their stroke-playing mood that can upset any opposition.
India has already won the 1983 World Cup under the captaincy of Kapil Dev and the finalist of 2003 World Cup where they come with the runners up trophy falling behind Australia. Apart from batting, India has two world-class spinners as Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh and experienced pace men like Zahir Khan, Ajit Agarkar and youngsters like Sreesanth, Munaf Patel and Irfan Phatan can do a lot for retaining the trophy.
If we look at the history, India has produced some of the finest cricket players like Vijay Merchant, CK Naidu, Lala Amarnath, Viswanath, Kapil Dev, Mohinder Amarnath, Mohammed Azharuddin are just to name some few. In present non other than Sachin Tendulkar is considered as the world’s greatest batsman after Australia’s Bradman. Now lets have a look at the members of Indian cricket team for 2007 world cup.
Team Players: Placed on the 5 th position of the ICC rank table Team India is one of the contenders of the cup with captain Rahul Dravid and under the guidance of former Australian player Greg Chappel as coach.
Rahul Dravid (C), Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar (VC), MS Dhoni (Wk), Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik (Wk).
Key Players:
Rahul Dravid (Captain) – Known as the Mr. Dependable and the Wall, Dravid has the credit of playing 107 Tests and 310 One-Day matches with more than 10,000 runs on his cards. Both as a bats man and a leader of his excellency is vital for India.
Sachin Tendulkar – He is really a living legend in cricket and popularly known as the master blaster, who can destroy any bowling attack. Apart from batting, his Legbreak googly can come handy for the team. He holds the most number of runs and centuries in both form of cricket and his presence in team is really a blessing in disguise for the youngster.
Sourav Ganguly –This Bengal Tiger commonly called ‘Dada’ is currently in his form and reputed as the most successful captain and opener batsman with Sachin. After his controversial dropout from the team, he has got a tremendous comeback with some excellent performances in the recent series against West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Youngsters like MS Dhoni, Irfan Phatan, Robin Uthappa, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth have lot to prove. Mind it, if these players perform consistently then no doubt India will be in the final again. Let’s see… |
