Stuart Broad also praised Virat Kohli for his performance in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023.
India has been utterly dominant in this tournament, winning all 9 of their league games and the majority of them one-sided. Their batters have scored big runs and bowlers rattled the opposition with a precision display of their art.
The Men in Blue defeated New Zealand in the semi-final by 70 runs after scoring 397/4 batting first in Mumbai. This was the only Team India match that was alive till probably the 40th over of the second innings was the semi-final against New Zealand. The other nine matches were mostly finished after the first powerplay of the second innings.
If there ever was a deserving team to win a World Cup, it has to be this Indian side. They are now facing Australia, the final barrier. Aside from the 1987 World Cup, Australia has never looked like the second-best team in an ICC tournament final. But they are this time, and by a long shot.
Legendary England cricketer Stuart Broad said India would win the World Cup final 95 out of 100 times against Australia. They are that good.
"India are so powerful in their conditions that I would say they would win this final 95 times out of 100. You only need to look down their line-up to gauge their strength: they’ve got a top six all of whom can score match-winning hundreds, while any of their bowlers can take a five-for. They’re the only team in the World Cup that you can say that about," Broad wrote in his column for Daily Mail.
He further added that there is a sense of inevitability in India winning this World Cup.
"India winning the World Cup is a bit like Brazil winning football’s equivalent. There is a bit of magic to it. Personally, I think it would be great for the game if India came out on top against Australia in Ahmedabad because it will inspire the next generation of cricket’s powerhouse, just as their 2011 triumph did.
An Indian victory is the most marketable outcome for the sport — comparable to when Usain Bolt used to line up for the 100 meters. All of athletics’ stakeholders wanted him to win because it leads to bigger sponsorship, bigger TV rights, greater exposure for the sport,” Broad added.
In his write up, Broad also praised India's batting superstar Virat Kohli. Kohli broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most ODI centuries, scoring his 50th ton in the CWC 2023 semi-final.
"Given the career Virat Kohli has had, making 50 ODI hundreds, he deserves to be a double World Cup winner in his own country, too," he added.
The former right-arm pacer, however, said if there is any team that could 'upset' India in this World Cup, it would be Pat Cummins-led Australia.
"Australia are probably the only opponents — I would have said Pakistan pre-tournament — that could potentially upset India because they possess the bowling attack to blow the outstanding top order of the home side away.
Australia’s route to producing a shock in my view is to win the toss, bowl, hope the ball nips around, and for Mitchell Starc to get it right, hit Rohit Sharma on the shin, and Josh Hazelwood follow up by nicking off Kohli. If they could cook up a situation of early wickets like that, placing India under pressure and limiting them to something like 220, you would expect Australia to knock the runs off,” Broad said.
(Daily Mail UK inputs)