World Cup 2019: Shakib Al Hasan says favourite tags to England and India doesn't guarantee them the trophy

The ICC World Cup 2019 will begin from May 30 and the anticipation is high amongst the followers of all the teams whether who will win the tournament. Hosts England and No.2 ranked ODI team India is currently touted as favourites to win the tournament, along with defending title holders Australia not far behind.

Both Eoin Morgan’s England and Virat Kohli’s India have ruled over the ODI scene since the last 2-3 years, with India reaching the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and England breaking the record of the highest team total in one-dayers two times in the very short period. However, Bangladesh’s premier all-rounder Shakib Al-Hasan begs to differ on who will win the ICC World Cup 2019.

Tags of favourites doesn’t ensure the trophy to England or India, says Shakib

“India and England are obviously favourites, but that doesn’t get you the crown. You need to do the hard yards to win a tournament like the World Cup. Australia has been doing well recently and the West Indies have peaked at the right time. To be honest, all the teams look like they are ready for a fight. Depends who on that day does well,” Shakib was quoted as saying by India Today.

Further, Shakib Al Hasan, who overtook Rashid Khan to become the No.1 ranked allrounder in ODI cricket in recent ICC Player’s Rankings, said that the tournament format enables every team to be favourites to win the title.

He also spoke about Bangladesh’s chances of winning the elusive ICC title and was quoted, “Personally, obviously I wish that Bangladesh win the trophy this time. But a lot of factors need to click together for that dream to be realized. While I didn’t play much in the IPL, I had been working hard on my game and was looking to prepare for the World Cup. Gave it my all in the practice sessions and tried to maximize the output in every training session.”

Shakib mentioned that the team was taking everything step by step and their primary goal was to make it to the knockout stages of the tournament and then take it from there and was confident of doing well. However, there was a concern for the all-rounder as he felt the weak link for the Bangladesh team was its bowling attack, which was fairly inexperienced.

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