‘Home advantage alone will not be enough. We will have to play well’
Former New Zealand batsman Mark Greatbatch has backed New Zealand to go all the way to win the title.
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"I feel final is an assured berth for us. We are playing exceptional cricket right now. We have excellent home support too," said Greatbatch in an interaction.
A member of the 1992 World Cup side, Greatbatch was part of the plan of the then skipper Martin Crowe's out of the box planning. About a few months before the 1992 World Cup, Crowe got along with the brains trust of the side to come up with different strategies.
"We decided we needed to do something different. That's when we thought why not I go after the bowling upfront. I said that I will go out and hit out. Everyone liked the idea. It worked well because we were able to pile up the runs," added Greatbatch.
Having been a pioneer in making most of the early overs, Greatbatch has been watching with interest the progress made by openers in this World Cup.
"David Warner and Brendon McCullum have been the most exciting openers. They have been doing well for two years now. Chris Gayle is not that consistent. But having said that he does make big scores."
India's opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma also got attention from Greatbatch. "Rohit has two double hundreds and is very talented. I have a feeling that we will see a lot more of him in the knockout stages."
An early exponent of maximising the early overs Greatbatch has been impressed with the power hitters at the World Cup. Greatbatch attributes the impact of T20 on ODI batting for the high scores at the tournament.
"This is a tournament for power hitters. AB, Brendon, Maxwell are all products of the T20 impact on batsmanship. We are now seeing 400 plus runs from sides. The bats have improved. Batsmen have become much more adventurous now," opined Greatbaatch.
The 1992 campaign still rankles Greatbatch who felt that they should have the tournament.
But the campaign in 2015 gives Greatbatch hope. "The side is balanced. Brendon is in a different league altogether. The batting, bowling and fielding are working well. The fact that all matches will be played in New Zealand makes a huge difference."
Greatbatch however sounded a word of caution, "Home advantage alone will not be enough. We will have to play well," concluded Greatbatch.
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