ICC World Cup 2019: Sunil Gavaskar Reveals his Favourites to Win the Trophy

The ICC World Cup 2019 is all set to kick off with host England taking on South Africa on May 30 (Thursday) at the Kennington Oval in London. As the tournament gears up to start later today, India legend Sunil Gavaskar has picked England to be the favourites to win the trophy.

Gavaskar picks his favourites

The England side have totally revamped themselves and are playing a different brand of cricket. Since their ouster from the 2015 World Cup, England led by the Eoin Morgan has played an aggressive brand of cricket. They have taken the opposition head on and have looked invincible in this format of the game. As a result, they are currently at the top of the ICC ODI Rankings. In the last four years, the English team have played 22 series and has lost only five out of them. Besides, in the previous two years, Morgan & Co have lost only 12 matches which shows their dominance in this format of the game.

Also read: Brian Lara Rates India As World Cup Favourites Ahead Of England

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar picked top-ranked ODI side England as the favourites to lift the World Cup. Gavaskar feels Eoin Morgan & Co have played outstanding cricket in the last few and will be a tough nut to crack at home conditions. Home conditions have recently been a significant factor at the World Cup as India and Australia, winners of the last two World Cups have played at home.

“England, not India, are the favourites for this World Cup,” Gavaskar told AFP. “They have been playing outstanding cricket over the last few years and in familiar home conditions will be hard to beat,” he added.

Also read: ICC World Cup 2019: Hashim Amla in Line to Break Virat Kohli’s ODI Record

Speaking about India’s chances, Sunil Gavaskar said that it will largely depend on how skipper Virat Kohli fare in England. Kohli will enter the tournament as the top-ranked ODI batsman and had a good IPL on the capacity of a batsman to bank on. In conclusion, Gavaskar said KL Rahul should fill the much-debated no four position during their tournament opener against South Africa on June 5.