The defending champions of the ICC ODI World Cup, England are the once again the favourites to lift the title. Led by Jos Buttler, the Englishmen are strong favourites to rule the roost and win the tournament, which is scheduled to be played in India.
If you cast your mind back to the World Cup in 2019, then you would know that England were a juggernaut. They registered 6 victories in 9 games in the group stage and finished in the 3rd position.
Jos Buttler and co. then defeated the mighty Australians in the semi-finals and eventually beat New Zealand in the finals via the Super Over.
England have been a beast in the white-ball formats. They have been absolutely merciless in the ODI and T20I formats and have crushed aside several opponents.
In this article, we take a look at 3 reasons why England are once again the favourites to lift the ICC ODI World Cup 2023:
1. England are the white-ball champions presently
Both in the ODI and T20I World Cups in the past edition, we have seen England winning it. After beating New Zealand in 2019 in the finals of the ICC ODI World Cup 2019, England beat Pakistan in the finals of the ICC T20I World Cup 2022, which took place in Australia.
They have also displayed a unique aggressive form of batting called ‘BazzBall’ in the Test format and this simply sends out a strong message to everyone that England are a sheer juggernaut when it comes to explosive hitting.
2. England won the ODI series 2-1 versus Bangladesh in March 2023
In the spin-friendly and turning tracks of Bangladesh, England registered a 2-1 victory over the hosts in March 2023. This works in favour of them and they would be sheer favourites once again when they begin their title defence in India.
As the conditions are quite similar in India and Bangladesh, we can expect England to dominate once again.
3. England players are used to playing in India
If not the above two reasons, the third and the strongest point is the fact that the England players are quite used to playing in the spin-friendly tracks of India. Most of the English players play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) every year and this would work in favour of them, once again.
Be it Jos Buttler for Rajasthan Royals (RR) or Sam Curran for Punjab Kings (PBKS), the English players are mainstays in the IPL.
Also read: 3 Reasons Why Virat Kohli Can Have A Great ICC ODI World Cup 2023
