What a World Cup this has been so far! - March 2003 - Sanjay Manjrekar

That cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties was proved yet again, as the points table of the much-touted 'Group of Death' turned out to a lot more straightforward and simple to interpret than that of the other 'relatively easy' group.

The World Cup began on a rousing note with Brian Lara smashing the Proteas for a hundred in the inaugural encounter. The champion from the Caribbean was emulated by the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya, Craig Wishart and Andrew Symonds, who guided their sides to their first wins of the competition with terrific batting performances. The Indians started slowly, but soon caught up and left behind all the other sides, with the honourable exception of Australia.

If India hogged all the headlines from Group 'A', first for their ordinary display against the Aussies and later for their amazing comeback, the Kiwis and Kenyans created quite an impact in Group 'B'. Stephen Fleming, rated by many as the best captain in world cricket, played an outstanding innings to take his side to victory over the South Africans, thus jeopardising the prospects of the hosts of qualifying for the next stage. Sandeep Patil's wards excelled themselves against the Sri Lankans and reinforced their bid for Test status. Now that they have found a place in the Super Six, the ICC is bound to consider their claim very seriously.

What Kenya and the other two sides qualifying from Group 'B' will need to do in the days leading up to the beginning of the Super Six is to devise strategies to halt the Australians and Indians in their tracks. The gap between Australia from the other sides seems to get wider with every game, and the 'think-tank' of opposing sides would probably give their right arms in return for any information about genuine weaknesses in the Australian side. In the wake of Steve Waugh's omission, a lot of things were said about the middle-order being brittle. When the Warne bombshell fell on the morning of their very first match, many people thought that they would be mentally weak. But look what they did after being 80-odd for 4 at one stage. It will take a lot of hard work, backed by lots of luck, to beat this side.

The Centurion debacle notwithstanding, the Indians certainly have it in them to beat the Aussies. The bowling looks good with all the bowlers performing to the best of their abilities, and the batting line-up is justifying to a fair extent the 'formidable' tag that they earned after the triumphs in England and Sri Lanka last year. Sachin Tendulkar seems to have made up his mind to take the Indians to the final, and with a player like him leading the way, it does appear that India's future opponents in the World Cup have a real fight on their hands, the Aussies included. For the Indians, hard work, and luck is the key.