Who Might Win the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2023?
The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup finished in dramatic fashion, with England defeating New Zealand on boundary count after a super over failed to separate the teams. Will the English team retain their trophy or will the hosts India or someone else claim the title this time?
India is the Host Nation and Favorite
The Indian team’s loss to New Zealand in the 2019 semifinal was followed by another semifinal loss in the 2022 T20 World Cup, this time to England. Their hopes are boosted in 2023 by the fact that this year’s World Cup will be taking place in India, although the exact venues aren’t yet known.
This will be the 13th version of this World Cup and the first to be held entirely in India. At the time of writing, the exact date is still to be confirmed, with the start expected in early October and the final in late November.
Each team will play every one of the other nine teams once while at the group stage before moving on to the knockout stage. India automatically qualified as hosts this year and will be hoping for their third World Cup triumph to add to 1983 and 2011’s win, with the most recent victory coming when the tournament was held partly in this country.
This look at the possible 20-player shortlist suggests that veteran batsman Rohit Sharma will be one of the openers, but there’s some doubt whether Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, or Shikhar Dhawan will line up beside him. More concerning is the list of injuries to the country’s key fast bowlers.
England is the Defending Champion
The defending champions are currently the second-favorites behind the home nation, but the latest cricket odds could change as the teams report injuries or we see how their form fluctuates. Apart from betting on outright winners, you can also look for wagers such as who hits the most sixes, which team has the best opening partnership, and so on.
England was favorite for the 2019 event as the number one ranking team in the world but struggled in the group stages before finally hitting their stride and reaching the final for the first time since 1992. Their victory in that game gave the country their first World Cup, albeit in controversial circumstances.
They’ve slipped to fourth in the ICC one-day international rankings at the time of writing, behind Australia, New Zealand, and India. The good news for their fans is that they’ve already qualified for this World Cup.
The England coach, Matthew Mott, has already stated that he’s close to knowing his best team although we still don’t know the exact details of who they will be playing and in which venues. We won’t know the last two of the ten teams to take part until the last qualifier in July has been played.
A recent tour of Bangladesh could help the English players to feel comfortable in this part of the world, while their final one-day international before the tournament will be against Ireland in Bristol in September. As cricket originated in this country, we always expect England to do well, but this year’s World Cup will be a big challenge.
Australia Has Won Most World Cups
As the top one-day team according to the ICC rankings, it’s easy to see why a lot of fans think that Australia could win the World Cup this year. They followed up the disappointment of losing to England in the 2019 semifinal by beating the same team in the 2019 Ashes series in England.
Australia has won five World Cups to date, making them the most successful nation in this tournament. Their last win came in 2015 and their first was in India and Pakistan in 1987. The big-game mentality that they’ve shown on these occasions is one of the reasons why Australia is regarded as one of the favorites to win against this year.
We can get an idea of who will be representing them in India by looking at the names on the list of 24 players whose contracts have been renewed by Cricket Australia for 2023-24. They include six new names, with the likes of Todd Murphy, Sean Abbott, and Michael Neser all on the list.
Pakistan Looking for Its First Win
Pakistan’s solitary World Cup win came in 1992. In 2019, finishing fifth in the group table meant that they just missed the knockout stage. They’ve already qualified for 2023, with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, New Zealand, and South Africa or Ireland the other qualifiers we’ve not mentioned so far.
Pakistan still has a couple of one-day series and the Asia Cup before the World Cup, so their best team is likely to be defined by these games. Captain Babar Azam and vice-captain Shadab Khan are among those who are almost certain to get the chance to play in India. However, there are still some spots up for grabs.
The teams we’ve mentioned are those most likely to win the 2023 World Cup, but there’s also the chance that the West Indies or New Zealand, for example, pull off a surprise in India. The chances for each team should become clearer as we get closer to the start of the tournament.
