Saturday, February 15, 2002 A week ago this was not to be Asia's World Cup. India and Sri Lanka humiliated Down Under. Pakistan embarrassed in South Africa. Asia's World Cup winners were batting like they had never known how to. South African pitches offered no respite. Instead, a World Cup of bounce, swing, and seam promised early exits and burning effigies on the streets of Kandy, Karachi, and Kolkata. Bangladesh, meanwhile, remained two World Cups away from challenging seriously. Now it's three. But the prospects of their neighbours are looking brighter than expected. Go on, have a flutter.

What has changed? Yes, three of Asia's teams have continued to bat like lemmings but there is hope. Our hosts are doing their utmost to be hospitable in pitch preparation. This might be down to South Africa's desire to deliver the perfect World Cup. It might be down to South Africa's belief that their batting is impregnable while their bowling lacks the variation to win. This thinking might change, of course, and Brian Lara has sown seeds of doubt, but it probably will not.

Pitches made for batting are also made for Asia's fair-weather tigers. India and Sri Lanka can post such big totals that feeble bowling adds to the thrill of the contest rather than surrendering it. Pakistan's batsmen, by contrast, can play foolish strokes and smile the smile of a team that is playing with fire - and getting away with it. Scores in the games without minnows have generally been well above average for the venue. Already, Sri Lanka's positivity has set them fair for the next stage, particularly with New Zealand reluctant to visit Kenya.

And that, inevitably, is the other reason why Asia's chancers sniff a surprise victory. One trait characterises all previous cup winners and that is a singleminded pursuit of the crown. To be distracted is to surrender. England and New Zealand, however noble and considered their objections to playing in Zimbabwe and Kenya, will struggle to qualify for the Super Sixes. Neither team is blessed with such extraordinary talent that its gaze can wander. Neither team made a quick enough decision to refocus.

To top it all, the collapse of Warne's World has opened up the cup. This is fortune unimagined. All of a sudden, and despite a subdued first week for Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam-ul-Haq, this tournament has come alive for Asia's major teams. You have been warned.

Kamran Abbasi, born in Lahore, brought up in Rotherham, is deputy editor of the British Medical Journal.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd