Co-hosts India the Team to Beat at the 2011 Cricket World Cup 4
As expected Sachin Tendulkar was named in India’s 15 man Cricket World Cup squad despite being sent home from the side’s recent tour of South Africa with a hamstring injury. The 37 year old superstar will be playing in his sixth World Cup after first appearing in the competition back in 1992 when held in Australia and New Zealand. The 2011 World Cup will be co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from 19th February, with India playing Bangladesh in the opening game in Dacca.
Amazingly and despite holding a number of world cup records, Tendulkar has yet to finish on the winning side. The best India has achieved with him in the team was the runners up spot in 2003, when India were beaten by Australia in the final. Tendulkar however was awarded the “Man of the Tournament” after scoring an incredible 673 runs, which is the highest amount of runs anyone has ever scored in the world cup finals. He also holds the record for the most aggregate runs scored in world cup final tournaments with 1,796, a number that is never likely to be bettered.
The man known as the ‘Little Master’ even had to put some further ‘icing on the cake’ in 2010 when he became the first player to score 200 runs in a 50 over ODI, which he achieved against no less a side than South Africa.
With Tendulkar in the Indian side it is little wonder why they have been made favorites to win the 2011 world cup, something that they have not achieved since 1983 when the tournament was hosted by England. Read the rest of this entry →