Virat Kohli’s 2019 squad is similar to MS Dhoni’s squad that won T20 world title in 2007, feels Lalchand Rajput

Even though hosts England are looking extremely powerful ahead of the ICC World Cup kicking off on May 30, thanks to their recent show against Pakistan, but yet other teams are not ready to give up hope yet. One such team is India and the experts are predicting Virat Kohli’s men will be among the top challengers to England. India has won 56 out of 86 matches since the end of the 2015 World Cup which is identical with England’s win figures though the Three Lions have lost less number of matches than India.

Among the experts, coach of India’s World Twenty20-winning team of 2007 Lalchand Rajput feels there is a great similarity between the Kohli-led squad for the 2019 World Cup with that of MS Dhoni that had competed in the inaugural world T2o championship in South Africa and triumphed eventually. India had beaten arch-rivals Pakistan by five runs to win the trophy on that occasion.

2007 T20 World Cup team also had all-rounders

The 57-year-old Rajput, who is the coach of Zimbabwe team now, feels the 2007 team also had a lot of all-round ability and he is convinced that all-rounders make a lot of difference. “All-rounders make a lot of difference and I think we have got good ones now as well. We also have a very strong top three and that’s very important. Earlier, there was Virender Sehwag. Now we have got Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and then Hardik Pandya, the X-factor. MS Dhoni, as usual, is a great finisher so India has a very well-balanced team. This team should definitely win the World Cup,” Rajput was quoted as saying by Mid-day as saying.

“Apart from batting and the team’s all-round abilities, Rajput felt India have one of the best bowling attacks. “India is very well equipped.”

India will be banking on the likes of all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Vijay Shankar in the quest for their third World Cup. The team, however, continues to have a concern over the No.4 batting position as Vijay, who has been picked to man the position, has had a poor run in the recently concluded Indian Premier League.

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