“They have the attack to take the wickets which is the most important thing in limited overs cricket”

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Legendary India batsman Sunil Gavaskar believes that Australia are favourites to win the 2015 World Cup.

Gavaskar noted that Australia’s bowling attack has the capability to rip through any batting line-up, which makes them that much more formidable and lethal.

“They have the attack to take the wickets which is the most important thing in limited overs cricket” Gavaskar told NDTV.

Former India batsman VVS Laxman added that Australia also possess a star-studded batting line-up and have numerous all-rounders in their arsenal.

“I think there is a lot of depth in their batting and most importantly all of them are in great form, except for George Bailey who is not amongst the runs,” Laxman said. “They have got Shane Watson. Even someone like Mitchell Marsh, who has just come into the Australian squad, and the way he played in the (tri-series) final against England shows that they have depth. Brad Haddin is a dangerous one-day player [as well].”

However, ex-Australia captain Ian Chappell chose to focus on the fact that Bailey should not be leading the Baggy Greens in Michael Clarke’s absence.

“I don’t think there will be a problem because they had Clarke in the first Test match and then they have had Brad Haddin finishing off that Test, then you had Steven Smith and then in the one-day game you had George Bailey,” he said. “So they are already used to playing under different captains.

“Ideally I think they should have made Smith vice-captain to Clarke because if Clarke plays then Bailey certainly doesn’t play in my team.”