David Warner believes India will not be able to defend their title in this edition.
David Warner has made a bold World Cup prediction, stating that 2011 World Cup winners, India, will not be able to defend their crown in this edition. Warner, who scored 427 runs at an average of 53.37 in the recent Test series against India, will be playing his first World Cup and he predicts that Australia could meet either South Africa or England in the final.
Warner believes that the pitches rolled out during the Test series will be different during the tournament and added the extra pace and bounce on the wickets will benefit Australia immensely. "I definitely think it's the venues (that provide an advantage) because you look at the Gabba, the MCG and probably Sydney as well, the grounds' square (boundaries) are big. So we can use our bounce and pace. When you're playing in a country like India, the boundaries are quite small, and as a batter I'm loving it there because you can go through with your shots and your top edges will go to the boundary," Warner said.
"The conditions, the carry, the bounce, the wickets are going to be very good, our curators in Australia are the best in the world and I think they will produce very good wickets for us," he said.Warner went on to say that a tussle between Australia and South Africa will be wonderful as both teams are evenly matched.
Josh Hazlewood, who has also been picked in the 15-man squad along with Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson and Pat Cummins, has echoed Warner's sentiments and said teams like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will struggle in the contest.
"I think the sub-continent teams will struggle with the bounce, their conditions are a lot flatter and spin friendly and their games are quite high scoring over there. So I think bounce is the key. It's the thing I look for against those sub-continent teams. We saw in series against South Africa that the WACA was quite quick and bouncy and the other wickets (in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra) were flat decks but still had decent carry. So if they're those sorts of wickets I think we have a good advantage," Hazlewood remarked.
Australia and New Zealand will be hosting the World Cup after a gap of 23 years. The hosts start their campaign on February 14 against England at the MCG.
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