No doubt it would be a wonderful tournament to watch. Every team would put in their full efforts and hope for the best results. And then, the winner would be crowned champions. Albeit, the Australians are the World Cup lifters but the winner of the Champions Trophy would definitely enjoy the word "champion" till the next world cup (in case if the Aussies fail to win this trophy).
Grouped with India and Kenya, Pakistan would have to perform at their level best in order to advance to the next stage of the tournament i.e. the semi-finals. One may anticipate a thriller between Pakistan and India, as it would be a Now or Never situation for both the Asian sides, unless Kenya creates an upset. One should bear in mind that the Kenyans were the World Cup 2003 semi-finalists and had defeated the Sri Lankans, who also made their way to the semi-finals earlier.
Pakistan and India both play Kenya before they meet at Birmingham. Thus, both sides would first aim to defeat Kenya and make their tactics appropriate.
It would be another though battle when England, Sri Lanka and a weak Zimbabwe outfit take over each other in their group. During the recent past both England and Sri Lanka have improved a lot but England has shown better results in tests as compared to One-Day Internationals, whereas due to some internal affairs Zimbabwe is weaker compare to other two group mates.
Undoubtedly, it would be Zoysa, Vaas and Murali who would be expected to handle the bowling department effectively whereas for England a lot would depend on Harmison, Flintoff and Giles. Both Sri Lanka and England have strong batting line-ups but Sri Lankans are more experienced as compared to the Englishmen in this area. So, one may say that on paper the Sri Lankans are stronger than the English, as practically "cricket is by chance".
Going once again in the same group the West Indies and South Africa have to face Bangladesh besides facing each other. With the present performance of the West Indies in One-Day Internationals, the recent NatWest series, the West Indian fans still have their hopes high. But the experienced South Africans would be the team which cricket pundits would hope to see to make it to the final four.
As for as the Black Caps are concerned, their morale and spirits would be high after comfortably winning the NatWest series, and they would hope to see lady luck once back them when they face the world champions. This group contains the entry of the United States of America. They may be super power of the world but they face the cricket's super power i.e. Australia in their league stage.
It would be a tough task to name the winner of this group. But the advance of the Aussies would make it the ideal tournament with the best four teams of each group whereas if kiwis progress, the tournament may enter a thrilling stage as all four opponents would be nearly equal in strength, in the semi-finals.