ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is returning to Australia and NewZeland after 1992 and more importantly final will be played at the MCG(Melbourne Cricket Ground), as a Pakistani it is was the greatest night when Imran Khan tigers won the World Cup for Pakistan on this very ground Pakistan beat England in front of 87,000 crowd, MCG is also the biggest and greatest Cricketing venue in the world.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will be staged between 14 February-29 March across 14 venues in Australia and NewZeland. Australia will stage 26 matches in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, and 23 matches in NewZealand will be held in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier, Nelson and Wellington.
14 teams are placed in two groups, each having seven. The top four teams from each group will qualify for the Quarter Finals.The four venues for the Quarter Finals are Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Wellington. The Semi Finals will be played at Sydney and Auckland.Australia and NewZealand will get the preference to play on their home grounds if they will qualify for the semi-finals.
More importantly Pakistan and India are placed in Group B, and the title holder India will start their world cup campaign against Pakistan on February 15th, Ashes Rivals England and Australia and 2nd host nation NewZeland are placed in Group A.
As a Pakistani I am very optimistic that Pakistan will replicate the 1992 triumph on the MCG once again, many heroes emerged in that world cup for Pakistan,Inzamam as a young flamboyant middle order batsmen, Wasim’s all round perfomance and the memorable two back to back beauties to dismiss Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis, Mushtaq’s leg spin and the senior batsmen role of Miandad and Imran.
Groups
Group A: England, Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Qualifier 2 and Qualifier 3
Group B: South Africa, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Qualifier 4