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The legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar believes that facing Australia in the first match will benefit team India in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. ICC recently released the detailed schedule for the mega tournament starting on October 5 in India. The hosts will open their campaign in a clash against the current no.1 ODI side Australia in Chennai on October 8.
Last edition’s finalists England and New Zealand will face off in the curtain raiser match at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. Normally a host nation plays in the ICC tournament opener, but the Men in Blue will wait for match No. 5 to enter the marquee tournament.
Gavaskar feels that facing a strong team like Australia will boost their confidence. He also added that even if India loses the opening game then they will get chances to perform better against weaker teams later in the tournament.
“Absolutely. It would have been even more difficult if you were to play Australia in a must-win last match. I feel it is always an advantage to play against the good teams first,” Gavaskar said to Star Sports. “If you don’t get a good result, you have chances later. If you probably play against some weak team later, you will know what you need to do against them and with what margin you need to win.”
The former Indian captain pointed out India’s 1983 World Cup campaign, where they beat the reigning champions and tournament favorites West Indies in their opening game and went on to win the maiden ICC title at Lord’s.
“In 1983 we played the first match against the West Indies. They were the defending champions and we defeated them. It was a two-day game because it had rained and the play resumed on the next day. There also we registered a win. The self-confidence increased because of that as till then our performance in World Cups wasn’t anything special. We hadn’t won even one match until then,” Gavaskar added.
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