Dravid backs Team India to win the World Cup

Former India captain Rahul Dravid scored 461 runs, with two centuries, in World Cup 1999 in England; he feels the upcoming edition of the tournament will be a high-scoring one.

Published : Apr 24, 2019 19:17 IST , Chennai

Former India captain Rahul Dravid feels the upcoming World Cup will be a high-scoring one as the wickets in England have changed over the years.
Former India captain Rahul Dravid feels the upcoming World Cup will be a high-scoring one as the wickets in England have changed over the years.
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Former India captain Rahul Dravid feels the upcoming World Cup will be a high-scoring one as the wickets in England have changed over the years.

Former India captain Rahul Dravid feels India’s recent 2-3 loss to Australia at home in the ODI series will have no effect on their ICC Cricket World Cup campaign starting May 30 in the UK.

“In the last 30 months, India has been playing really well, and the loss, much to the credit [of] the way Australia played, came at the back end of a very busy series,” he told Times of India .

"We have the right combination for the World Cup. If India wins the World Cup, we will not be worrying about who won 2-3 or 3-2. There will be an odd series that India will lose. But the [ICC] rankings prove that India is there and should win the World Cup to become No.1."

READ| Watson: Australia will be lucky to have Warner in World Cup

Talking about the World Cup squad, Dravid said, “[They have] a lot of combinations, lot of options. It is a question of them performing in the tournament. You can always argue one or two cases, one or two names. The team has been picked, [now] back it and hope they do really well.”

Dravid scored 461 runs, with two centuries, the last time England hosted a World Cup [in 1999].

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Sourav Ganguly (183) and Rahul Dravid (145) stitched a 318-run partnership for the second wicket against Sri Lanka in World Cup 1999.
 

“I expect the games to be totally different than in 1999, when England last hosted the World Cup, which was a slightly low-scoring affair,” he recalled.

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"This World Cup will probably be a much high scoring one, and India is well equipped for that. English conditions have actually changed, especially for ODIs. We were there last year for [an] 'A' series, and the scores were really high — 300 was par score, and was being chased consistently.

"ODIs have changed in England and [you] can't go with the typical mindset that it will be the old English conditions [of swing and seam]. Wickets have become flatter, encouraging higher scores.”

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