ICC World Cup 2019: Wasim Akram Believes Indians Are firm Favourites To Lift The Trophy

With the ICC World Cup is just a few days away from the start, the analysts and former cricketers are letting their predictions out regarding the outcome of the event. The latest to join the bandwagon is Pakistan’s legendary cricketer Wasim Akram, who believes that the Indian National Cricket Team will start favourites.

Of late, the Indian team is performing exceptionally in all conditions. They have got the best batting lineup, which is equally being backed up by the bowling department. The area for improvement is pretty low, which would certainly put them on top of the chart.

New Zealand, Pakistan can be the Dark Horses:

Letting his opinion out in the column to Times of India, the former fast bowler quoted that the Indian team looks firm favourites to seal the victory in the grand event. Further, he believes that Kiwis and Pakistan will be the Dark Horses in the tournament.

“Among the teams that are involved in the cricket World Cup, Pakistan has always been an outfit that people loved to watch and follow. You can never write them off. India looks firm favourites for me. New Zealand are the dark horses, but Pakistan is right up there,” Wasim Akram wrote.

Faheem Ashraf can be a match-winner:

Meanwhile, he believes his own country Pakistan is also right up there. He relies his trust on a few youngsters, whom, he is believing that they will be match-winners for Pakistan. He also lauded Babar Azam and Shadab Khan for their consistency.

”The one Pakistan cricketer I want to see perform is Faheem Ashraf, because he’s been the all-rounder Pakistan are looking for. He just has to improve his bowling a bit, and be consistent with the bat. He can be a match-winner. Shadab Khan (leg-spinner) was the Man of the Match against South Africa on Wednesday night,” he wrote.

”I also want Rizwan to perform because that can put pressure on Sarfraz Ahmed. Babar Azam, who was the best batsman on the difficult South Africa tour, looks confident and is in good nick. However, to prevent over-confidence, he must forget about what he did in South Africa,” Akram opined

Well, it would be interesting to see how Pakistan would cope up with the pressure. They have been fabulous in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 but failed pretty poorly in the Asia Cup 2018.