The World Cup begins now:

So far, the Cricket World Cup has not provided much exciting cricket matches for the viewers to watch. No, No, I am not blaming the teams, I am blaming the organisers for arranging the games in such a way that we could only enjoy a few games such as Ireland vs Pakistan, West Indies vs Pakistan and of course! Yawn! India vs Bangladesh.

Pardon me for saying this, World Cup matches have never been so boring and one-sided than this. If you don't believe me, you could see the scores of the teams involved in the matches that have happened so far and you'll find that only 2 matches Ireland vs Pakistan and West Indies vs Pakistan have been competitive. Please don't ask me to include the India vs Bangladesh, it was humiliating to say the least.

The only bright thing(for statisticians) is that 20+ records have been broken re-written during this world cup. To give a few examples, Herschelle Gibbs (SA) hit 6 sixes off an Vaan Der Bunge(Holland) over. Boucher hit the fastest WC 50(off 21 balls) in the same match, only to see Brendon Mc Cullum(NZ wicketkeeper) breaking the barrier in 20 balls against Canada.

The minnows have played poor cricket(Purely due to lack of exposure) and they have lost by big margins(200+) to the Test playing nations. Hope ICC uses its brains to rack up a competitive schedule at least by 2011.

Well! We have finally entered the real World Cup, now we have a pseudo Quarter Final between India and Srilanka today, India must win this match to enter the Quarters. Srilanka are on a high note having already qualified for the quarters, and they will be in no mood to give up their winning form.

Mark my words!! Srilanka are very strong contenders for this World Cup. Srilanka have the perfect balance in Batting, Bowling, and Fielding. Their batting looks ominous with Sanath (Smasher) Jayasuriya in top form, Tharanga providing the support and Jayawardane, Atapattu, + Sangakkara to provide the consolidation and firepower.
Their bowling looks sharp and penetrative with the ever-reliable Vaas(Of course!) and The Slinger Lasith Malinga. The spin department (Murali and Bandara) would be chuckling with glee finding the West Indian pitches very similar to their home conditions. Thus Srilanka in my point have a strong mental advantage and also a reputation for beating World Class teams on their day.

India on the other hand are not even worth analyzing, I am not sure that they'll reach the semis(if they reach the quarters). I may be very pessimistic, but looking at their body language, i don't see any hopes of India lifting the cup or even dreaming for it.

The bottom line is the World cup begins now. My contenders are Srilanka, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. I am sure that no other team except these four would go on to lift the world cup unless and until some drastic changes happen. I expect West Indies and India to prove me wrong!!
I pray to god that India prove me wrong (I hope that they will, because if they don't, the consequences would be disastrous, and believe me, when i say Disastrous, it is just an understatement).

Meanwhile, we also have the Australia vs South Africa game on March 24th, although the result is inconsequential as both teams have qualified for the quarters, the winner would certainly get the mental advantage. I am surely going to watch both games keenly. I am expecting to closely fought matches from now onwards. Hope I am not disappointed.
The real World Cup begins now!