ICC World Cup 2023 is keeping everyone on its toes even though the tournament hasn’t started yet. The excitement is doubled up as each day passes by. The cricket extravaganza will take place in India from 5th October and the final is all set to take place on 19th November.
The tournament opener will be played between England and New Zealand. The revised schedule of the tournament has been announced and the preparations are underway in full flow. Of late there have been lots of talks about the future of the 50-over format but it’s fair to say that all of them will be put to rest once the event concludes.
As many as 10 venues in India in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Lucknow, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Dharamshala and Hyderabad will be hosting the games. The tournament will take place in India for the first time since 2011 and a total of 48 matches will take place and 10 teams will fight for the title.
With the ICC World Cup 2023 around the corner, there have been a lot of speculations about who will win, who will score the most runs, who will take the most wickets and many more. Many experts and fans have started making their predictions and the latest to join the bandwagon is premier England batter Joe Root.
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Joe has made his prediction for the leading run-getter of the tournament. He has picked his English teammate Jonny Bairstow to set the stage on fire. The keeper-batter has been one of the finest players going in the world cricket and ever since he returned from injury, he has been in red-hot form.
Joe Root said that Jonny Bairstow has a point to prove and is a wonderful white ball player. He said that he’s eager to see him perform. Speaking to ICC, he explained:
“I am going to go for Jonny Barstow. Speaks for himself. He is someone who, I think, has always got some point to prove. He is a wonderful white ball player, and he has been so consistent for us at the top of the order.
“His partnership with Jason Roy has always gotten us off to amazing starts. Down to the destructive batting in the powerplay. It’s quite evident, so it will be nice to see him doing something special again.”
When it comes to 50-over cricket, Jonny Bairstow is a different beast altogether. He was one of the key players for England in their World Cup-winning triumph in 2019. England would be hoping for him to do the same this time around.
ICC World Cup 2023: England squad for the ICC World Cup 2023:
Here’s the England squad for the ICC World Cup 2023:
Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.