The 2023 World Cup will be held in India, and R Ashwin praises the Rohit Sharma-led team as the “strong favorites” going into the tournament.

The first team to ever win the ODI World Cup trophy at home was Team India, led by MS Dhoni, in 2011. This started a trend where the host nation won the competition, including Australia in 2015 and England in 2019. The Rohit Sharma-led team is the “strong favorite” going into the 2023 World Cup, which will be staged in India, according to veteran Indian spinner R Ashwin. But as he continued to make his point, he acknowledged that “India going to be a bit of short-changed.” The team from India is well-prepared for the ODI World Cup. 

They defeated Sri Lanka easily at home after defeating Bangladesh earlier in the month, giving them a 1-0 advantage in the three-match series. Ashwin praised India’s “excellent” home record since the last World Cup, winning against every side that has traveled to the nation during that time on his YouTube channel. However, he emphasised that India played all 18 of their ODIs at home in 14 different locations, unlike nations like Australia and England, which had a limited number of stadiums to choose from.

“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, and Sri Lanka. India’s home record is 14-4 in this space [since the 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,” he said.

He elaborates on his point about how many places the squad has played in at home, saying that he believes “India is going to be a bit of short-changed” because the wickets vary at each location. “Since the 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, India, in this regard is going to be a bit 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 discussed India’s four domestic losses during this time. “The four losses that I mentioned have happened in Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, and Lucknow. It’s all evening in the evening. Largely, India has batted first and posted a score that they believe is par and par-plus.”