By Gaurav Pradhan
As the clock is ticking away, the world is waiting for the year’s first mega event – ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Starting from 14th February, 2015, this cricketing mega event will stay in the news for almost a month. This cricketing mega event has a 40 year long history and legacy. The inaugural Cricket World Cup was hosted by England in 7th June 1975, named as Prudential World Cup. The name was so because of their sponsor – Prudential plc. From 1975 to 2011, this tournament has seen a lot of changes in game, starting from change of numbers of overs per innings (60 overs to 50 overs), Introduction of color uniforms and white ball, field restrictions rules. But the charm and aura of the tournaments have still been the same.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
This year, the ICC Cricket World Cup has moved to the Southern Hemisphere, i.e. Australia and New Zealand. The tournament is starting on 14th February 2015, with the first match between Sri Lanka vs New Zealand at Hagley Oval, Christchurch.
14 Teams are participating in this year’s World Cup.
POOL A POOL B
The total fixtures can been seen by clicking here.
The official broadcasters for ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 are ESPN Star Sports and Star Cricket.
Go Team India
Team India, the present World Champions, would be feeling the heat by now. They are presently being tested on those turfs by the Carlton Mid ODI Series – Tri series between Australia, England and India. Recent poor test performances in England and Australia will be playing on back of their mind. But the confidence from last championship will still instill some momentum in India to go into the World Cup. Rated No. 3 in ODI Rankings, they are one of the favorites to win this tournament.
Team India players for ICC World Cup 2015 are :
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain and Wicketkeeper) , Virat Kohli (Vice Captain) , Ajinkya Rahane , Shikhar Dhawan , Rohit Sharma , Stuart Binny , Suresh Raina , Ravindra Jadeja , Ambati Rayudu , Axar Patel , Ravichandran Ashwin , Bhuvneshwar Kumar , Mohammed Shami , Umesh Yadav , Ishant Sharma
Being in Pool B, Team India is starting off their campaign on February 15th 2015, with their arch rivals Pakistan.
I wish #TeamIndia lots of good luck and wishes to win the World Cup again and bring glory to the country once again.
(Author is a Management student of IIM Bangalore having an experience in Manufacturing Industry, Follow On Twitter @GauravToYou)