The 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup is the upcoming mega project in the cricketing world. Many teams are focusing on building a top-quality side to compete in the global showpiece event, which will be held in India next year.
Regarding the last three 50-overs World Cups, the host team has won it on each occasion – India in 2011, Australia in 2015 and England in 2019 – so without a doubt, the pressure will be on Team India to continue the trend and finally end their ICC title drought.
Notably, India have last clinched an ICC title way back in 2013 when under MS Dhoni, the Men in Blue had won the Champions Trophy. Considering the current side, the major area of concern is the batting unit, especially openers. The trio of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan have not impressed much in the recent past, and with youngsters knocking on the door after their impressive performances, the openers are under fire.
Since Rohit is Team India’s captain, his place is certain as the opener of the side, and the competition will be for his partner’s role, where many contenders are in line. Rahul and Dhawan both have had under-par performances, and their place is in doubt, especially after the consistent shows from Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan.
Not to mention, Kishan had recently smashed a magnificent double-century, making it next to impossible for the selectors to ignore him. Speaking about the same, former Australia cricketer, Brett Lee has backed Kishan as India’s first-choice opener in the forthcoming World Cup. Lee termed Kishan as the future of Indian cricket before advising the youngster to not get carried away and focus on accomplishing much more bigger goals.
“With this deadly double, Ishan has staked a strong claim to open for India in the ODI World Cup at home in 2023. Will this happen? I don’t know. Should it happen? Hell yeah, it should. The guy just scored the fastest 200 in ODI history. But if he can show consistency, stay fit, and be around the next few months, he should be a sure-shot opener for India at the World Cup,” Lee said on his official YouTube channel.
“Back Ishan to make it in the World Cup squad with an eye on the future, and clearly, he would be on a high after that knock as he should be. However, a word of caution. Too much praise had led to cobwebs in the head. So my advice to Ishan Kishan would be… forget about the milestone, forget about the double hundred as soon as you can. There are bigger milestones to achieve and higher peaks to scale. Ishan Kishan has to forget about the euphoria of his double hundred. Just focus on the process, stay fit and keep smashing big runs,” he added.
