Kid's question makes World Cup captains squirm

Lined up on the stage like targets, the 10 captains of the ICC World Cup teams laughed uncomfortably at the question posed to them by a kid with a microphone here on Thursday.

"If you could add one player to your squad from another team, which player would you choose?" Eoin Morgan and Virat Kohli, captains of England and India and sitting together, treated the question like a bouncer to duck at, only to receive light dissent and raised eyebrows from media at the gathering with the trophy in a trendy London basement.

Morgan finally plucked out Ricky Ponting, who hasn't played for Australia for seven years. Seeing the reaction to Morgan, Kohli chose his South Africa counterpart Faf du Plessis because A.B. de Villiers had retired.

Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed went for England's Jos Buttler, who hit a rapid unbeaten ODI century against his side two weeks ago. West Indies' Jason Holder, the youngest on the stage at 27, spoiled the fun and avoided answering. So did Afghanistan's Gulbadin Naib.

Bangladesh's Mashrafe Mortaza went with "that guy," looking at Kohli, the world's top-ranked batsman.

Sri Lanka's Dimuth Karunaratne chose England allrounder Ben Stokes, and New Zealand's Kane Williamson named Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan, who "would be welcome in my team anytime."

Australia's Aaron Finch chose South Africa spearhead Kagiso Rabada, while Du Plessis had time to think and picked more than one: India paceman Jasprit Bumrah, Rashid as well, and Australia paceman Pat Cummins. They revealed Du Plessis' belief that bowling will win the World Cup, which his team opens against host England next Thursday in London.

"The teams towards the end of the tournament will have done really well with the ball, and have the ability to take wickets even on flat pitches," Du Plessis said.

Kohli agreed. He didn't think the tournament will be the run-fest that is predicted. England are ranked No. 1 thanks to an aggressive attack which has broken the scoring record twice in the last three years.

"England seem to be obsessed with getting to 500 before anyone else," Kohli said. "It could be high-scoring, but I think 260, 270 will be as difficult to get in the World Cup as 360, 370. I see 250 being defended, too. I don't see many high-scoring games happening in the latter half of the tournament.