With the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 just around the corner, it has officially emerged that no opening ceremony will take place for the same. Instead, the BCCI and ICC has kept a 'captain's event', involving all captains having a photoshoot and press conference at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday.
All 10 captains will gather at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and share their views on their chances of winning the trophy. England are the defending champions, having won the title for the first time four years ago at Lord's by beating New Zealand. Jos Buttler and co. will also open the 2023 edition by playing the Kiwis in Ahmedabad on October 5th (Thursday).
Hosts India start as favourites for the tournament:
Meanwhile, the Men in Blue, led by Rohit Sharma start as firm favourites to win the World Cup trophy, especially since it's taking place on home soil. The home side also has momentum behind them, having won the Asia Cup 2023 and the bilateral ODI series against Australia convincingly.
Meanwhile, history also suggests that India will win the tournament this time as the hosts have won the last three World Cup editions.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Hardik Pandya (Vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav.