South African batting legend AB de Villiers has predicted that the hosts India to win the 2023 World Cup. According to him, the Indian team are likely to have a fairy-tale campaign, just like in 2011 when they won the trophy at home under MS Dhoni’s captaincy. The 2023 World Cup will be played in India from October 5 to November 19 as well. While England will be the defending champions, only the host nations have won the ODI World Cup since 2011. Australia won it in 2015, while England won their maiden ODI World Cup title at Lord’s in 2019 a well.
During a Q&A session on his YouTube channel, De Villiers predicted the trend will continue. However, the 2023 ODI World Cup will begin with a rematch of the 2019 World Cup final between England and New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as well.
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“Definitely, India. I think they will go on to win it over there again. It’s going to be a fairy-tale World Cup. India, England, Australia – got to go with the big three. Then I want to go with South Africa, even though Pakistan have a really good chance as well. So the fourth team will be South Africa. I’ve gone with three non-sub-continent teams there, which is very risky. But I am going to stick to it because I think the wickets will be good. I don’t think the World Cup is going to see bad wickets during the duration of the tournament,” he added.
While sharing his thoughts on the World Cup teams, he commented: “England and India in the final. If they can find each other in that final, I think that will be fantastic, even though I really want my South African boys to be there.”I don’t think it’s going to be easy for them, but never say never. This is the World Cup in which there are least expectations from South Africa, and that might boast well for them. They are very talented and a very underrated team.”
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Meanwhile, AB de Villiers said that he isn’t surprised with Ben Stokes’ decision to return from retirement since he is actively involved in Test cricket as well.
“Ben Stokes is still playing cricket, so it’s not that weird that he’s making himself available for the World Cup. England’s team looks really strong, very powerful setup, and, I think, they are going to go, if not all the way, very close to all the way,” he concluded.
