KARACHI: Senior Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez believes India andEngland along with his own nation are the top three favourite teams to winthe upcoming ICC ODI World Cup.
Brushing aside the recent run of defeats to New Zealand, South Africa andAustralia in ODIs, Hafeez, who is hoping to play in his third World Cup, isalso confident that Pakistan can beat India in the World Cup in the UnitedKingdom and do a repeat off its Champions Trophy final triumph.
“Even from a critical point of view I think we are among the top threefavourites for the World Cup. England are always favourites given the brandof cricket they are playing while India have developed a very good ODI sideand have some great spinners in their line-up,” Hafeez said on Friday.Hafeez also insisted that the single format being used in the World Cupwould go in favour of Pakistan since they always had this tendency to pickup their performances late into any tournament.
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“In the group system teams usually don’t get second chances and remember in2007 both India and Pakistan were eliminated in the first round,” he said.Hafeez said he was confident about Pakistan’s chances in the World Cupsince they have a good combination of players and have ample resources inpace and spin.
