"England, Australia, New Zealand have learned to play spin a lot better"- Kumar Sangakkara on favorites to lift World Cup

Former Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara believes England, New Zealand and Australia are strong contenders to win the 2023 World Cup in India. He feels this is the case because of their improvement in playing spin over the past decade.

The 2011 World Cup, held in the subcontinent, had all of India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the semifinals. The Men in Blue eventually lifted the title after defeating the Lankans in the summit clash.

However, Sangakkara feels that the tables might have turned in the favor of other teams as they are no longer fazed by spin. He believes the participation of players from those teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is a reason for the same.

Speaking on the Star Sports show, 'Road to World Cup Glory,' here's what Kumar Sangakkara had to say about the teams that are favorites to win the World Cup:

"I think cricket's changed quite a lot since 2011, in those days I would say that in Asian conditions, it favors the subcontinental players. But over the years I think that England, Australia, New Zealand have learned to play spin a lot better than even the subcontinental sides.

"You see a lot of reverse sweeps, paddle shots and sweeps, all of these new strokes using their feet. I think that has revolutionized the way we look at cricket in the subcontinent. IPL has helped a lot in terms of exposure as well."

🇱🇰 legend @KumarSangakkara believes #TeamIndia ⭐ Hardik Pandya ticks multiple boxes with his all-round prowess.

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Kumar Sangakkara's advice to India for World Cup preparation

Kumar Sangakkara believes India have to play their strongest possible team in most of their ODIs this year leading up to the World Cup.

The Men in Blue have experiemented quite a bit in white-ball cricket over the past couple of years and have paid the price for it. They have suffered premature exits in their last two T20 World Cups despite dominating bilateral series.

Sangakkara feels it is important for a particular group of players to play together for a good amount of games ahead of a big tournament. He stated:

"ODI World Cup year, your players have to be the main focus and play a lot of ODI cricket. The rest should be rotated around the squad."

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India’s squad for Sri Lanka T20Is: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Ishan Kishan (WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (VC), Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar.