England bank on batting firepower to deny India a home World Cup win

New Delhi — England hope to ride their formidable batting firepower to a second successive World Cup title but if India’s crafty spinners and sprightly pace attack can fully exploit home conditions the country’s cricket-mad fans could have something to celebrate.

Since failing to make it out of the pool phase at the 2015 Cricket World Cup, England have been transformed into limited-overs juggernauts, winning the 2019 title and the 2022 Twenty20 World Cup.

They have been blessed with a steady supply of exciting match-winners, which has encouraged them to try to redefine Test cricket with their relentless, aggressive approach to the game.

Illustrating the embarrassment of riches at their disposal, England axed world-class opener Jason Roy from their World Cup squad to accommodate Harry Brook, who at 24 has already been marked as a superstar in the making.

Eight members of their triumphant 2019 squad are back to help England try to become only the third team to defend the ODI World Cup title after West Indies and Australia.

The group includes Jos Buttler, who seems immune to the pressure of a captaincy that has weighed heavily on others.

Star all-rounder Ben Stokes has come out of ODI “retirement” and is back in the squad, albeit purely as a batter, and has picked up where he left off by belting 182 against New Zealand in September — the highest ODI score by an English batter.

But while England’s only batting headache is who to leave out, their bowling stocks look much thinner, with Jofra Archer missing through injury and lingering concerns about fellow speedster Mark Wood’s fitness.

Hosts India have no such concerns and skipper Rohit Sharma has all his frontline players back and raring to go as the hosts look to repeat their 2011 success on home soil.

Rohit and Shubman Gill have formed a profitable opening partnership, with the inimitable Virat Kohli waiting in the wings at No 3. Players such as Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav can also come up with a match-winning innings.

Their star-studded batting line-up is backed by a speedy pace attack led by Jasprit Bumrah, with left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav likely to provide the X-factor. In terms of build-up India could not have asked for better, winning the Asia Cup last month and beating Australia 2-1 in a subsequent ODI home series.

The Australians no longer carry the same swagger as when they won four of the last six World Cups, but it would be a mistake to write off the five-time champions despite their injury woes.

Skipper Pat Cummins and batting mainstay Steve Smith are among those returning from injury layoffs, while opener Travis Head is set to miss the early matches having fractured his hand in SA in September.

Australia will take heart from Mitchell Marsh’s red-hot form at the top of the order, as well as Marnus Labuschagne’s revival just ahead of the showpiece event. They also possess an enviable collection of all-rounders in Marsh, Cameron Green, Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott and Glenn Maxwell, which could come in handy in India.

Outside the top three, Pakistan’s “cornered tigers” have been jolted by injury to pace spearhead Naseem Shah but Babar Azam’s side are capable of causing upsets.

Also in the reckoning are New Zealand, who fell agonisingly short of the title four years ago after the tied final at Lord’s led to England being crowned champions via a now scrapped boundary countback rule.

Kane Williamson returns to aid New Zealand’s quest for that elusive trophy but injury to several key players, including the skipper himself, will temper their expectations in India.

With West Indies cricket in a state of decline, the twice champions will miss the World Cup for the first time after failing to come through the qualifiers.

The 10-team tournament will be played across 10 venues culminating in the November 19 final at the 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Reuters