ICC World Cup 2019: Ajinkya Rahane picks his favourites for the tournament

India’s Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane is a believer that India will pick their third World Cup in England this year. A member of the 2015 World Cup played Down Under, the 30-year-old is the latest in the cricketing fraternity to reveal his favourite pick for the showpiece event kicking off in England and Wales on May 30. Rahane himself has not played the 50-overs version since the tour of South Africa last year and there is very little chance of him playing in his second WC.

While the right-hand batsman has predicted India, led by Virat Kohli, to be strong contenders for the world title, he also feels that teams like New Zealand and England will do good and surprisingly, also backed the Windies, describing them as ‘unpredictable’. India will be launching their campaign at the WC on June 5 when they will lock horns with the Proteas in Southampton. Each team will play nine matches in the round robin league before the top four point-getters advance to the semi-finals.

“I think personally we (India) have a very strong side. The cricket which we are playing recently is magnificent. The challenge in the World Cup will be to gather that momentum early and continue that. But I feel in ICC tournaments, it is important to give your best in each and every game,” Rahane, who has scored nearly 3,000 runs in 90 ODIs and will lead Rajasthan Royals in the upcoming Indian Premier League edition, was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

‘NZ do well in ICC tournaments’

“Apart from India, New Zealand is a very good ODI side and do well in ICC tournaments. West Indies is unpredictable but dangerous team and also England. Playing England in England is going to be challenging.”

A lot of experts have picked England and India, the two top-ranked teams in the ODIs at the moment, as the favourites in this World Cup. However, despite their decent run in the format of late, the two teams could not win their latest series. While England drew the Windies 2-2 in a five-match series, India lost to Australia 2-3.

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