Dubai: The 10th edition of the World Indoor Cricket Federation World Cup commences on Saturday at Insportz with all the competing countries aiming to end Australia’s supremacy in the men and women events.
Australian men have won the World Cup nine times from the inception in 1995 and women have bagged the title eight consecutive times since the start in 1998.
Answering to a query from Gulf News on whether there is intense pressure of having to defend the title, men’s team captain Lyle Teske, said: “It’s a nice pressure to have as every country is improving as a team. Last year we saw the skills in South Africa and New Zealand were good. Moreover this time with six ball overs it is going to be a very different tournament and hence any team can beat anyone. The edge we have over others is that we have done it before so that may work in our favour. When it comes to big games pressure is the main thing and we have to play well.”
Sri Lankan captain Tharindu Mendis, through his comments, represented the hopes of all the other teams. “This time it is a very open tournament and nobody can say a team is going to win because of the new court here. Australia England and New Zealand are coming here after their winter and it is going to be very difficult for them to adjust to conditions here within three to four days and hence they may struggle. So there is chance for every team.”
Rooting for Australia’s success is Australian International Test team captain Steve Smith, who loves indoor cricket. Speaking from Australia, Smith said: “I hope that Australia can win again across the four categories — men’s, women’s under-21 men’s and under-21 women’s — but I also hope the World Cup will be a great advert for the sport and one that will take indoor cricket to the next level.”
Smith who owes his success to indoor cricket even said: “Indoor cricket’s an exciting form of the game, something I enjoyed playing on a regular basis over many years and also something that helped shape me as a cricketer during my formative years, in Bankstown, Sydney. The skills I developed in indoor cricket — working the ball into gaps on either side of the pitch, the need to run well between the wickets, dynamic fielding and treating every ball as an event while never switching off — are ones that have stood me in good stead throughout my career playing the 11-a-side outdoor version of the game.”
The World Cup in Dubai has gained a big boost with even a Test star Jesse Ryder playing for New Zealand and Indian Test star Sandeep Patil as brand ambassador for Indian team.
New Zealand captain Victor Davies, commenting on Ryder’s presence and whether it will lead to more international players play indoor cricket too, said: “Ryder was playing indoor cricket before going on to play international Test cricket He too loves it and it is great to have him as part of the team. Whether we will have more international players coming through, I cannot say now but if we can have more quality of players it will help grow the sport.”
UAE team will be playing in the World Cup for the first time with hope of making an impact.
Sameer Nayak, UAE team vice-captain, said: “We as the host country are super excited because it is also our first time as well to compete against the best teams. So we are going to keep it very simple, stick to our basics and play as a team. We are here to learn from the other better teams and would like to thank our sponsors DBMSC and Insportz who helped us get a chance to compete in this tournament.”
