World Cup 2019 | England and Pakistan are teams to watch out for, says Kuldeep Yadav

With the biggest cricket tournament of the world just two months away, pundits and experts are busy selecting their best eleven and predicting the strongest contenders for the coveted title. And one of the strongest and most common names amongst the predicted contenders is India.

Despite their discouraging series loss to Australia a week back at home, Virat and Co. are still widely believed to lift the title on June 4 in London. And one of India’s prime wicket-taking bowler, Yadav didn’t deny their high chances in the tournament either, although he went on to name two more sides that India would be aware of.

His first pick was the very obvious England team, who would be totally acquainted with the homely English conditions, while his second pick was surprisingly Pakistan.

“We definitely have the chance to bring the World Cup home. Apart from us, I think all the other teams are really strong. But I feel England has a strong batting lineup as compared to the other teams. They will be playing in home conditions. I think Pakistan will also perform well in the World Cup looking at the way they have been performing. So I think England and Pakistan will be the ones to watch out for,” Kuldeep told Sports Tak, reported HT.

Barring the traumatic Champions Trophy final in 2017, which saw a high-flying Indian side getting the boot by a struggling Pakistan side, World Cup’s new format would be suiting Pakistan extremely well. With every side to play as many as nine league matches before qualifying for the semi-final, Pakistan could afford few slip-ups something that has been their weakness since they started playing.

A huge concern for India would be the upcoming Indian Premier League though, which has been scheduled to run flat-out for nearly six weeks, leaving a meagre one week break before the World Cup would start.