Ponting And De Villiers Picked Their World Cup Semi-Finalists

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With world cup just two and a half months away, all the teams are looking all set for the biggest tournament. However, as of now, India and England are looking firm favorites to lift the cup at the iconic Lords stadium, Australia, the five-time world champion is picking at the right time and the inclusion of Steve Smith and David Warner will boost their chances.

Australia's former captain Ricky Ponting and South African great AB de Villiers have picked their four semi-finalists but fell that it is India that is more likely to lift the cup. Ricky Ponting who is all set for his new assignment as a coach of Delhi Capitals told TOI that "England, India, Australia and maybe New Zealand. Of course, you never know what Pakistan and West Indies are gonna do! when he was asked about his four world cup semi-finalists.



On the other hand, AB de Villiers feels that South Africa can win the world cup but he was honest in saying that they are not the favorite for the title. "I do believe South Africa have a chance, as we did at any other World Cup because we are a world-class team with plenty of match-winners. The Proteas are certainly in the running, but I won’t say they are the favorites to be honest with you.

"India and England are looking strong, Australia has won five World Cups in the past and Pakistan claimed the Champions Trophy in the UK two years ago. Those four teams are probably the favorites," De Villiers told Sport24.

De Villiers who will be seeing playing IPL starting from March 23 for RCB along with Virat Kohli. The duo has been one of the most successful pairs in the history of the Indian Premier League and hence, they know each other more than anyone else. Keeping the world cup in mind, de Villiers feels that Virat Kohli's purple patch will give India an edge which has propelled him to No.1 in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Rankings for batsmen, aren't going to stop any time soon.



"Virat’s performances over the last while have been incredible and I can’t see it stopping very soon," de Villiers said. "I have played with him for eight years now in the IPL and you can never take the class out of the guy. I see lots of similarities between myself and Virat. We are both fighters and don’t enjoy losing, we love batting together and taking the game away from teams."

While the other former players and legends of the game are still arguing for the best ODI batsman of all time between Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, both de Villiers and Ponting feel that Virat Kohli is the greatest batsman of all time in ODIs.

"If Virat has a good World Cup, India will win. His numbers show that he is the best. How old is he? Maybe 30, and he is going to play another 200 games. I don't think there will be many people who are going to argue against him being the best," Ponting told TOI.

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