Former Australian Ricky Ponting discussed Team India’s prospects of winning the World Cup and believes Men in Blue will be an “extremely difficult” side to beat given their ability to hold up well under extreme pressure. India made a strong start to their ICC World Cup 2023 campaign, registering convincing wins against Australia, Afghanistan and arch-rivals Pakistan. The Men in Blue are looking for a third Cricket World Cup crown after their title wins in 1983 and 2011.
“I have said from the start that I think they will be the team to beat. They have a very talented team. They have all the bases covered with their fast bowling, their spin and their first-class, middle-order batting,” Ponting said against the ICC.
“They will be extremely difficult to beat. But we will see how they can hold up even under extreme pressure,” Ponting said.
In their match against arch-rivals Pakistan, India registered a huge seven-wicket win to claim a dominant win with 117 balls to spare in Ahmedabad.
Pakistan lost eight wickets for 36 runs as they went from 155/2 to 191 all out before Rohit Sharma’s magnificent 86 helped his team win.
Five Indian bowlers took two wickets each, with Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav causing the collapse with brilliant spells after Mohammed Siraj took the crucial wicket of Babar Azam.
India skipper Rohit Sharma spoke about the need to move forward, maintain balance and not get “too excited” as the World Cup campaign is not a short affair.
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed. We don’t want to get too excited and we don’t want to get too low either. It’s a long tournament, nine league games and then the semi-finals and the final. We just have to keep the balance and go I’ve said it before, for us it was an opposition [Pakistan] we wanted to play. Any opposition we face can defeat you. We have to be good on that particular day. The past and future don’t matter,” Rohit said in the post-match presentation.
After three straight wins in their World Cup campaign, the Men in Blue will face Bangladesh at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Thursday.
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