Two-time champions India will kick off their ODI World Cup campaign against five-time winners Australia on Sunday, October 8th in Chennai. Ahead of team India’s opener, former captain Sourav Ganguly stated that defending champions England, record-time winners Australia, and 2019 edition’s runners-up New Zealand will join hosts India in the last four of the 2023 ODI World Cup. Men in Blue are gearing up for the battle with full confidence as they defeated the Aussies 2-1 in the ODI series recently.

Former BCCI president Ganguly feels that India’s arch-rivals Pakistan is not as strong as Australia and England at the ICC event. Speaking to India Today Ganguly admitted that Rohit Sharma is a very good captain. He has won the Asia Cup two times and has also won 5 IPLs.

Outstanding captain and I think this will be his last World Cup as a captain. I hope he will win the trophy and finish successfully.

Ganguly, who guided India to the 2003 World Cup final, further added that he will keep an eye on opener Shubman Gill in this year’s ICC tournament. Many good players were there. But I am looking forward to watching Shubman Gill. He has batted brilliantly. Jasprit Bumrah is also playing very well, Ganguly concluded.

India’s batting sensation, Gill is the highest ODI run-scorer this year. In 20 ODIs, the Indian team’s all-format opener scored 1230 runs at an average of 72.35. In 2023, Gill managed to score 50 runs in half of his innings.