Top Contenders: India, Pakistan
Second Tier Teams – Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka seem to be taking a different route than other teams in the region. Rather than aiming for consistency, these two countries have been focusing on getting ahead when it matters most, especially at major tournaments. Their downfall is that they are not consistent and haven’t won any major tournaments. Bangladesh seems to have found success with their online cricket predictions and has pulled some upsets, but until they can string together a few more good performances without dropping dead, I’m not sure if they’ll be able to make it very far this year. Sri Lanka’s online cricket predictions have also been hit or miss, and the fact that they’ve shown up in only one game out of five against Pakistan shows me that they’re not interested.
The Dark Horses – Afghanistan, Hong Kong
Afghanistan has been one of the dark horses of international cricket. Their ICC ranking is 24 out of the 10 Full Members and 3 Associate Members, making them a tough team to beat. They had their moment in the limelight at the 1996 World Cup when they defeated Bangladesh by four wickets in a tense finish with three balls remaining, which was one of the group stage matches. They’ll be looking to get back into this position after gaining some much-needed experience from their outing at last year’s World Championship where they managed to secure an 11th-place finish. If Hong Kong (which is ranked 2nd in the Asia region) want to make it past Afghanistan they will need lots of luck, given how unpredictable Afghanistan can be!
