Chanderpaul bullish about West Indies’ World Cup chances

Only 20 men have scored more runs in World Cup history than Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and the West Indian batsman is sure to play a major part in his countries World Cup challenge.

It’s just five days until India and Bangladesh open the cricket World Cup proceedings in Mirpur and the West Indian batsman is ready to avenge some unfinished business in what will be his final World Cup.

The West Indies are 16/1 to win the World Cup and open their tournament with a tough match against South Africa in Delhi next Thursday, but Chanderpaul believes his side are capable of a challenge.

“We have some young players who I can see playing an important role in batting and bowling,” said Chanderpaul.

“If we can win the preliminaries and get to the quarters and from there take it step by step and hopefully win the final.”

The West Indies are 2/9 to qualify from Group A but it will have to battle it seems with Bangladesh, Ireland and the Netherlands for the fourth and final qualification spot according to the World Cup betting.

India (1/66 to qualify from Group A), South Africa (1/33) and England (1/25) are heavily favoured to fill the top three spots in Group A, and the West Indies can’t afford any slip-ups if they are to qualify.

The West Indies are the 1/1 favourites to exit at the quarter-final stage with a semi-final exit priced at 7/2 and they are 9/1 to be the losing finalists.

But after their recent ODI series loss to Sri Lanka in which the Sri Lankans finished with a dominant 2-0 win, the 5/2 for the West Indies to exit at the group stage offers plenty of value as the West Indies continue to struggle.

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