After a lacklusture show in 2018, Australia started this year on a good note as they outclassed India 3-2 in their own backyard before hammering Pakistan 5-0 in the UAE. With such results, the yellow brigade is now being considered as favourites for the 2019 World Cup and all-rounder Marcus Stoinis feels the turnaround in form has happened just at the right time.

"I think everyone is really confident. To win eight games in a row away from home was very important for us," Stoinis told reporters on the sidelines of a Royal Challengers Bangalore training session.

"We needed it. We had lost a lot of games over the last year or so. It's good timing. Everyone started to believe in each other and we started to play well as a team," he explained.

Stoinis also said the transformation was not something which happened suddenly but it was a gradual process. "From outside, it might look like it happened all of a sudden, but it also shows that the game of cricket is only about minor details. Even in the time we were losing, we learnt a lot, started getting closer in a lot of games," he opined.

Stoinis also felt the return of Smith and Warner will help the team in the showpiece event. "It [their returns] is a massive boost. People have stepped up in the last few months and we have started winning games consistently. It all adds to the mixture and definitely adds to a World Cup winning combination," he said.

Australia will start their World Cup 2019 campaign against minnows Afghanistan on June 1 in Bristol before taking on West Indies on June 6 in Nottingham.

--IANS

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