Cricket World Cup Qualifiers: Who are favourites to qualify?

The group stage of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers is about to end. Group A will play its last set of matches today. Zimbabwe has 6 points in 3 games, Netherlands with 4 points in 3 games and West Indies with 4 points in 3 games, have qualified for the Super Six from Group A. Sri Lanka and Scotland both have 6 points in 3 games and will face each other tomorrow. Along with Sri Lanka and Scotland, Oman with 4 points in 4 games, has also qualified for the Super Six from Group B. In this article, we will look at the favourites to qualify for ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India later this year.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka at the moment looks like the clear favourite to qualify for the World Cup in India. Their bowling thanks to Wanindu Hasaranga has looked the best among all the teams in the qualifiers. Hasaranga has picked up 16 wickets in three matches and has equalled the record for most consecutive 5 wicket hauls in ODI cricket. Against Scotland tomorrow, there is a chance that Hasaranga can break Waqar Younis’ record from 1990. 

Their batting performances have also been really great. In their first game against UAE, they scored 355 runs in the first innings while in the next game, they chased down Oman’s target of 98 runs in just 15 overs. They scored 325 against Ireland yesterday as they eliminated them by beating them with a whopping margin of 133 runs.

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe with a win over West Indies leapfrogged the 1975 and 1979 World Cup winners for the race for a spot in the Cricket World Cup later in the year. Going into Super Six Zimbabwe could potentially go with 8 points with a win over the United States today. In the Super Six, they will face Sri Lanka, Scotland and Oman. Wins against Scotland and Oman will put them in front of West Indies for the finals. Their Captain Craig Ervine currently has the most runs in the Qualifiers. Ervine has scored 218 runs and is just ahead of Dimuth Karunaratne from Sri Lanka teammate Sean Williams and Shai Hope from West Indies by 2 runs. 

Their biggest performer arguably has been Sikandar Raza, in the game against the Netherlands, he took a 4 wicket haul before hitting a century in the second innings. Even in their historic win against the West Indies, Raza scored 68 runs off 58 balls in the first innings and picked up 2 wickets in the second innings including the crucial wicket of Shai Hope. They have a chance at qualifying and if the West Indies fails to win all of their remaining games then they could get qualified over the two-time winners.

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