Glenn McGrath picks home teams for final

“I would have liked to see him in the squad. Varun bowls good pace and swings the ball. I don’t think he did a great deal wrong in the Test series. He picked just five wickets and for that I have to blame the team’s bowling plans. For David Warner, he was bowling around the wicket early in his innings. It wasn’t working. At least when Warner moved to the 30s, he should have been asked to come back over the wicket. So I think the game plan was wrong and a couple of dropped catches added to Varun’s agony. I thought he bowled quite well,” said McGrath who is in the city to train bowlers at MRF Pace Foundation.

McGrath was not surprised by India’s turnaround after a torrid build-up to the World Cup. “India always had the potential. But they hadn’t bowled the way they should have. The wickets during the Test series were the flattest I have ever seen in world cricket. I thought wickets were produced to suit the Indian batsmen. Those wickets were harsh on fast bowlers. After a tough tri-series, the opening game against Pakistan gave India the much-needed confidence,” said McGrath, who won the man of the series award on his farewell World Cup in 2007.

Apart from praising Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma for their probing lengths, McGrath said it was India’s outstanding fielding that did the trick against South Africa. “The Indians fielded a lot better than they used to. And the way Indian batsmen scored runs against Dale Steyn came as a big surprise,” he said.

Though M.S. Dhoni & Co. have impressed the three-time World Cup winner, McGrath puts his money on the two host countries to feature in the final with Australia being the favourites to cross the line.

“I think South Africa and India are going to make the last four. The Proteas are vulnerable and it has already been exposed. The Kiwis are a good all-round team and Aussies would find it tough to beat their neighbours. Australia play better on big occasions. The 2003 edition was a good example. The day before the final, when we were training at the nets, there was a lot of energy and noise. And, I was watching the Indian team’s session. It was very quiet and sedate. It was clear that India were under tremendous pressure,” said McGrath.

The Aussie legend took pride from his past predictions about the World Cup that have never gone wrong. “At the start of the 2003 edition, I had predicted Australia would win every single game and the media laughed at me. And in 2007, I said Australia would not only win every game, but do so with a big margin. They laughed at me again, but both my predictions came true,” he smiled.