ICC World Cup 2011:

Arjuna, Khan predict Lankan victory

DINESH WEERAWANSA reporting from India

Four legendary cricketers of yesteryear, including three captains of former champion teams from the subcontinent, gave a boost to the upcoming ICC World Cup 2011 at a special ceremony held in the Indian capital here on Thursday.

Captains of the World Cup winning teams from the subcontinent – Kapil Dev (India), Imran Khan (Pakistan) and Arjuna Ranatunga (Sri Lanka), along with former West Indian skipper Sir Vivian Richards graced the packed house ceremony held at New Delhi’s Oberoi Hotel today.

The four celebrated captains who had led their countries with distinction with many milestone achievements, said the upcoming event could will be the biggest ever in the history of the 35-year-old history of the ICC World Cup.

The mega ceremony held in connection with the launch of the ESPN, Star Sports World Cup 2011 to announce special plans for the mega event to be jointly hosted by the top cricket-playing nations in the subcontinent including Sri Lanka.

India favourites

Dev and Richards were of the view that India are the hot favourites to win the World Cup but Imran Khan and Ranatunga put their bets on Sri Lanka, adding a note of caution about their ability to soak in the pressure of playing at home.

“They are the No. 1 in the world (in Tests) and have a volatile crowd behind them. They have something to defend. The team is going to South Africa where pitches will be different but it can prove to be helpful as they prepare for the World Cup,” legendary West Indian batsman Richards, a member of the 1975 and 1979 World Cup winning squads, said.

But Richards appeared unsure about how the West Indies would perform, although he admitted that the likes of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard do have the talent to go the distance. “Some prayer would obviously help,” he said in lighter vein. “On a serious note, they do have the talent but they need to get things organized a bit. May be they need a catalyst who could inspire them like Arjuna did with the Sri Lankan team during the 1996 World Cup,” Richards said.

Kapil Dev said India’s first step should be towards reaching the semifinal and taking it from there. “If you want to win the World Cup, you need to play well in those 20-30 days. Also the fact that they are going to South Africa before that would be of great help like we had a tough tour of West Indies right before the 1983 World Cup. We played tough cricket in the Caribbean and subsequently in the World Cup. Similarly, if the Indians do well in South Africa, it would be a great confidence booster,” Dev said. “I remember going into the semifinal feeling confident. However, we made mistakes and couldn’t handle the pressure. The same thing happened with West Indies in 1983. Just after Viv got out, they wilted under pressure,” Imran said.

Indians crumble to pressure

Ranatunga termed Sri Lanka as favourites and added that Indians tend to crumble when they play in front of huge crowds in pressure cooker situation. “I have seen the Indian team fail in pressure situations while playing in front of 100,000 people. There are times when the expectations are huge and it takes a toll,” Ranatunga said.

Ranatunga was of the view that that Lankans have a potent combination with experienced players such as Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Lasith Malinga, Muralitharan to name a few.

“However, I believe the team of 1996 had a better middle-order as we had players such as Aravinda de Silva, Asanka Gurusinha, myself, Roshan Mahanama, Hashan Tillekeratne,” Ranatunga said.

A big challenge

“It is a big challenge to organize an event of the magnitude of the ICC World Cup 2011 spread across 13 venues in three host countries. But we will ensure delivery of a world class event. It is great to have the World Cup return to the subcontinent after 15 years. We would like to make it an unforgettable experience on ground and for television viewers across the globe,” ICC World Cup 2011 Tournament Director Ratnakar Shetty said.

When the World Cup was hosted by the Indian subcontinent for the first and only time in 1996, it was Sri Lanka which became the first host nation to win the World Cup, beating Australia by seven wickets on March 17. But it was 13 years before the feat of Ranatunga’s men that the World Cup was won by a team from the subcontinent when India, led by Kapil Dev beat the West Indies at the Lord’s final in 1983. The third time that an Asian country won the World Cup was when Imran Khan’s Pakistan team achieved that rare feat.

Asia’s number one sports broadcaster & ICC’s global broadcast and production Partner, ESPN, Star Sports disclosed its has plans to make the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 presentation truly entertaining one. Chief Executive ICC Haroon Lorgat said that it is with such a unique passion and support thats comes from Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka to make the World Cup a big success.

Expect huge success

“We want the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 to be a huge success and the most widely viewed cricket event in the history of the game. This is cricket’s flagship tournament and the third biggest sporting event in the world so it’s important for all.

The ESPN STAR Sports will bring its unriveled coverage to a billion viewers in more than 200 territories. ESPN STAR Sports presenter Alan Wilkins too graced today’s special event.

The 2011 edition of the World Cup will see many ‘firsts’ in the three and a half decade old event, which includes live match coverage by 3G mobile streaming which allows fans to enjoy an unrestricted access to the biggest cricket spectacle on internet and mobile phones, besides television.

But the most important ‘first’ would be the ICC’s Decision Review System (DRS) which will be introduced for the first time in a ICC tournament. For the first time, production of the ICC Cricket World Cup in the High Definition (HD) format will be another landmark in cricket presentation.

In order to support television audiences the most riveting experience, each and every match will be covered by 27 cameras including innovative features like movable slips cameras & new low 45 degree field cameras. The production will also have a mid-wicket camera position for live running between wickets.

All in all, there will be 49 matches of the ICC World Cup 2011 starting on February 19, 2011 that would bring the glamour of such a mega event to Sri Lanka’s Hambantota as well.

NEW DELHI, Thursday.