By Omar Khalid, IANS,
Colombo: Former Sri Lanka captain Aravinda de Silva believes that if Pakistan play consistently then the 1992 champions can go on to win World Cup-2011.
Legendary Test batsman de Silva said Thursday that Pakistan has the firepower to go all the way in the 14-nation tournament.
“I think Pakistan are capable of winning the World Cup,” said de Silva, who was one of the architects of Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup triumph. “Their team has some good players but what Pakistan needs is to have more consistency in their game. I think if they can do that then they will have a very good chance of winning the title,” he added.
De Silva, who scored 6,361 runs from 93 Tests and also amassed 9,284 runs from 308 One-day Internationals during an illustrious international career, stressed that there are no favourites in the World Cup.
“The results that we have seen so far in this tournament have made it clear that there are no favourites to win the World Cup.
“Any team that peaks at the right time and gives its best when it matters is going to win the title,” said de Silva, who was Man of the Match of the 1996 World Cup final.
De Silva believes that a number of exciting matches in this tournament have proved that there is no danger to the one-day format.
“We have seen some really exciting matches in this World Cup and it’s apparent that cricket fans are really enjoying this competition. It also shows that the one-day format is still very popular,” he said.