While the 10 teams taking part in the 13th edition of the ODI World Cup acclimatize and prepare for the showcase, it’s time for us to take a breath and preview what’s coming.
Let’s talk about each of the Cricket World Cup 2023 teams’ biggest strengths and weaknesses, and how they might win or lose the title.
India
💪 Strengths:
On a good day, India is strong in eveꦿry facet of the game. Their openers have adopted England’s 2019 blueprint and are more attacking in the powerplay. They have t♑he talents of Virat Kohli, who has an unmatched ODI record, at number three.
Their bowling is one of the tournament’s most potent in the PꦐowerPlay. The combination of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj makes India the best PowerPlay bowlin🌞g team.
🛠️ Weaknesses:
They are not doing well at the death with both bat and ball. Their batters fail to capitalize on the solid start by their openers and their bo⛄wlers struggle to take wickets at the death.
England
💪 Strengths:
The defending champions are more attacking than anyone in the 🔯middle overs. This was one of the aspects that separated them from the rest in 2019 and might help do so this year. Also, like in 2019, they boast a deep batting lineup, which giv🅰es their attacking batters the license to play attacking shots.
Their bowling ꦯcomplements this ef♓fort by taking a lot of wickets in PowerPlay.
🛠️ Weaknesses:
Their PowerPlay batting has lost ꧅its bite. They dropped Jason Roy because he had lost his touch and replaced him with Dawid Malan. Malan isn’t as attacking. Their bowling hasn’t been taking wickets in the middle overs, which leaves them exposed at the death. And without Jofra⛦ Archer they were never a good death bowling team.
Pakistan
💪 Strengths:
They don’t lose many wickets in the PowerPlay and the middle overs. They 🐓have the third-highest average in the PowerPlay and score the second-most runs in the guts of the innings.
Their bowlers are excellent at the death. They take wickets✱ and are difficult to score against in the last 10 overs.
🛠️ Weaknesses:
They 🐼score runs at a slow rate. They have the sixth-best strike rate in the PowerPlay and are fourth-best in the mi▨ddle overs. This is a problem against Cricket World Cup 2023 teams with higher batting strike rates. And their middle-overs bowling has not been taking any wickets.
Australia
💪 Strengths:
They dominate with the bat in the PowerPlay and are explosive in the last 10🧸 overs. In both phases, they don’t lose wickets and score at a very high rate. Their new ball bowlers also do the all-important job of taking wickets in the PowerPlay. In addition to the skillﷺs of Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc and Josh Hazelwood, Australia also has the talents of one of the best spinners in ODI cricket in the form of Adam Zampa.
🛠️ Weaknesses:
Their bowling 🥀is let down in the middle overs and gets worse at the death, where they neither take wickets nor prevent lots of runs. Mitch Starc needs to take a lot of wickets.
South Africa
💪 Strengths:
South Africa has the highest average and joint-second h𝐆ighest strike rate in the middl༺e overs. This sets them up for the death overs, where they are scoring more runs than anyone else at the highest strike rate among teams at the World Cup.
They have the best two-man spin attacks in non-Asian teams and do a💎 good job of controlling the middle overs.
🛠️ Weaknesses:
Their front-line bowlers do not take many wickets in the PowerPlay. Teams could take advantage of this. They also h🐷ave a short batting lineup and in the event of a collapse, they won’t be able to score enoꦦugh for their bowlers to defend.
New Zealand
💪 Strengths:
They are an excellent PowerPlay bowling team. They are one of the top teams with tꦬhe ball in the first 10 overs. They take wickets and do not concede many runs in the process. Their batting does not shoot the lights out but does the basics well. Their runs and strike rate in the middle and death overs are🅺 good enough to cause problems.
🛠️ Weaknesses:
New Zealand is not doing well with the bat in the PowerPlay. 💜They are far from where they need to be to be competitive in the first 10 overs. And they are also losing wickets there. And unless Lockie Ferguson gets his mojo back, they are going to lose a lot of matches in the middle overs where they are not taking enough wickets.
Sri Lanka
💪 Strengths:
Their bowlers overperform. They are taking wickets in the PowerPlay and doing a good job of keeping things under control in the middle♑ overs. The loss of Wanindu Hasaranga affects them a bit, but Dinuth Wellalage and Maheesha Theekshana are sꦦtill a lethal combination.
🛠️ Weaknesses:
Their batting isn’t good. Sri Lanka is losing wickets in the PowerPlay and they don’t score quick enough to make up for it. They are also failing to make up for that awful start in the middle overs, where they also lose wickets in clumps and do not score any faster.
Afghanistan
💪 Strengths:
They have Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmed and Mohammad Nabi. This spin attack is made for Indian conditions. They will dictate things in the middle ﷽overs more often than not.
🛠️ Weaknesses:
Their batters are not scoring enough runs throughout the innings and they take a lot of time doing s💛o. They also do not have quality seamers to take control of the PowerPlay.
Bangladesh
💪 Strengths:
They do not leak runs in all🎐 three phases of the game. Their bowlers are economical and this might lead to wickets in high-pressure situations.
🛠️ Weaknesses:
They undo most of the good work do🎶ne by their bowlers with lacklustre batting. They h𝐆ave one of the worst scoring strike rates in all phases and lose many wickets in the PowerPlay. This is not a good picture.
Netherlands
💪 Strengths:
Their bowlers do a great job at taking wickets and keeping runs down in the first 10 overs. This could cause problems for teꦅams with shaky opening pairs.
They have Max O’Dowd opening the batting and Bas De Leede, Colin Ackerman and Roelof van der Merwe in the middle order. They also have a lot of heart. This collective is going to throw everything they have at the✅ir opponents and hope to come up with a positive result.
🛠️ Weaknesses:
No team at this year’s World Cup is worse suited to tꦅhe conditions than the Dutch. They struggle to bat against spin and have no world-class spinners in their team.
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