Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag has backed India and Pakistan to qualify for the World Cup 2023 semi-finals. India and Pakistan will enter the ODI showpiece as two of the favorites and Sehwag has backed them to make the last four.
India had qualified for the semifinals in the 2019 World Cup but Pakistan had failed to do so. In fact, India has been consistently qualifying for the knockout stages of the major ICC events in the last decade but they have failed to go all the way.
While India has a potent batting unit, Pakistan has a formidable fast-bowling attack. However, the Men in Green can also be unpredictable at times.
India recently won the Asia Cup, their eighth title whereas Pakistan had failed to make it to the finals of the continental tournament. Furthermore, Pakistan lost both of their warm-up matches against New Zealand and Australia.
Virender Sehwag said on Cricbuzz, “I think there will be two teams from the subcontinent in the top four. India and Pakistan are my picks. The other two will be Australia and England. England have played brilliantly in ODIs in recent years. If the World Cup wasn’t in India, I would have picked only one team from the subcontinent.”
Sehwag feels England and Australia could be the other two semifinalists and added India could meet England in the summit clash.
“India and England are the best placed to win the competition. They have a great chance to meet each other. The remaining two teams will be Australia and Pakistan.”
The former swashbuckling batter added they won the 2011 World Cup for Sachin Tendulkar and the team should win the upcoming ODI showpiece for stalwarts like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
“India has the firepower to win the World Cup. The team combination is fantastic, with all the boxes checked. If India fail to win the World Cup now, what will happen in the next edition where the senior players won’t be there? We won in 2011 for Sachin Tendulkar, and I think we should win this World Cup for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.”
India will begin their World Cup campaign against Australia at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on 8th October.
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