Now for the bowling: In 2003, these were the options we had, and this is how they did:
Ashish Nehra: Played 9, 69.3 overs, 6 maidens, 289 runs, 15 wickets, 19.3 average
Zaheer Khan: 11-88.2-5-374-18-20.8
Anil Kumble: 3-27-1-107-5-21.4
Javagal Srinath: 11-91.1-4-369-16
Harbhajan Singh: 10-85.2-5-335-11-30.5
The others who bowled were Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. Between them, they took 17 wickets, with Yuvraj and Mongia each taking 5 in course of the competition.
Again, what has changed? Nehra has fallen by the wayside thanks to injuries; Srinath has gone past his use-by date, and moved from the middle of the pitch to the commentator's box.
Ajit Agarkar did not play a single game in the 2003 WC; here, we are looking at him potentially being the third seamer in a lineup led by Zaheer and Munaf.
Anil Kumble played three games out of 11, without making any real impression. Four years later, as many years older, he remains in the WC squad because the captain and selectors believe there is a role he can play with his `experience'. The chances, though, are that again, he will play very few games, if any.
The part-timers this time will be Tendulkar, Ganguly, Yuvraj and Sehwag - clearly an option or two less than we had in 2003.
So, is this bowling attack better, or worse, than the one of 2003 vintage? You tell us.
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