As the cricket world, eagerly counts down to the highly anticipated ODI World Cup, cricket enthusiasts across the globe are immersed in spirited discussions and mounting excitement.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, former Indian men’s team head coach, Ravi Shastri, renowned for his illustrious cricketing career and current role as a cricket commentator, shared his predictions for the World Cup semi-finalists.
“There have been some injuries for a lot of teams, but I believe Australia, England, India will definitely make it to the semis. With Naseem Shah not being a part of the mix, Pakistan’s strength diminishes a bit. They know their game under these conditions, but I’d say it will be between Pakistan and South Africa as the fourth team,” said Ravi Shastri.
Legendary Indian spinner, Harbhajan Singh, also shared his predictions for the World Cup semi-finalists and also provided valuable insights into the team’s mindset and performance, he said, “The first three teams are certain for me- England, India, and Australia. The fourth team could be any team but we were thinking about Pakistan previously, but recently what I have seen is the way they batted, they look very fragile.”
While answering Ravi Shastri’s question on whether Pakistan’s current spin quality compared to their past era is dipped or not, Harbhajan Singh stated, “Yes, of course, they used to have big spinners like Saqlain Mushtaq, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Mushtaq Ahmed in their team. Now, Shadab looked really good but recently he has not bowling at his best, he is not looking to take those wickets.
“He is rather happy going for 50-60 runs and no wickets. So, you know when you have a mindset like that as a spinner then you will not win games for your respective team. So, I believe their spin is not as strong as it used to be and their batting looks very fragile,” he added.
To be honest, when the ball swung, they had no clue; when the ball spun, they had no clue. So you will not get those flat tracks where you just put your foot down and hit, this will happen, but maybe only at a couple of venues. But when there is a phase, quality bowling like when people will be looking to swing and spin the ball, I don’t see them going that far. So, the fourth team is either New Zealand or South Africa for me as Ravi Bhai mentioned. I am not picking Pakistan as the fourth team,” Harbhajan concluded
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