'Others call India favourites for World Cup to put more pressure on us': Ashwin's staggering take, picks title contender
Ashwin said cricketers from other countries call India favourites for the World Cup to put them under more pressure.
Trust Ravichandran Ashwin to always see things from a different perspective. He is one of those rare cricketers who spends as much time, if not more, analysing various aspects of cricket as playing it. And his analysis is more often not unique or at least different from most. The India all-rounder gave another proof of the same when he said that the opposition teams and their former cricketers pick India as the favourites to win the ODI World Cup 2023 as part of their strategy. Ashwin said they do that to take the pressure off themselves and put it back on a team like India, which is already under immense pressure to deliver every time they take the field.
The World Cup 2023, which starts on October 5, will be played in India. This is the first time the two-time champions are hosting the event individually. They were co-hosts with other sub-continent nations in 1987, 1996 and 2011 previously. Naturally, India are among the hot picks to win the tournament, especially after considering that the last three editions of the tournament have been won - India in 2011, Australia in 2015 and England in 2019 - by the host nation.
Ashwin, however, believes Australia, who have won the World Cup five times (the most) are the team to watch out for. "Going into the ODI World Cup, Australia are one of the favourites. I know people around the world cricket will keep saying India are favourites — in fact, all the cricketers around the world will use this as a strategy and say India are favourites before every ICC event. They use this strategy to reduce the pressure on themselves and put extra pressure on us. India could well be one of the favourites, but Australia also are a powerhouse," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Australia have won two world titles in the last two years. They won their maiden T20 World Cup in 2021 and then went on to lift the World Test Championship title beating India in the final earlier this year.
Australia were the first team to announce a provisional 18-man squad for the upcoming World Cup. Uncapped leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha and all-rounder Aaron Hardie are the fresh faces in the Australia squad which does not include Marnus Labuschagne. The same 18-man extended squad, which will be trimmed later to 15 for the ODI World Cup, has been named for the series against South Africa and India in September ahead of the 50-over showpiece.
‘West Indies were a powerhouse of world cricket’: Ashwin
Ashwin also talked about how the power centres in cricket shifted over the years. "West Indies were a powerhouse of world cricket at one point in time. I will just take you back in time, they just won the 1975 and 1979 ODI World Cups as if it were a time pass. They were all but favorites to win the 1983 World Cup too, but India won the Prudential World Cup in 1983 thanks to that extraordinary catch of Kapil Dev to dismiss Vivian Richards and Balwinder Sandhu’s fabulous delivery to dismiss Gordon Greenidge.
"I think World Cricket's landscape changed from West Indies being the powerhouse after that World Cup. After that 1983 World Cup, we came close in 1987 as well, but after the 1987 World Cup, Australia became the powerhouse of World Cricket, and they continue to be one of the powerhouses of World Cricket," he added.
West Indies, however, are not a part of this year's World Cup as they failed to qualify.
