South African legend AB de Villiers has named his pick for the semifinalists of the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup 2023 (CWC 2023) and didn’t name 1992 champions Pakistan in it. However, apart from this, De Villiers backed India to go into the final.
The ODI World Cup 2023 begins on October 5 with the last edition’s finalists – England and New Zealand – locking horns in the opener at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. A total of 10 teams will be competing in the tournament and the best side shall lift the trophy on November 19.
India will open their campaign on October 5 against Australia in Chennai and their big-ticket encounter against Pakistan will be played in Ahmedabad on October 14.
AB de Villiers picked South Africa as one of the finalists along with India, England, and Australia but didn’t see Pakistan going past the league stage in the competition.
“Definitely India. I think they will go on to win it over there again. It’s going to be a fairytale World Cup. India, England, and Australia got to go with the big three. Then I want to - go with South Africa, even though Pakistan has a really good chance as well. So, the fourth team will be South Africa,” De Villiers said in a Q&A session on YouTube.
“I’ve gone with three non-sub-continent teams there, which is very risky. But I am going to stick to it because I think the wickets will be good. I don’t think the World Cup is going to see bad wickets during the duration of the tournament,” he added.
As for the final, AB de Villiers backed England to do a repeat of 2019 World Cup and make it into the summit clash and chose hosts India to challenge them for the coveted trophy. England is the defending champions of the World Cup, having won the crown at home in 2019.
“England and India in the final. If they can find each other in that final, I think that will be fantastic, even though I want my South African boys to be there,” De Villiers added.
