The final schedule of the World Cup 2023 was recently released by the BCCI and the ICC, less than two months away from the tournament’s start on October 5.
This would have impacted the planning of the teams regarding preparations for certain venues in the country where they could find extreme conditions tilted toward either batters, pacers, or spinners.
This will be the fourth time that the Cricket ODI World Cup will be happening in Asia. And the first time it will take place solely in India; on the previous three occasions, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh co-hosted the tournament.
Traditionally, India generally has had pitches that will give an advantage to the batters and as the tournaments progress, as multiple matches get played at the same venue, the pitches will tend to get slower and bring more and more assistance to the spinners.
Since the tournament is in India, teams will come with an additional one or two spinners in their squad than they would have picked in the last two World Cups in England and Australia.
If we look at the last two ICC tournaments that India hosted – 2011 World Cup and 2016 T20 World Cup – spinner had plenty of say on most venues and their execution could be decisive this time as well.
The Asian teams will come with quality and experienced spinners as expected – India have the likes of Kuldeep Yadav, Jadeja, Chahal, and Axar; Pakistan have a formidable spin duo in Shadab and Imad; Sri Lanka have the mystery pair of Hasaranga and Theekshana to boot; Afghanistan have the deadly trio of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb and Nabi; and Bangladesh boasts of variety in Shakib, Mehidy, and Taijul.
This doesn’t mean the non-Asian teams don’t have high-quality and experienced spinners. They may lack in depth in the spin department, but their first-choice spinners have a great deal of experience. England’s pair of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid won them the World Cup four years ago, while Australia will have leg-spinner Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar in support from Glenn Maxwell; New Zealand have the famed duo of Santner and Sodhi; Shami and Maharaj will lead the spin department for South Africa in assistance from Markram.
On these 2 venues in World Cup 2023 spinners can be most effective:
MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
The MA Chidambaram Stadium, or the Chepauk, in Chennai is one of the most spin-conducive venues in India. The Chennai Super Kings team has built it as their home fortress on the strength of the spinners on the Chepauk pitch.
While initially the batters will find it comfortable to bat, but Chepauk offers plenty of help for the spinners. As the game progresses, spinners come into the game. That’s why Chennai is one of the few places in India where team don’t mind batting first as they know their spinners would get considerable purchase from the surface later on in the game.
India and Australia will kick-off the Chennai leg in the World Cup 2023. Even though India will have their spinners to boast, it was Australia who defeated India earlier this year in Chennai in the 3rd ODI of the series with Zampa picking 4 wickets and Agar snapping 2 wickets.
Bangladesh and Afghanistan have their matches against New Zealand and Pakistan respectively here and they could cause major upsets using the spin-friendly nature of the Chennai pitch.
Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
If there is one pitch that could be even more spin-friendly than that in Chennai, it is the one at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
The fans and even the IPL teams were left stunned and surprised by how much slow, low, and turning the pitch in Lucknow was during the IPL 2023. So much that the home team, Lucknow Super Giants, even played the 40-year-old Amit Mishra, who didn’t find a team last year, regularly in Lucknow.
The spinners got a significant amount of grip here and the ball turned square off the straight, making even totals of 140 in T20 cricket here defendable. Sri Lanka, India, and Afghanistan have their matches in Lucknow and these Asian teams will enjoy the heavily spin-assisting surface in Lucknow.
