With the Men’s ODI World Cup now underway, Indian Legend has revealed her predictions for the mega event.
Mithali herself has experience playing in such World Cups, having represented India in a total of 6 ODI Women’s World Cups. She has racked up a total of 38 appearances in the World Cups, amassing a total of 1321 runs from 36 innings at an incredible average of 47.17.
Mithali believes Indian youngster Shubman Gill will end up as the leading run-scorer. Shubman Gill has been in exemplary form since the start of the year as he has amassed a total of 1764 runs from 39 international innings. He also ended up as the top scorer of the Indian Premier League as he amassed a total of 890 runs from 17 innings.
‘The Prince Of Cricket’, the title referred to him by many Indian fans will be an instrumental aspect in India’s quest to win the World Cup after 12 long years. He will have the huge burden of ensuring his team starts on the front foot throughout the tournament, something which he has enjoyed doing.
Mithali said, “I would put my money on Shubman Gill, and if he carries his form into the tournament, he is clearly one of the top contenders for the highest run-scorer.”
Mithali also predicted the player who would take the most wickets in the tournament and the name of this player might surprise you a little. Mithali believes the Indian chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav will take the most wickets in the tournament.
This is somewhat of a bold prediction, considering the fact that the likes of Mitchell Starc, Jasprit Bumrah, Shaheen Afridi, Trent Boult, and Adam Zampa will also be in the reckoning to claim the most wickets.
In the previous edition in 2019, Kuldeep had a relatively quiet outing in the mega event as he managed to pick just 6 wickets from 7 innings, comparing it with Jasprit Bumrah’s 18 off 9 innings, Mohammad Shami’s 14 from 4 innings, and fellow leggie Yuzvendra Chahal’s 12 wickets from 8 innings.
Kuldeep’s chances with the Indian team were limited after the World Cup, as he had lost his form. He was also going for too many runs. But Kuldeep made a decent comeback in the Indian colors as since the start of the year he has picked up 12 wickets from 8 innings at an economy rate of 4.85.
Mithali said, “My money would be on Kuldeep.” She later highlighted that Kuldeep’s ability to deceive the batters with his cunning variations could be too much for the batters.
The Indian camp kick starts their campaign on 8th October when they face 5-time World Cup winners Australia at the Chepauk in Chennai.
(Quotes sourced from Star Sports)
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