Former India Test captain and one of the greatest bowlers of all time Anil Kumble has made his predictions for the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023, which will begin on October 5. According to him, India, England, Australia and one each from New Zealand and South Africa will qualify for the semi-finals.
Updated October 5, 2023 | 07:25 am
Anil Kumble has not included Pakistan in his list of teams that will qualify for the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup 2023. Image credit: AP, screenshot and X/@ICC
KEY POINTS
- Anil Kumble has made his predictions for the ODI World Cup 2023.
- The former India Test captain has not included Pakistan in his list of teams that will qualify for the semi-finals.
- According to Kumble, Rohit Sharma will score the most runs in the ODI World Cup 2023.
Former Indian Test captain and head coach Anil Kumble has made his predictions for the 2023 edition of the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup, which will begin on Thursday (October 5). This year’s 50+ mega event will be played across 10 venues in India and a total of 10 teams will battle it out for the grand prize. India will enter the tournament as the world’s number one team in all three formats of the game and under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, they will hope to end the decade-long wait for an ICC trophy this year.
Ahead of the start of the ODI World Cup 2023, where in the first match England will take on New Zealand in a replay of the ODI World Cup 2019 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, 52-year-old Kumble has taken his decisions for the four teams that will qualify for the semifinals, in addition to choosing the most valuable player of the tournament.
Speaking on the ESPNCricinfo show, Kumble, who is the second leading wicket-taker for India in the history of the ODI World Cup, said that along with India, England, Australia and one each from New Zealand or South Africa will qualify for the semi-final. The former spinner did not include Pakistan in his list, even though many experts consider him one of the favorites for the title. Apart from Kumble, former Australia captain Aaron Finch, opener Matthew Hayden, Tom Moody, South Africa pacer Dale Steyn, New Zealand’s Mitchell McClenaghan, India’s Deep Dasgupta, Sri Lanka’s Farveez Maharoof and even former cricketer Pakistan’s Urooj Mumtaz Khan has not chosen Pakistan in his list of four teams that will qualify for the semi-finals when asked about his predictions on the ESPNCricinfo show.
While India and England were the common names in the 12 expert lists for the four semi-finalists, Finch, Moody, Steyn, Hayden, Kumble, McClenaghan, Deep Dasgupta, Maharoof and Urooj backed Australia as the third team to qualify for the knockouts.
Only Shane Bond, Steve Harmison and former India Test opener Wasim Jaffer included Pakistan in their list of teams to reach the semi-finals instead of Australia.
Kumble backed Indian captain Rohit Sharma to repeat his World Cup 2019 heroics this year once again and finish as the tournament’s leading run-getter. In the 2019 edition, with the help of five centuries and a fifty, Rohit amassed a total of 648 runs in nine matches. Apart from Rohit, Kumble also mentioned Devon Conway’s name in the list of run-getter leaders.
As for the leading wicket-taker, Kumble supported speedster Jasprit Bumrah, who returned to competitive cricket after a nearly 11-month break during a three-match T20I series against Ireland in August. India’s biggest wicket-taker in international cricket was also asked to pick the MVP, and for that, he picked the all-rounders and mentioned the names of England’s Hardik Pandya and Moeen Ali.
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