Either Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a closet cricket lover and we had no inkling about his passion, or he has someone looking after his Twitter account (@narendramodi), who is completely crazy about the sport.
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While the opening ceremony of the Cricket World Cup was going on, there was a series of 16 tweets from the Prime Minster’s office.
It started with a common message to the entire team, saying:
My best wishes to captain cool @msdhoni. Play hard, lead well & make India proud. Knowing you, I am sure you will.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 12, 2015
But that was followed by a personalized message for captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni:
My best wishes to captain cool @msdhoni. Play hard, lead well & make India proud. Knowing you, I am sure you will.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 12, 2015
This was soon followed by one for vice-captain Viraat Kohli, and then for each and every member of the team.
The Prime Minister missed one trick though – he forgot to send one to coach Duncan Fletcher.
Ever since Modi came in power, he has been trumpeting his new slogan of ‘Make In India’. Perhaps it is his way of giving a tacit message to BCCI to get Fletcher removed.
The pros & cons of pace
When you have such a deadly pace quartet like Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, you’d reckon the captain would be the happiest man on Planet Earth.
That’s certainly not the case with George Bailey – well…apart from when the foursome is spreading terror in the opposition camp.
When asked on the eve of the match against England how awesome it was for him to have a choice between those four, Bailey quipped: “It’s amazing come game time, it’s horrible at training.
“I for one can’t wait for the actual game to start so that I can direct it rather than cop it!”
But he did get serious after that and continued: “It’s pretty special and they are a pretty special group of bowlers, who can be a real difference in this tournament if they bowl as well as we know they can.
“A lot of people have talked about death bowling and bowling in powerplay, but we certainly feel that with our attack, we can do a lot of damage upfront and kill games early.”
Warner’s take
Most fans of the game this World Cup expect David Warner to be the difference for Australia and help them win a fourth trophy in five editions.
But the swashbuckling opener instead decided to endorse Bailey’s views.
Warner was asked what would be the key for Australia if they are to win the World Cup this year.
Warner replied: “I’ll give you two.
“I think Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc are going to be the keys for us.
“It’s easy to say there are a lot of batsmen to watch, but I think those two guys hold the key for our team.”