"My heart wants to go with South Africa" - Dale Steyn picks his ICC ODI World Cup finalists
Former South African fast bowler recently picked India and England as his ICC ODI World Cup 2023 finalists. The showpiece tournament will be played in India, starting on October 5.
England will enter the World Cup as the defending champions. They won their first-ever ODI World Cup after beating New Zealand in a thrilling final on home soil four years back. India, on the other hand, last lifted the trophy when they co-hosted the event back in 2011.
Steyn stated that his heart wants South Africa to win the upcoming World Cup.
“It’s a tough one, you know my heart wants to go with South Africa making the final," Steyn told Star Sports. "I would love them to make the final, their team, a lot of their players play in the IPL, they play in India regularly. They got some guys like in David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen who really started to figure out those conditions and bat well there."
"Then, there is KG Rabada who has been bowling there for ages and a lot of their other senior players have played a lot of cricket there. So I feel like they have got the ability to go on and get to the finals with getting those players," he added.
But Steyn was quick to add that India and England are the two contenders to make it to the World Cup final. The summit clash is scheduled to be played in Ahmedabad on November 19.
"I feel like the favourites would probably be India, I feel like India is going to be one of the finalists and probably England," Dale Steyn added. "But my heart wants to say South Africa and India but I am kind of leaning towards India and England."
South Africa showed tremendous form in their last series before landing in India for the World Cup. They were 0-2 down against five-time world champions Australia but won the next three games to win the five-match rubber by a 3-2 margin.
The series win over the Aussies will be a massive confidence booster for South Africa ahead of the World Cup. The Proteas had an underwhelming outing in the last edition of the premier 50-0ver event, crashing out of the group stage after finishing seventh.
Temba Bavuma to miss South Africa's World Cup warm-up matches
Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma will miss the warm-up games before the World Cup due to family reasons. He landed in India along with the rest of the squad but will have to fly back home, citing family reasons. Aiden Markram will lead the team in the practice games.
South Africa are scheduled to play two warm-up games against Afghanistan and New Zealand on September 29 and October 2, respectively.
Bavuma, however, will join the squad in time to be available for their World Cup opener against Sri Lanka at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on October 7.