The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is around the corner and everyone, from cricket fans to experts, is looking upon it. The mega event will kick-off on May 30 when host England will take over South Africa. India’s campaign will start on June 5 against their African rivals. Team India has previously won two World Cup titles in 1983 and 2011 and they are already being termed as a pre-tournament favorite to win the cup.

And there are several reasons to call India favorite as they are on a roll in the One-Day International cricket at the moment. They have won five of their last six ODI series; four of those came away from home, while only defeat came in England.

Also Read: India to play New Zealand and Bangladesh in WC warm-up matches

Meanwhile, former Indian fast-bowler Zaheer Khan backed India’s ruthless game in ODIs. He himself has played three World Cups, where he featured in two finals. Talking on Cricbuzz Live, Zaheer picked his Indian team for the marquee event and was aiming to fuel up India’s fast bowling arsenal.

“The main factor which will up for the debate is basically you want to go with four fast bowlers and Hardik Pandya or you want to take that chance and say okay, Hardik Pandya is our fourth seamer,” Zaheer said, adding the latter option would give India the space to accommodate an extra batsman. According to him, two players out of Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik and KL Rahul would get a nod if Pandya is picked as the fourth bowler.

Also Read: David Richardson calls India a team to beat in World Cup

“I still feel the four fast bowler option is still important. Considering the fact that World Cup is going to be a long tournament. So you don’t want a bowler to come from outside and right away try to fit in the squad. So when you are picking your squad, you would want to cover all your bases,” Zaheer further added.

Zaheer Khan’s Indian squad for the World Cup;

Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (captain), MS Dhoni (wk), Ambati Rayudu/Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul/a fast bowler.