Later this year, India will host the ODI World Cup for the year 2023. The Indian squad, which last won the World Cup in 2011, when India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka shared hosting duties, would like to break the 12-year wait and win the trophy in front of home supporters and their local ground conditions.
In addition to beating 1996 World Cup champions Sri Lanka in a three-match series last week, India also won the first game in a three-match series against New Zealand that is currently taking place in India, indicating a successful start to their ODI World Cup preparations.
In recent years, India has dominated at home, especially in the ODI series, and R Ashwin, a member of the Dhoni-led team that won the World Cup in 2011, has emphasized this supremacy and labeled Rohit Sharma’s squad the strong favorite to win the championship. Picking India as his favorite is not rocket science in his opinion and he opined, “India is going to be a bit short-changed”.
The star Indian spinner claimed in a video on his YouTube channel that India has won bilateral series against every nation that has come here since the end of the ODI World Cup in 2019. However, he noted that India played all 18 of their ODIs at home in 14 different venues, unlike Australia and England.
R Ashwin said, “India’s ODI home record ever since the 2019 World Cup finished is extremely impressive. India has won against every team that’s traveled to India in this space, which are the West Indies, Australia, England, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. India’s home record is 14-4 in this space, which is a 78 to 80 percent win record in India. All 18 of these ODIs have happened in different venues every single time (14 venues). If you have to compare the same spree with Australia or England, the venues are pretty stock standard. They play all their Test matches at 4-5 venues, the ODIs at 2-3 venues, and so they know their venues are the back of their hand.”
He further added, “Since the 2011 World Cup, all teams have managed to win their home World Cup: India in 2011, Australia in 2015, and England in 2019. This is no rocket science, knowing your conditions is extremely important. However, India, in this regard is going to be a bit short-changed because of the number of venues we play these games in. Every single time you play in some of these venues the wickets are going to be different. India does not have a stock standard Test, ODI, or T20I season. You don’t know how the FTP is going to pan out but it gets hard from the team or player’s perspective.”
