"I believe India's ICC trophy drought is finally going to end this year" - Virat Kohli's childhood coach
Rajkumar Sharma believes India will break the ICC trophy jinx by winning the upcoming 50-over 2023 World Cup, scheduled to be played on home soil later this year.
During a discussion on India News Sports, Sharma mentioned that Indian players like to play ODI cricket. He opined that the Men in Blue will also have a home advantage, given that the showpiece event will take place in India.
The 57-year-old highlighted Rohit Sharma and Co.'s impressive form, backing them to go all the way and finish as champions as they did in 2011.
"India have been playing good cricket and everyone is expecting them to win the World Cup," he said. "It will be played in India, and the 50-over format suits our players. I believe India's ICC trophy drought is finally going to end this year. The team has been preparing well for the event and is in great form and morale is high on the road to the World Cup."
A comfortable 90 runs win for India to whitewash New Zealand in the three-match ODI series 🔥
#CricketTwitter #indvsnz https://t.co/xVUN2KoGN1
Notably, India have a stunning record at home in ODIs. The side completed back-to-back clean sweeps in their three-match series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand in January.
The side have emerged victorious in all of their last seven ODI bilateral series at home. It is worth mentioning that India are presently the number-one ranked team in the 50-over format.
"The preparations for such a big tournament start very early" - Rajkumar Sharma on India's team for ICC 2023 50-over World Cup
Speaking in the aforementioned video, Rajkumar Sharma emphasized the importance of starting preparations very early for a tournament like the World Cup.
He suggested that keeping the event in mind, the national selectors will have identified a set of players who they think will be their best bets for the crucial competition. Sharma reckoned that those players should be given a lot of opportunities prior to the 2023 Cricket World Cup.
"There can be no bigger achievement for a captain than this," he continued. "It's a very competitive game where you are up against a lot of competitive teams like Australia, England, and Pakistan, who are all playing good cricket. It is surely a big feat and Rohit Sharma deserves a lot of credit for it."
If you ever think of giving up in life, just remember India won the Champions Trophy 2013 Final from this situation. https://t.co/8gPpj0NQdQ
Meanwhile, the Indian men's team last won an ICC trophy back in 2013 when they beat England by five runs in the final to win the ICC Champions Trophy.