3 reasons why India are not favorites to win the 2019 World Cup

The Indian team lost the ODI series in England 2-1 after a comprehensive victory in the first ODI at Trent Bridge. It was a wake-up call for team India as the ODI series pointed out the areas of improvement.

The Men in Blue are labeled as automatic favorites for the 2019 World Cup because of the strength of their squad and their record over the past few months. It is true that India's full-strength ODI team is a very strong unit on paper but the problem begins when all of them are not playing together.

There are few missing pieces in the puzzle which hamper India's chances of winning the 2019 World Cup. The challenge lies in fixing these problems as quickly as possible in order to have a pool of 15-20 players who are fit, fine and rearing to give their best shot at the big ICC event next year.

Let us take a look at 3 reasons why India are not the favorites to win the 2019 World Cup.

#3 Poor back-up in fast-bowling department

Umesh Yadav, the senior-most among backup bowlers has to up his skill set in death overs

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah are two most the most bankable bowlers in ODI cricket. Apart from them, there is not a single bowling who can fill in the shoes of the strike bowler in the Indian ODI team.

Siddharth Kaul was taken apart in England and looked lackluster while Umesh has shown time and again that he cannot be relied upon in the death overs. Mohammed Shami hasn't played ODI cricket for a while and Shardul Thakur is relatively inexperienced in ODI cricket.

The back-up in the fast bowling department is a matter of concern and India have to sort it out as quickly as they can. Giving a long rope to bowlers like Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar might work. India do not have a lot of bowling options in the top order too, which adds insult to the injury.

#2 Top-heavy batting line-up and fragile middle-order

Shikhar, Rohit, and Virat do the bulk of scoring when India wins.

When India won the 2011 World Cup, they had a strong middle-order comprising of Gambhir, Kohli, Yuvraj, and Dhoni. However, in recent times, India's middle order is one of the weakest among top cricketing nations.

No Indian batsman has looked like fitting in the No.4 slot. India has tried Rahane, Yuvraj, Pandey, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya in last 18 months but none of them have shown promise. After Suresh Raina's shoddy performances in England, India might have to worry about No.5 slot as well.

The problems are in plenty but India still has 15-20 ODIS before the World Cup which is enough to groom a batsman. However, it is difficult to see that a problem which has not been fixed for 3 years will be sorted out in 10 months. Banking on the top 3 to deliver the goods always is not the hallmark of a team who are termed as World Cup favorites.

#1 Tendency to falter

Indian team was outplayed by Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final of 2017.

After the Champions Trophy victory in 2013, India has let go ICC WT20 2014 and 2016, the 50-over World Cup in 2015 and the Champions Trophy in 2017, all after reaching the semi-finals in style.

There has been a similar pattern followed by the Indian team in the recent ICC tournaments. They crush their opponents throughout the group stage but cometh the knockouts and India look a totally different team on the park.

Somewhere down the line, this choking factor will come to the minds of Indian cricketers and it will be a big challenge for them to not let that affect their performances and treat every knockout as just another game.

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