The legendary West Indies opener Chris Gayle has made a couple of strong predictions for the upcoming World Cup 2023 in India. The 10-team event is set to start next week; the warm-up matches have kick-started this Friday.
In a repeat of the 2019 World Cup final, England and New Zealand will meet in the opening match of the World Cup 2023 on October 5, while the biggest, most-hyped-up match of all – India vs Pakistan – is slated for October 14 at the iconic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Chris Gayle expects two rivalries to resume in the semi-final of World Cup 2023
With less than a week to go for the World Cup to get underway, the dynamic opener Chris Gayle has predicted that the four teams that will reach the semi-finals of the World Cup 2023 are India, Pakistan, England, and Australia.
This means that if Chris Gayle’s prediction comes true, and if the stars align in that manner, there could be two arch-rivalries that could resume: India vs Pakistan, the Asian neighbors rivalry, while England vs Australia would see the Ashes rivals meet.
However, Pakistan have currently dropped from being favorites to not being in a strong position because of the loss of Naseem Shah to a shoulder injury. Rohit Sharma’s Team India will enter the tournament as firm favorites: they have a balanced team will all but one spot left to be identified, they recently won the Asia Cup 2023 and defeated Australia 2-1.
England last year became the first-ever men’s side to hold both the ODI and T20 World Cup trophies simultaneously and have built up a white-ball dynasty. Australia, on the other hand, used to be a cricketing dynasty, but have fallen after that. They are the most successful team in the ODI World Cup, with ODI WC trophies in their cabinet.
Former Australia captain Aaron Finch, who led Australia in the 2019 World Cup and won the 2015 World Cup as a player, also picked Pakistan as one of the four sides to reach the semis.
Revealing his predictions, Finch said: “India, England, Australia. [For 4th spot], I will probably say Pakistan; they are really well balanced team.”
