Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister for Sports, sent his congratulations to the Indian cricket team, which will play Australia on Sunday in the opening match of the ongoing ICC ODI World Cup. Speaking in his home state of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, Thakur expressed his optimism that the men’s cricket team, led by skipper Rohit Sharma, will take home the coveted trophy following the rousing performance at the Hangzhou Asian Games, where the Indian delegation recorded its biggest medal haul with 107.
“I want to extend my best wishes to the Indian Cricket team for the ICC World Cup. We are launching our campaign against Australia today. After our success in the Asian Games, I am hopeful that our cricket team will lift the World Cup trophy as well. PM Modi’s vision to encourage sportspersons and the provision of new-age sporting infrastructure for them, combined with the hard work put in by our athletes, got us our best-ever medal haul at the Asian Games,” he added.
With a win-loss record of 83-58 against the hosts, Australia will have a definite advantage going into the exciting World Cup match. The recent 2-1 ODI series victory over the Baggy Greens will give India, the favorite at home, a lot of confidence. Since many players on both teams have competed in the IPL under the same uniforms, they are familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses and will enter the match with optimism and faith. Australia won a closely contested match against India when the two teams last faced off in Chennai in March of this year.
However, Australia is concerned about star all-rounder Marcus Stoinis’ health, and India is waiting to hear from the team’s doctors about the availability of opener Shubman Gill for the start of their season.