ICC World Cup 2023: "Dont See Asian Teams Getting An Extra Edge In World Cup"- Rashid Latif
Published - 17 Aug 2023, 06:32 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:17 AM
Former Pakistan skipper Rashid Latif has made a very important point referring to the Asian Tems in the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023 in India. The tournament will be played from October 5 to November 19 with the much-awaited India-Pakistan clash on October 14.
All the top 10 teams with play each other once in the league stage followed by the semi-finals and the final on November 19 in Ahmedabad. In an interview with the Cricket Baaz Youtube channel on Wednesday, Rashid Latif pointed out a major flaw in the Asian teams compared to the SENA countries.
He said that teams like South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia will bring a new approach to their playing method compared to other teams. In other words, Latif said that the Asian teams might find it difficult to score quickly in the middle overs.
Asian Teams Will Struggle In the Middle Overs: Rashid Latif
“The one area where I feel Asian teams will struggle to match these sides are particularly in the middle overs when a fast strike rate is required even in 50-overs,” said the former wicket-keeper batter. The English, Australian and New Zealand batters have turned to reverse sweep and switch shots against the spinners into something very lethal nowadays.”
He noted that England in particular are well versed in using their spinners in the middle overs which might make run-scoring difficult for opposition teams.
“A bowler like Adil Rashid or someone like Moeen Ali buy their wickets whereas our spinners focus more on economical bowling. This will be one of the most closely contested World Cups and I don’t see Asian teams getting any extra edge because it is being held in India” he further said.
He then spoke about India’s chances of winning the World Cup being the host nation. This is the first time that India are hosting an ICC World Cup unanimously. He said that given their inexperienced middle-order a lot will depend on the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
“Indian team management has experimented with several players and if I talk about their batting the middle and lower order say from 4 to 7 they just have not allowed any new player to settle down with frequent changes,” Rashid concluded saying.
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