"England because of the kind of talent that they have" - Sunil Gavaskar picks his favorites for World Cup 2023
Indian legend and former captain Sunil Gavaskar picked defending champions England as the favorites for the upcoming World Cup in India starting October 5.
The Jos Buttler-led side come into the tournament in blistering form, dispatching New Zealand 3-1 in the home ODI series and following it up with a 1-0 win against Ireland.
After a dismal campaign in 2015, where they were eliminated from qualification to the quarter-final by Bangladesh, England completely transformed their style of play under new captain Eoin Morgan. They packed the side with a deluge of all-rounders to increase batting depth, resulting in the batters going on an all-out attack from ball one.
Speaking to Star Sports on 'Mission World Cup' Gavaskar was asked to pick his favorite for the 2023 World Cup, and he was quoted as saying:
"The defending champions, England because of the kind of talent that they have at, at the top of the order, the batting order, they've got two or three world-class all -rounders who can change the game with both bat and ball. They've also got a very good bowling line-up, experienced bowling line-up, so at the moment in my book certainly.”
While Morgan retired from international cricket, talismanic all-rounder, and the Player of the Match in the 2019 final Ben Stokes reversed his decision to step away from ODIs to play in the upcoming edition.
England will play two warm-up games against hosts India in Guwahati on September 30 and against Bangladesh at the same venue on October 2. Their World Cup defense begins with a rematch of the 2019 final against New Zealand in Ahmedabad on October 5.
"Excited to see how India performs" - Irfan Pathan
Former pacer Irfan Pathan went with India as the favorites for the showpiece event based on their sensational recent form in the Asia Cup and against Australia.
The 2007 T20 World Cup winner also felt that India's bench strength was the strongest among the participating teams, pointing to how the side played several matches without ace pacer Mohammed Shami.
The Men in Blue won four of the five games in the Asia Cup, including a 228-run demolition of arch-rivals Pakistan and a ten-wicket win against Sri Lanka in the grand finale. India continued their sparkling form in the three-match ODI series against Australia, winning 2-1 despite resting many star players.
"I'm very excited to see how India performs and I really think they are one of the favorites, for sure because especially last couple of series, like Asia Cup, and the way India played against Australia as well in the home conditions. I think they are ticking all the boxes," said Pathan on Star Sports.
"They have players who are performing really well but you have a guy like Mohammed Shami, who's not in the part of playing 11 consistently, who's a world-class bowler itself, so it shows the kind of team India has and at the same time the bench strength India has," added Pathan.
Team India lost to New Zealand and Australia in the previous two editions of the World Cup in 2015 and 2019. The side boasts two ODI World Cup titles in 1983 and 2011, with the latter coming at home under the leadership of MS Dhoni.
Rohit Sharma's men will begin their World Cup 2023 campaign against five-time World Champions Australia in Chennai on October 8.