Greg Chappell names Australia and England as among the favorites to win the World Cup, saying “India doesn’t have the same mystery”

Several teams have released their preliminary rosters for the 2023 World Cup, including Australia and England. For the first time, India is hosting the tournament alone, after co-hosting it with Bangladesh’s neighbors Sri Lanka and Pakistan in 2011, Sri Lanka and Pakistan in 1996, and Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 1987. The latter event was the first time a country other than the United Kingdom hosted the World Cup.

The majority of previous players have placed Australia, a five-time champion, and incumbent champion England among the favorites to go at least to the semifinals. The legendary batsman Greg Chappell, a former captain of Australia and head coach of India, has said that although Asian sides have an edge playing in India, Australia and England are no longer too foreign to the local circumstances.

“I believe the host team will have the upper hand, and I believe Asian teams will do well in India. However, given that Australian players have just spent a lot of time there, I don’t believe India has the same allure for them. They learn about the various environmental situations. Some English athletes now visit India, according to Chappell on RevSportz.

India, according to Chappell, would always be the favorite because of how dominant they are at home in every format. The former Australia captain recalled how, when serving as India’s head coach from 2005 to 2007, he used to see his side completely dominate their opponents at home.

Indian teams have consistently performed well at home. I found it to be rather intriguing to observe the visiting teams while sitting in the locker room. There was always a sense that the Indian squad was quite at ease, could handle whatever that was thrown at them at home, and would react effectively. In my opinion, India are the early favorites in every World Cup game. The effort to push them back rests on the opposition, he added.

At the point when more effort is required to score, Virat Kohli

Chappell remembered a talk he had about the difficulty of batting as a player ages with Sachin Tendulkar when he was the head coach. The opposition “tends to know more about the player as one gets older, and they then know how to bowl better and what fields to set,” he added. According to Chappell, a player has to believe like they did in the past in order to score like he did when he was younger. And to do that, you have to cut out some of the unnecessary details, make things straightforward, and pay attention to the essentials.

He said that the national hero of India, Virat Kohli, is likely at such phase of his career. “I have no doubt that Virat is at that point of his career, and because of this, scoring runs calls for a particular effort. And to do that, you must relax and keep things straightforward. Virat also has to enter these games with a clear head, and he is aware of the steps to take for that. Virat will have a great tournament if he can do it, he said.