Cricket World cup 2011: Important Teams and Players

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 will be featuring fourteen teams and about 200 cricket players from around the world. It is the most in any world cup till date. However, the favorites this time are India, Sri Lanka Australia and South Africa, which are also expected to be as the ultimate semifinalists. England is also a probable semi-final team but the dates on which their matches are to be held are a little unfavorable to their plans and can be considered a bit of hard luck for the team. Still there is a good chance for them and we will hope for it to happen but still good signs are here and so let's hope for the best. 

New Zealand and Pakistan are the teams that will be clearing up the first round and enter the quarter final matches in this ICC World Cup 2011. There is also this emerging young team of Bangladesh which hopefully will do a great job and may set up some upsets in the process. If Bangladesh performs properly on their chosen grounds and pick-up the best playing eleven then there is no surprise if the team enters the quarter finals. West Indies needs to do a lot of hard work if they want to clear the first round. 

The most remarkable batsman to be playing this world cup is surely Sachin Tendulkar who stands at the top of every cricket fan's rankings and is the most experienced player in this World Cup. The second would be the captain of the four time Champions Australia, Ricky Ponting. His team although is in a very poor form in the off lately. They lost the Ashes but are on a roll after winning the recent ODI series against England in which they beat the visitors by 6-1. The third important World Cup 2011 player would be from the subcontinent and is Kumar Sangakara whose team won the exciting 1996 World Cup and is keenly looking forward to repeat the feat in the same favorable conditions. 

An important player from South Africa would be Dale Steyn, whose fast bowling has been remarkable in the recent times. Other notable players in this World Cup would be Zaheer Khan, Morne Morkel, Jonathan Trott, Shoaib Akhtar, Shane Watson, Chris Gayle, Shakib Hussain, Kevin Pieterson, Yusuf Pathan, Cameron White and Daniel Vittori. 

You can also check out the recently released ICC Reliance world rankings for ODI teams and players by going to the official website.