Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers has backed India’s Virat Kohli to have a brilliant ICC World Cup 2023 which begins in India on October 5. He also said that Kohli will be amongst the top run-getters in the tournament.
Virat Kohli, along with R Ashwin, are the only two members of India’s 2011 World Cup triumph to be part of this World Cup tournament as well. For the former India captain, it will be his 4th World Cup event and he is nearing many records during the tournament.
De Villiers backed Virat Kohli to bail India out of pressure situations and play crucial knocks for the team in the hunt for their third 50-over World Cup title.
"Virat Kohli is going to have a wonderful World Cup. He will be one of the leading run scorers in this World Cup and he will be there in the Top 3 run scorers. Virat Kohli is going to play some very crucial Knocks in this World Cup 2023. Under pressure when team India are feeling it and crowds expectations and tough situations and then Virat Kohli is your man, he will deliver for you," AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
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Furthermore, he named India’s Shubman Gill to top the run-scoring charts in the tournament. Gill has been in terrific form in ODIs in 2023, scoring 1230 ODI runs in just 20 innings, including five centuries. Gill is also chasing Sachin Tendulkar's record of most ODI runs in this year. Tendulkar had made 1894 runs in 1998 in ODIs and is 664 runs ahead of Gill at this moment.
De Villiers evaluated the Indian World Cup team and predicted that it would go to the semifinals and final. The South Africa veteran claimed that the Indian side had numerous match-winners with much experience.
De Villers praised India's bowling attack and added that the pacers, coupled with the three high-caliber spinners, give India a very strong squad in the World Cup, specifically citing Mohammed Siraj and Mohammad Shami.
Though India’s warm-up game against England in Guwahati got rained off, the Men in Blue will travel to Thiruvananthapuram for their second warm-up game. They will face the Netherlands on October 3.
India will open their campaign against Australia on October 8 in Chennai before they take on Afghanistan in Delhi on October 11. The blockbuster clash with Pakistan will take place on October 14 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
