2023 ODI World Cup Preview

What Are The Odds On India To Win The World Cup?

All eyes will be on ten wonderful stadiums across India for the 13th running of the Cricket World Cup in the 50-over One Day International format, and this will be the fourth in which India will act as either hosts or co-hosts of cricket’s showcase quadrennial event.

It’s expected that this will be the largest online cricket betting event in world history, which is why it’s more important than ever to follow gambling.com over the next two months and beyond for our cricket betting tips and educational resources to be successful in the sports betting game.

In this preview we’ll delve into some cricket betting odds for the 2023 Cricket World Cup, assess why India are strong favourites to raise the trophy for a third time, as well as look at some of the value picks for the World Cup winner as well as most tournament runs and wickets markets.

Why are India the favourites?

This will be the fourth consecutive ODI World Cup in which the host nation are the most favoured to win the event (since Australia were top of the outright market to win the 2007 event hosted by the West Indies).

Indeed, cricket betting markets were correct on all three previous occasions as India (2011), Australia (2015) and England (2019) went on to clinch the trophy either as hosts or co-hosts.

But there are plenty of more sound reasons why India, currently priced at 3.20 on Shangri La and 3.25 on Parimatch, comes into the event off the back of a very convincing ODI Asia Cup win in Sri Lanka, and their 2011 ODI World Cup triumph followed an Asia Cup victory on Sri Lankan soil.

If we may use a tired cliché, India’s lineup now “ticks all the boxes” and here are some of the best bet apps to prove that. 

Starting from the top, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill now average 87 as an opening partnership, going past 50 on nine of 13 occasions against four different 2023 World Cup nations. 

KL Rahul’s century against Pakistan and two 50s against Australia gives them options at four beyond Shreyas Iyer, whilst there is healthy competition for all-rounder positions between Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur that will allow India not only to manage workloads across a nine-game group stage but also play to conditions.

Then to the bowling: an attack already dangerously potent with the proven Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami has been bolstered by the pairing of seamer Mohammed Siraj and leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who are the top-two wicket-takers (54 and 45) amongst full member nations in ODIs since 2022. 

The home nation advantage India enjoys is immense andis illustrated by a record of 8-1 in bilateral ODI series at home since the 2019 World Cup in England, where they won 20 out of 27 matches despite often playing with second-string sides during a packed calendar…

Who are the other leading contenders?

…which leads us to our value pick for the outright winner market. The only touring nation to defeat India on their own soil in an ODI series in that time is five-time champions Australia.

They’re the third choice in Cricket World Cup betting odds across most bookmakers, priced at 5.00 on Shangri La and Parimatch behind India and defending champions England.

That’s despite splitting their last four ODI tours of India since the start of March 2-2 (7-7 across the 14 matches) and possessing a squad with a wealth of both international and IPL experience in the subcontinent.

England’s best XI hasn’t changed a great deal from the one that took out the 2019 Cup in the UK, but it’s hard to argue that it is just as good in 2023. Joe Root and Adil Rashid appear to have their best days behind them in this format, last minute inclusion Harry Brook had a torrid 2023 IPL campaign, Ben Stokes won’t be bowling throughout the tournament, and they’ve got only makeshift openers to accompany Jonny Bairstow at the top.

Whilst they’ve had just one white-ball tour of India since then (March 2021), they were admirable in defeat, winning one of the three ODIs and two of the five T20Is in India.

But there’s no doubt they’re blessed with match-winners and have in their dressing room a culture of fearlessness and self-belief that is perhaps unrivalled.

Neighbours Pakistan (7.00 on Shangri La and Parimatch) also have some extraordinary talent in their squad but are now missing fast bowler Naseem Shah and, like England, their main spin threat is, well… not much of a threat at the moment. 

Shadab Khan averages little more than one wicket per innings in ODIs since 2021, and with an economy rate of 5.16 in that time, can’t often play the role of restricting run scoring that someone like Adam Zampa and Keshav Maharaj can.

Now that you've gained some key knowledge for you to begin strategizing, maybe you'd like to try your luck with some instant withdrawal betting sites which are popular in India.

In conclusion…

When it comes to fulfilling the key requirements of winning an ODI World Cup in India in its current one-group format - squad depth, wicket-taking spinners and fast scoring openers who are capable of ‘daddy hundreds’ - it’s hard to look beyond ‘The Big Three’ in 2023.

Who is your pick? Don’t forget to check back in for previews of all of India’s games at the 2023 Cricket World Cup, and for live World Cup scores and ball-by-ball commentary of the entire tournament you can’t go past the flashscore.in website and app.