Kepler Wessels: Barring injuries, India will be hard to beat in 2019 World Cup
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Former South Africa captain Keppler Wessels believes that if India continue their terrific form and abstain from injuries, they will be a force to reckon with in the 2019 ICC World Cup. Wessels also heaped praise on the Indian bowling department singling out Bhuvneshwar Kumar as outstanding.
Despite losing the fourth ODI in Johannesburg on Saturday India
Wessels stated that the current Indian team has everything in them to go all the way in the 2019 ICC World Cup and admitted that they will be hard to beat if things go their way in the build-up to the tournament.
“I wouldn’t say favourites, but they (India) will be very competitive. Barring injuries to key players, it’s looking good for them. They will be difficult to beat,” Wessels said in an interview to TOI.
The South African also admitted that he was astonished by the quality performances by the Indian wrist spinners, which has caused the home team’s batting line-up to falter terribly in the first three ODI’s.
“I think that they’ve got a totally different team, a totally different arsenal. They have introduced the two wrist spinners which has totally confused the SA set-up. I think that India’s One-Day team at the moment is very good,” Wessels added.
He highlighted seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar as a stand-out performer in the pace department as he applauded his impressive displays ever since the first Test match last month.Â
“Before the Tests, I thought that the Indian batsmen would score runs and the bowlers would struggle to bowl SA out, but it turned out to be the other way around. Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) swings it nicely, Bumrah hits the pitch hard. He can also bowl some nice yorkers and quick bouncers. So, that has been a big plus as far as Indian cricket is concerned… the fact that they now have fast bowlers who can take wickets abroad,” he said.
