The Indian cricket team might be No. 1 in the world in all formats but such a position in the ICC charts matters little to former batter Gautam Gambhir. With the mission for the Indian team being lifting the ODI World Cup this year, Gambhir believes that to win the showpiece event, the team would need to defeat Australia as they have a remarkable performance history in ICC events. Australia, being the most successful team in the 50-over World Cup history, automatically start as one of the favourites. Gambhir, however, is hopeful the Indian team can get the better of them.
Speaking in a special show of Star Sports ‘Mission World Cup’, 2011 Cricket World Cup champion Gambhir highlighted the pivotal importance of defeating Australia in the tournament.
“Look, I have always said this, and there is no doubt in this, that if you want to win the World Cup, then you have to beat Australia. In 2007 when we won the World Cup, we defeated Australia in the semifinal. In 2011 when we won the World Cup, we beat Australia in the quarterfinal. Australia is the strongest team in any ICC tournament. Remove the ranking, the ranking does not matter,” he added.
As far as country-wise winners are concerned, Australia has won the ICC ODI World Cup trophy five times, which makes them the most successful winning team. West Indies and India follow them in the World Cup winners’ cricket ODI.
Both these teams have won the trophy twice each. England is the winner of the last World Cup tournament held in 2019 and is the trophy’s current champion.
“You can be in any position in the rankings, but Australia, when it comes to those big tournaments, the World Cups, I think Australia has got the players, they have got the self-belief, Australia has the ability to play those big moments really well. And you can see this, the two World Cups that India won, we had to beat Australia in the knockout stage two times. And the World Cups that we have lost, in 2015 we lost to Australia. So I believe that if we have to win the World Cup this year, Australia is going to be the most important game, and we start against Australia, so there is nothing better than that. So beating Australia is very, very important,” Gambhir further said.
Former Australian batter Shane Watson also spoke on who he thinks will make it to the finals of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
“Definitely going to back Australia with the calibre of players they have. They have got a few question marks going into this World Cup, for sure, with a few positions and some injuries they have had, but the players they have got, certainly know how to step up in these big games. And India, being at home, they’d know the conditions better than anyone, their bowlers are obviously on fire at the moment, with their quicks and also Kuldeep Yadav who is only getting better and better. So India with their firepower, especially with their top order in particular, certainly can go all the way. So for me, Australia and India would be an incredible final,” said Watson.
India’s final assignment before the World Cup at home will be a three-ODI series against Australia, with the first match taking place on Friday. After this, they will play WC warm-up games against England (September 30) and the Netherlands (October 3). India will then start its World Cup campaign on October 8 against the Aussies at Chennai.
With ANI inputs
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