India will reach World Cup semis in England feels this Sri Lankan pacer

Indian cricket has been dominating in the last two-three years, says Vaas

Former Sri Lankan left-arm medium pacer Chaminda Vaas on Tuesday said that ODI powerhouse India were favourites to be one of the semi-finalists in the upcoming WC. Vaas feels that Virat Kohli's side is a well-balanced one with plenty of options for varying pitch conditions which should hold the men in blue in good stead ahead of the mega event.

The Indian team has 3 pacers, 3 allrounders, 2 specialist spinners, 2 wicketkeepers and 5 specialist batsmen. On Lanka's chances Vaas said, "For the last few months, Sri Lanka hasn't done so well. But if you analyse the combination of the team which we picked for the World Cup."

Praising Lasith Malinga's leadership qualities the legendary bowler said - "He has given 100 per cent for the team and we have seen, him playing in Mumbai (in IPL) on one day and playing in Sri Lanka (in a domestic event) the next day," he said.

The Sri Lanka selectors have handed over the captaincy duties to Dimuth Karunaratne while Dickwella and Chandimal missed out. Vaas was optimistic that the island nation would stand united behind the new captain and do well in the marquee event.

This the squad India would be taking to the World Cup:

Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami.

In all this conversation Vaas appeared pretty grim. After the attack by ISIS in Colombo which claimed 321 lives, the worst of its kind since the country's civil war a decade ago, he hoped for early normalcy after the devastating loss.

"This attack can happen anywhere in the world. We saw in New Zealand recently as well. These people don't have simply one place (and) they can attack anywhere in the world. I am pretty sure that things will go back to normal," Vaas remarked. Earlier, Dimuth Karunaratne had asked the Sri Lankan citizens to be patient, safe and peaceful.