Ahead of India opening match in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, India batsman Yusuf Pathan has expressed his confidence in the team, saying that team’s performance in the last many years has been really good and players are in good form.
“I wish ‘Eid Mubarak’ to everyone. Indian team’s preparation has been very good and they have been playing very good cricket in the last many years and also all the players were in good form during the IPL. It is a big tournament. Inshallah, they will do good,” Pathan told ANI on Wednesday.
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India’s first match in the premier tournament will be played against South Africa, who are playing their third match of the tournament. However, South Africa are on a dismal run as they have lost both the matches. During the opening match of the World Cup, South Africa faced a massive 104-run defeat at the hands of England, followed by a 21-run defeat against Bangladesh.
Therefore, South Africa will be aiming to make a strong comeback in the tournament, but nothing is going well for the Proteas. Hashim Amla and Lungi Ngidi missed their previous clash against Bangladesh as the former faced a blow to head during their match against England while the latter suffered a hamstring injury. Moreover, Dale Steyn has also been ruled out of the World Cup owing to shoulder injury.
India, who are one of the favourites in the tournament, have a strong squad under the leadership of Virat Kohli and the team also feature 2011 World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni. It will, therefore, be interesting to see whether South Africa manage to revive themselves or India justify their favourite tag.
India will compete with South Africa at the Rose Bowl cricket ground on June 5.
(With ANI inputs)