No matter how tough or weak a team is on paper, a lot of its fortunes depend on how strong or weak its opponents are. India are now in that kind of a position going into the 2011 World Cup Cricket.
No doubt Gary Kirsten’s men in blue start as favourites on paper to win the popular title but will the opponents stand in India’s way? Not badly enough as this time’s opposition is among the weakest for any defending champion since 1992.
Given the two key parameters of design and quality of opposition, it would be fairly safe to say India's World Cup challenge begins at the quarterfinal stage.
This will effectively means India would need to win three matches in a row to become the World Champions. That is where the big challenge will be for Kirsten's boys.
It is a fairly easy group for India, who should comfortably travel through to the last eight. After all, you only need to finish as the fourth best performer in your group to flow through.
But, within the group battle, India should look to stop on top of the group as that would put them in a good position to face a weakfish opponent in the battle for semi finals.
For that to occur, India will have to be on song from the word go. So, let us look at how India's probability could be impacted by their opponents in World cup 2011.
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