Former England opener turned commentator Nick Knight has named a key player for the defending champions who could be handy for Jos Buttler on ‘flat wickets’ during the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. Even though the English team won the last edition of the fifty overs World Cup, followed by the T20 World Cup in 2022, Knight feels that India will be ‘favourites’ this year given the home conditions which would be a big boost for the hosts.
During the recently concluded 2-1 ODI series win over Australia, the Indian team managed to score 399 runs in Indore, while the Aussies smashed 352 in the third game at Rajkot, with both ‘flat’ pitches offering little or assistance to the bowlers.
Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli scored fifties in the series finale but couldn’t help India inflict a 3-0 whitewash on the Australian side. The Indian duo have been in good form of late, and their performances with the bat will be key to India’s chances of winning the World Cup.
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While neither venue will be hosting the World Cup games, Knight is expecting flat surfaces in the subcontinent and he highlighted the role of Adil Rashid, who could be key for picking up wickets during the middle overs.
Highlighting the importance of Rashid’s value in England’s ODI World Cup 2019 triumph, Nick stated that the spinner might get overlooked sometimes, but he will offer Buttler a variety when the likes of Rohit and Virat would have a struck up a partnership on a wicket that wouldn’t offer much help to bowlers.
“I think when you look at this England side, you look back at winning the World Cup in 2019, you look at the top order blasting those early runs. Muscular, belligerent players whacking fours and sixes. England setting big totals. England going past 400. England going to late 300s, then defending. The key player for me in that is Adil Rashid," former England opener turned TV analyst and commentator Nick Knight told sports journalist and anchor Jamie Alter on his YouTube podcast.
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“Sometimes I see his name getting overlooked too much in the importance of what England achieved in the last cycle and winning that World Cup. When you look at the difference between T20 cricket and 50-over cricket, you are looking essentially in the bowling perspective, who have you got that can break that stubborn partnership? When Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are flying and they’re going 150 partnership and the wicket is flat and things are not going your way, who can you turn to as a captain and say, right, break me this partnership? Adil Rashid," Knight added.
England will face the runners-up of last edition New Zealand in the inaugural game of the World Cup at Ahmedabad, but before that, they will play two warm-up games against India and Bangladesh to fine-tune their playing XI ahead of the tournament.
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