World Cup 2015: Spinners will play an important role, says Sachin Tendulkar

Former India captain Sachin Tendulkar has picked Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and India as his favorites to reach the semi-final of the World Cup 2015. Sachin, during his book launch event, said that India have the talent to defend their World Cup title. Sachin said, “I feel India can surprise a lot of people and I also believe the spinners will come into play.”

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Sachin said that while people are only talking and focusing on the fast bowlers, spinners will play a huge role in Australia as the grounds in Australia are very big, and this might play to the advantage of spinners.

“People talk about the pitches for fast bowlers but because of the size of the grounds, I think spinners could be important,” Sachin said.

Sachin played in five consecutive World Cups from 1996 to 2011. Interestingly, Sachin picked New Zealand as one of the favorites to reach the semi-finals, while ignoring the last year’s runners-up Sri Lanka.

When asked about England’s chances in the World Cup, Sachin replied by saying, “I don’t think so, sorry.”

Later, he showed some optimism for England and said, “Anything is possible in this sport but going on current form I don’t think England will be that competitive.”

Sachin Tendulkar also spoke about the use of the Decision Review System (DRS). Interestingly, Sachin diverged from the official stance of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and said that the use of the DRS technology should be standardized.

“We can’t have bits and pieces in different parts of the world,” he said. “One part is using Snickometer, one part is using Hot Spot. It’s got to be standardised. Why don’t you put a package that’s standardised across the world? I feel it’s unfair on the lesser teams that have not had the full package.”

Sachin, who is known maintaining a diplomatic stance, spoke extensively about the usage of the DRS and made some very good points regarding the standardized usage of the technology.