Australia will begin the defense of the ICC World Cup when they take on Zimbabwe at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday, February 21. This Group A encounter is a day and night game and is important for both the teams but for different reasons.
Australia, for the first time in eight years, go into a major competition without the tag of favorites. However, they are still ranked the no. 1 side in the World Cup and will be a very hard team to beat.
The thrashing of a depleted England side at home would have given them a lot of confidence but the two losses in the warm up games should have undermined that confidence a bit. However, the warm up games were against India and South Africa, two teams who are touted as the favorites and who have been in fantastic form over the past year.
That could precisely be the problem for Australia in this world cup. They could struggle against the big teams but should be able to get away against the so called lesser teams. They have more than enough quality to dispatch this Zimbabwe team, who are without Sean Ervine, who chose to play for his county Hampshire, instead of playing for his country.
The return of a fit and firing Brett Lee should be a relief for Australia. He has visibly lost a yard of pace but is still a difficult bowler to get away. Doug Bollinger has been one of the best bowlers in Indian conditions and will play key role. Ricky Ponting, too has come back fit and was good in both the warm up games.
Zimbabwe have had a mixed bag of results in the warm up games, winning a couple and losing three games. The squad is very young and inexperienced and should have a very tough tournament.
It is very tough to see this Zimbabwe side surprising the World Champions and Australia are most likely to win this game comfortably.