There is a lot of excitement surrounding the 2023 ODI World Cup, slated to be held in India in October-November.
Team India have already kicked-off their preparations for the home World Cup with ODI series against teams like Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
While the Men in Blue recently completed a 3-0 clean sweep over Sri Lanka in the 50-over series, they are leading the three-match ODI series against New Zealand 1-0.
No wonder, veteran R Ashwin hails the Rohit Sharma-led side as the “firm favourites” heading into the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin highlighted India's “impressive” home record since the last World Cup, beating all the teams who have toured the country during the period.
However, he pointed out that India played all their 18 ODIs at home in 14 different venues unlike Australia and England.
“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 West Indies, Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka. India’s home record is 14-4 in this space [since 2019 World Cup], which is a 78 to 80 percent win record in India. All of these 18 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 are played in 2-3 venues and so they know their venues are the back of their hand,” Ashwin stated.
According to Ashwin, India are going to be a bit of short-changed, stating the pitches are different at each venues.
“Since 2011 World Cup, all teams have managed to win their home World Cup - India, then Australia in 2015 and England in 2019. This is no rocket science, knowing your conditions is extremely important. However, for India, in this regard is going to be a bit of 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,” he said.
Ashwin also spoke about the four defeats India faced at home during this period.
"The four losses that I mentioned have happened in Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Lucknow. It’s all evening in the evening. Largely, India have batted first and posted a score that they believe is par and par-plus."
