Ireland a great example with limited resources - Dravid

While the winner of the World Cup is expected to come from among the top eight ranked nations; Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and the four Associate nations that have qualified - Ireland, Scotland, Afghanistan & UAE will be hoping to pull off some upsets. In this episode of CONTENDERS, former India captain Rahul Dravid and former South Africa captain Graeme Smith reflect on the chances of these countries to make an impact. Can any of them sneak into the quarter-finals ahead of one of the big guns? Does the presence of the so called "minnows" undermine an event such as the World Cup? And have the Full Member nations, Bangladesh & Zimbabwe, made adequate progress?

What they said about…

The presence of smaller teams in the World Cup
Smith: With no disrespect to the smaller nations, the ICC is trying to grow the game, expose them to top teams in events like this but it creates a very long tournament that has too many soft games. In a World Cup, you want there to be tension right throughout.
Dravid: The World Cup gets talked about and noticed, this motivates amateur cricketers to play for four years. Also the funding is also based around the fact that they take part in these global events.

Smaller teams being better or worse with T20 exposure
Smith: The longer the game goes, the better team generally will win. The shorter the format the more opportunity you give for the weaker teams to compete.
Dravid: A lot of them are amateur cricketers and can't take the time out to play a long game. So, T20 is the format where you introduce a lot of these teams to international cricket.

Bangladesh's progress over the years
Dravid: When you look at the support they have in Bangladesh, you'd have to say their achievements haven't been that good. The people in Bangladesh deserve a bit more from their cricketers.

Zimbabwe's rising above administrative turmoil
Smith: They have had a lot of challenges over finances, managing finances, a lot of players haven't been paid. They had a walkout where a lot of quality players just walked away from Zimbabwe cricket. They've had unique challenges.

Afghanistan's emergence
Smith: I really hope they do well and do themselves proud. They're going to have some challenging games, they play in Perth against top teams, that'll be a unique experience for them.
Dravid: It's nice to watch them play. They're competitive and they've got some good skills as well.

Ireland's chances of developing further
Smith: They're getting exposed to high standard of domestic level which in turn is improving their international game. Every ICC tournament, they've given us a shock.
Dravid: It's a great example of a team that's got limited resources. Like how we spoke about Zimbabwe not being well managed, Ireland gives you the impression that they're extremely well managed.

Scotland and UAE's World Cup return
Dravid: There are a lot of sacrifices people make [in Scotland] to play cricket. Their performances have been good as well. It's a nice story.
Smith: UAE would want to compete with Bangladesh and take over them and really put up strong performances against the top eight.