ICC World Cup 2019: India Have a lot of Match-Winners in Their Ranks - Mithali Raj

The ICC World Cup 2019 is only a week away, and the participating teams have departed for England and Wales – the host of the tournament. The Indian National Cricket Team left for London earlier today around huge cheer. With the competition commencing from May 30, veteran India cricketer Mithali Raj has labelled India as one of the favourites saying that they have a lot of match-winners in their ranks.

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India are the favourites: Mithali

Meanwhile, the Men in Blues have played some good cricket in the last two years and enters the tournament as the second-ranked ODI team after England. In the past two years, the Virat Kohli-led side have defeated the likes of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand at their home. However, their recent snubbing against the Aussies raised questions about their team combination.

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But Virat Kohli assured that the loss will have no bearing on their team. While addressing the media before leaving, Kohli said that they will focus on the process and give their best shot in England. He also admitted that it will be an evenly-contested tournament as teams like Afghanistan have also made rapid progress in cricket.

Many have tipped Virat Kohli & Co as the favourite and ODI skipper Mithali Raj is the latest addition to the bandwagon. She also picked England to be the front-runners going by their recent performances, but Mithali feels India will win their third World Cup.

“India is absolutely going in as favourites because they have been doing very well in the one-dayers and in the other formats in the recent past. “But I cannot rule out the home team (England). Even they have done very well.  Having said that, I think as an Indian I will root for India,” Mithali said.

Match-winners will make the difference

Furthermore, Mithali Raj said that India have a lot of match winners and she can’t pick one player. One of the stalwarts in women’s game, Mithali said that the team who will be able to post good totals with their bowlers backing up will win the tournament.

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“The Indian team has a lot of match winners now. “But overall I think, the team which posts a big total and the bowlers who are able to do the job to constrain those runs, is the team which is going to win,” she concluded.

Indian National Cricket Team will play two practice games on May 25 and 28 before they start their World Cup campaign on June 5 against South Africa at Southampton.