World Cup 2023: How does the schedule benefit India?

Since the World Cup 2023 schedule was released there have been multiple talks on how it affects the teams. In this article, we will take a look at how the World Cup schedule benefits the hosts, India.

India will kick off their tournament on the 8th of October against the most successful team in the history of the World Cup, Australia.

India vs Australia

India will go against Australia at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The Chidambaram Stadium traditionally is home to low-scoring affairs. The pitch and conditions favour spinners and India will feel that they have an upper hand going into this match. The assistance to spinners is short-lived on most occasions as in the second innings in day-night matches dew is expected to come in. The dew factor will be evident in most games, especially India vs Australia as it is a day-night game. 

The pitch and conditions will favour the Indian team and it is a match that India should win to get a good start in the tournament.

India vs Afghanistan

Three days later, on 11th of the October, India will play Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The Arun Jaitley Stadium is another low-scoring venue. The average 1st innings total in ODIs at the venue has been 223. The pitch, traditionally is favourable for spinners which will keep the Afghanistan team interested. The Afghanistan team consists of a rich spin trio with talisman Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Noor Ahmad. These three spinners can wreak havoc on the Indian team. The toss does not really have an effect on the result of the game. In 28 matches, 14 have been won by teams bowling first and 13 have been won by teams batting first.

Even though it is a pitch which favours the spin bowlers, the Indian team should be able to defeat the Afghanistan team.

India vs Pakistan

The big clash between India and Pakistan will be held on the 15th of October at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Over the last few years, the pitch at Narendra Modi Stadium has been hugely in favour of the batters. Shubman Gill is one batter in particular who has enjoyed a lot of success on the ground. The young Indian opener has scored a lot of runs on the ground. He even scored a century at the venue in a T20I against New Zealand earlier this year. The batting favourable pitch is something that both nations would prefer. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had requested a shift of venues for this game as they did not want to play in Ahmedabad.

The pitch and conditions will favour both sides, but the World Cup head-to-head record is something that helps India in being slightly ahead of their arch-rivals.

India vs Bangladesh

After a game against their western neighbours, India will play against their eastern neighbours, Bangladesh. The match between India and Bangladesh will take place at Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Cricket Stadium in Pune. The MCA Stadium in Pune is once again a batting-favourable stadium. Like most stadiums in India, MCA Stadium will also help spinners as the game goes on. Both teams have spinners that can make use of the conditions of the ground but the lack of experienced batter in the Bangladesh team can haunt them.

India will walk into the game as favourites and will be expected to win the match.

India vs New Zealand

After three consecutive games against Asian opponents, India will play New Zealand on the 22nd of October. New Zealand defeated them in the last World Cup in 2019 in the semi-finals. The match will take place in the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium in Dharmsala. The HPCA stadium traditionally favours fast bowlers who can swing the ball. The conditions will favour the New Zealand bowlers as they have bowlers who can swing the ball both ways. The Indian team has lacked bowlers who swing the ball at a good pace for a long time. The variation in the New Zealand pace bowling attack is also something that works in their favour.

New Zealand will walk into this game as favourites and India will need to play brilliantly in both powerplays of the game to defeat New Zealand.

India vs England

India will play the defending champions, England on the 29th of October at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. England at the moment looks like the best team in the white ball format. The only factor that can help India is the pitch of the Ekana stadium is very slow at the boundary sizes are relatively longer in comparison to other stadiums in India. The England team over the last few years have made a point to play at a higher run rate in ODIs. The Indian spinners will play a crucial role in the game to restrict the English team.

England will walk into the game as favourites due to their white-ball team’s prowess. Indian spinners will play a crucial role in the game.

India vs Qualifier 2

India’s opponents for the game are yet to be decided and will be decided after the conclusion of the World Cup Qualifiers. India should consider themselves favourite while playing at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

India vs South Africa

India will South Africa at the iconic Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata on the 5th of November. The pitch at Eden Gardens and shorter boundaries have made the ground batting-friendly. South Africa is one of those teams that have failed to perform at World Cups over the last few years. Their batting at the moment does not look challenging and could well be the reason for yet another poor performance at the World Cup.

India will walk into the game as favourites and will be expected to win the game.

India vs Qualifier 1

India will play one of the Qualifiers in their last league stage game at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on the 11th of November. Chinnaswamy Stadium is a heavenly stadium for the batters. The stadium could help the Indian batters to get into a good rhythm before the knockout stage of the tournament provided they qualify. India will be the favourites going against one of the qualifiers team at this stadium.

Also Read: Does India need to stay away from all format players?

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