Legendary cricketers Jacques Kallis, Waqar Younis, Dale Steyn, and Piyush Chawla predict that India will host the current ODI World Cup champions England on the finals night.
Notably, the Men in Blue are in outstanding form right now, having just won the Asia Cup. They even defeated Australia in the three-match ODI series, making them one of the current favorites to win the major event.
On the other side, England recently altered the nature of white-ball cricket. The Jos Buttler-led team prefers to play an aggressive style of cricket regardless of the situation, and as a result, they are now among the most dangerous teams in international cricket. The two teams will square off on October 29 at Lucknow’s Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium as part of the league stage.
On the other side, Chris Gayle, Dinesh Karthik, and Murali Karthik anticipate that Pakistan will face India in the championship game. The arch-rivals have never met in the finals, so if it happens, it will be one of the biggest matches in cricket history. The final will be played in Ahmedabad’s largest cricket stadium in the world, hence a massive crowd is anticipated.
Shane Watson, a former cricketer for Australia, and Sanjay Manjrekar predict that India will play Australia in the championship game, whereas Faf du Plessis predicts that India will play either Australia or New Zealand. It’s interesting to note that Irfan Pathan anticipates India playing South Africa. Aaron Finch, a former Australia captain, predicts that on the big night, Australia will play South Africa.
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Notably, England’s match against New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium will serve as the opening match of the 2018 ODI World Cup on October 5. At Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium, India will face Australia in their inaugural game on October 8. On October 7, South Africa will play their opening match against Sri Lanka, and on October 6 in Hyderabad, Pakistan will host the Netherlands.