Irfan Pathan Picks Surprise Name Ahead Of Australia And England To Play India In The Finals Of The World Cup

India is one of the favourites to reach the finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 according to most of the cricket experts given the home advantage and their recent form.

India have recently won their eighth Asia Cup title by beating Sri Lanka in the finals and then also won the IND Vs AUS ODI Series by 2-1. The team is back in full strength and the players are looking in great form.

Recently, in a segment of Star Sports, where most of the experts chose between India, Australia, England, and Pakistan to play the finals, Irfan Pathan surprised everyone by selecting South Africa as the finalists for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

South Africa may have been overlooked by many experts given their World Cup record but no one can deny the fact that the Proteas have been in great form since the last World Cup which took place in 2019.

South Africa recently beat Australia 3-2 in the recently concluded SA Vs AUS ODI series and in one of the matches they even crossed the 400 mark.

South Africa is currently the 4th ranked team in the ICC ODI rankings and has five batters in the top 15 of the ICC metrics. Apart from Irfan Pathan, Aaron Finch also put his bet on the Proteas to play the finals of the World Cup.

Most Of The Experts Chose India As Finalists

11 out of 12 former cricketers chose India as the finalists of this World Cup. Former Australia captain Aaron Finch who led the Australian side to victory in the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup was the only one who excluded the hosts from his prediction of the finalists. Finch chose Australia and South Africa to play in the finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

The World Cup is set to begin on 5th October with England and New Zealand to start the proceedings in Ahmedabad. India will play their first match against Australia on 8th October in Chennai while South Africa will play Sri Lanka in Delhi on 7th October.

Following Are The Experts’ Prediction Of The Teams Who Will Play In The Finals Of The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023:

Jacques Kallis- IND Vs ENG

Chris Gayle- IND Vs PAK

Shane Watson- IND Vs AUS

Dinesh Karthik- IND Vs PAK

Faf Du Plessis- IND Vs AUS/NZ

Waqar Younis- IND Vs ENG

Dale Steyn- IND Vs ENG

Irfan Pathan- IND Vs SA

Murali Karthik- IND Vs PAK

Sanjay Manjrekar- IND Vs AUS

Piyush Chawla- IND Vs ENG

Aaron Finch- AUS Vs SA