World Cup 2019: England will ‘whack’ Australia and meet India in final, says Kevin Pietersen

The winners of the 12th edition of the cricket World Cup will be known in a week’s time. However, the finalists will be chosen in the two semi-finals that will be played on Tuesday and Thursday. While two-time champions India take on New Zealand in the first semi-final at Old Trafford tomorrow, holders Australia will face hosts England in the second semi-final at Edgbaston on July 11. India and New Zealand had their match in the league stage washed out while Australia beat England by 64 runs in their game at Lord’s.

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen on Sunday came up with his prediction over the probable finalists. Taking to Twitter, he said England will “whack” Australia in Birmingham and meet India in the final at Lord’s, something that many cricket pundits had predicted even before the tournament started. England though had lost to their arch-rivals by 64 runs in the league game on June 25 and Pietersen had slammed captain Eoin Morgan after that loss. He had mocked Morgan saying he looked “scared”.

We’ll whack the Aussies!

Eng v India FINAL!

— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) July 6, 2019

India lost only match in World Cup 2019 to England

Pietersen, who recently turned 39, made predictions earlier in the World Cup too. When India were having an unbeaten run in the tournament, the former batsman said that the team that beat India will go on to lift the trophy. India lost only one match in this World Cup so far and it was against England at the Oval on June 30. England had slipped to the No.2 spot in the ICC ODI rankings after their twin losses to Sri Lanka and Australia but were back to No.1 after beating India. Virat Kohli’s men are currently ranked No.2.

India finished at the top of the table with 15 points after Australia, who were sitting at that position for long, lost their final league game to Australia by 10 runs. England finished third with 12 points, two less than Australia while the Black Caps finished fourth with 11 points. Pakistan also finished at 11 points but lost out to the Kiwis because of an inferior Net Run-Rate.