India won’t be easy to beat in the World Cup: ICC CEO David Richardson

The World Cup is the pinnacle of limited-overs cricket and every team dreams of getting its hands on the silverware. The next edition of the mega-event is scheduled to get underway on May 30 in England and Wales and the tournament is not even five months away from here on. This time around, there would only be ten participating teams as the International Cricket Council (ICC) pruned the number of teams.

Afghanistan and the Windies joined the eight other teams that made a direct entry into the 50-overs tournament. In the meantime, pundits and analysts are scratching their heads on the probable winner of the World Cup. David Richardson, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the ICC is also finding hard to pick a winner. However, he reckons that Virat Kohli-led India would be the team to beat in the extravaganza.

“It is extremely difficult to pick a winner. Obviously, India is playing really well. England has got their best ODI team in many years. South Africa has also performed. But the progress the Indian team has made in the recent years, it will be exceptionally difficult to beat them,” Richardson was quoted as saying to the reports during an event where he announced a five-year partnership with Coca Cola.

A thrilling tournament in store

Hosts England and South Africa are scheduled to kick off proceedings in the World Cup at the Kennington Oval in London. India would play their first match against the Proteas at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Wednesday,  June 5.

Australia are the defending champions of the World Cup as they beat New Zealand in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). They are also the most successful team in the championship, having won in as many as five times. Their first game is against qualifiers Afghanistan at the County Ground in Bristol on Saturday, June 1.

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