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THE FAVOURITES FOR THE CRICKET WORLD CUP

The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup has returned, with the One Day International (ODI) tournament taking place in India from October 5 to November 19. India has played host to the competition three times in the past, including as recently as 2011, but this is the first time the South Asians have taken on the responsibility by themselves. 

It’s the 13th renewal of the Cricket World Cup, however, only five nations have had their names inscribed on the sought-after trophy. That looks unlikely to change this year, as four of those previous winners lead the market if you’re looking for a bet on sports. That said, let’s take a look at the favourites for this year’s Cricket World Cup.

India

Two-time winners India have been here and done it before, beating Sri Lanka by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to win their second Cricket World Cup when they last hosted the tournament in 2011. 

This year’s final will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which at 134,000 seats is the largest cricket stadium in the world, and pressure will be on India to deliver on home soil once again.

India are in-form though, winning the Asia Cup with a 10-wicket success over rivals Sri Lanka last month, and they are the second-best team in the ICC rankings.

England

It’s hard to believe Ben Stokes’ heroics at Lord’s was already four years ago, as the Cricket World Cup went to a super over for the first time ever and still ended a draw — with a boundary countback needed to crown England champions. 

Australian Matthew Mott has been in charge of the England white-ball teams since May of last year, and England are heading to India on the back of a solid showing against New Zealand recently — beating the Black Caps 3-1 in the series. 

England won the T20 World Cup under Mott last November, and the Aussie will be hoping he can lead them to ODI success. 

Australia

Next in line is record winners Australia, who will be looking for a sixth Cricket World Cup triumph in India — which would see the Aussies put a gap of four titles between themselves and the second most successful teams, the West Indies and India, who both have two titles.

Australia’s build-up to the tournament took a big twist at they led South Africa 2-0 in a recent series, only for their southern hemisphere rivals to complete a stunning comeback by winning the final three games for a 3-2 overall victory. 

The selected squad for the World Cup has also raised some eyebrows, as leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha — who is yet to earn a cap for the side — and once-capped Aaron Hardie have been included, while Ashes winner Marnus Labuschagne has been left out.

Pakistan

Pakistan haven’t won the Cricket World Cup since their 22-run victory over England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground back in 1992, and they are yet to make a final this millennium — with an eight-wicket defeat to Australia at Lord’s in 1999 their last appearance.

They are the No.1 ranked team in Men’s ODI Cricket as of right now but were relatively disappointing when hosting the Asia Cup recently, finishing bottom of the Super Four standings after beating Bangladesh but losing to India and Sri Lanka. Pakistan are 7/1 (8.00 in decimal if you need a free bet calculator to convert your odds) to win the World Cup. 

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