The ongoing Cricket World Cup in India has not been short of surprises – strong performances from underdogs like Afghanistan and Netherlands along with bumpy starts to the tournament for 5-time winners Australia and defending champions England have brought a sense of unpredictability to the mega event.
Amongst all these hosts India has broken free from the pack along with New Zealand, winning all their first 3 matches. Amidst all the excitement, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has given his prediction for the World Cup.
Ricky Ponting disregards the title claims of 5-time Champions Australia and defending champions England while favoring hosts and current Number 1 team in the ODI rankings – India to lift the trophy for the third time. India has so far won all three of their opening matches in a convincing manner which even included owling out Australia and Pakistan under 200. They opened their campaign with a 6-wicket win over Australia and followed it up with a 7-wicket win over Afghanistan and another 7-wicket hammering of Pakistan.
India are going to be extremely hard to beat- Ricky Ponting
The Australian legend was speaking in a video released by the ICC on their Instagram handle and was impressed by the manner in which India began their World Cup campaign. Ponting believes that the trophy is all for India’s taking as they have a complete team across all departments and that it would be hard to beat India.
“I said from the start that I think India are going to be the team to beat. They have got a very talented team. They have got all the bases covered with their fast bowling, their spin, and their top order, middle order batting. They are going to be extremely hard to beat. But we will see how they hold up under extreme pressure as well,” said Ricky Ponting.
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