5 Reasons India Will Fail to Win the World Cup 2023
Rohit Sharma has some serious concerns leading the Indian team to World Cup 2023 (Source: Twitter)
India is currently playing West Indies in a T20I series. The next assignment for the 'Men in Blue' will be the Asia Cup which will be played in the 50-over format this time, and it is pitched in as India's biggest stage to prepare for the One Day World Cup scheduled later in 2023.
Cometh the ODI World Cup, and there have been predictions by some big names in the cricketing fraternity that India will be atleast making it to the semi-finals if not win the tournament. But India will have to overcome many struggles to lift the coveted trophy. Here are five reasons why India will struggle during the tournament.
1. Key Players Coming Out of Injury
Watching India's planning for the big tournament, we have a general idea of how the team will shape up. The key players in that plan seem to be KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, and Jaspirt Bumrah.
While Jasprit Bumrah will be seen in action against Ireland, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are expected to be in action from the Asia Cup. This allows the Indian team only about 8-10 ODI matches to try and test out the perfect combination ahead of the World Cup.
KL Rahul will be returning from injury and will be seen in the Asia Cup (Source: Twitter)
Another important fact is that these three players will be crucial to India's success, and that is where it becomes dangerous for the team, as they will depend on half-baked players on the big stage.
2. Top-order trouble
One of the prime factors of doing well in a multi-national tournament is the opening pair giving your team a good start. India have a big concern in this case also. A good partnership develops when two players bat together for an extended period of time. But India has tried and tested seven opening pairs in the last twelve months.
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill will be the opening pair for India in the WC 2023 (Source: Twitter)
The opening duo that India have finally settled for is Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. But if we look at their current form, neither is in their best touch. Well, World Cup is still a couple of months away, and they might regain their form by then, but by the current situation, a dark cloud looms over solid, steady starts at the top for India.
3. Middle-order Confusion
With a slight confusion at the top of the order, a contender like India would prefer to have settled for a stable middle-order by now. But, with injuries plaguing the team, India have tried players like Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, KL Rahul and Axar Patel alongside more or less settled names like Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja in the middle order.
The Indian middle-order has a lot of questions to answer ahead of the WC 2023 (Source: Twitter)
Now this raises a lot of questions. When you have given Surya an extended run in the middle order, will you let KL Rahul walk straight into the team once he is fit? If Surya plays, will you include Sanju Samson in the team as a keeping option? And even if you are not looking to go for Sanju, who is your keeping option? If it is Ishan Kishan, where will he be batting?
So, a lot of unsolved questions and very little time to find the answers.
4. The Skipper Not Knowing his Team Properly
The last time India won the World Cup was in 2011 under the leadership of MS Dhoni. Ahead of the tournament, India had played under the Dhoni's supervision for about four years in the format. Moreover, he settled for a core and kept using it on the field for at least one and a half year leading to the tournament. This meant that come the World Cup, MS had a good idea about his players and how to bring out the best in them. During the tournament, India had a well-oiled mechanism, which was evident as the 'Men in Blue' bailed themselves out in many crunch situations.
Rohit Sharma has not been leading the Indian team on a consistent basis leading to the World Cup (Source: Twitter)
While leading to World Cup 2023, India have played under the leadership of four different captains. The regular captain, Rohit Sharma, might not fully know his players' abilities. With the Asia Cup coming up, we, as followers of Indian cricket, will have an idea of how good Sharma will be as the team leader.
5. The Lack of Designated Clutch Finishers
With Rishabh Pant out with injury, India is in need of a genuine finisher leading to the World Cup. Once again, looking back at World Cup 2011, India had the luxury of top-notch finishers in Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni. But at the same instance, if we look at the Indian team going into the World Cup 2023, there is a severe scarcity of players who can keep their composure under pressure and steer the team to victory.
Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya will have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders during the 2023 World Cup (Source: Twitter)
Post the Yuvi-Mahi-Raina era; it was pitched that Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant would be the finishers for the team. Pant is out of the scene with his injury, and Hardik, despite spending so many years in the international circuit, has not yet justified himself as a true finisher. So, that leaves you only with Jadeja, and winning the World Cup, depending on the abilities of the only one man in the lower-order, seems a far-fetched dream.
 "Probuddha Bhattacharjee")
