SWOT analysis of India cricket team ahead of ODI World Cup 2023

World Cup is set to begin in just two days. All the 10 teams have reached India and are doing their preparations in full throttle. Team India is currently in Thiruvananthapuram for the second warm-up game against the Netherlands. India's first warm-up game against England was washed out due to rain. The Rohit Sharma-led side is one of the favourites to win the World Cup. They will fully utilize the home conditions fully to win it for the third time.

India has been in superb form in recent times. They are currently the No.1 ODI side. Rohit-Sharma and Co. became the first Asian side to achieve this feat of being the No.1 side in every format of the game simultaneously. They performed superbly in the Asia Cup 2023 and the three-match ODI series against Australia. India is the host of the mega event, and Team India fans are expecting their side to lift the trophy again after 12 years.

The last time India won the World Cup was back in 2011 when India was the co-host. They have a mixture of amazing squad that has a lot of experienced players and new talents that have the potential. Ahead of the World Cup,We will do a SWOT analysis of the two-time World Champions:

Here we take a closer look at the India team’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats:

Strength:  

India's biggest strength is its batting with openers Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma, following Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul all of them looked in sensational touch. Gill is the highest run scorer in 2023 for India, he has scored five centuries in the current year at an average of 72.35. He has managed to score an incredible 1230 runs in 20 innings. The 23-year-old batter might even break the long-held record runs in a single calendar year in ODIs of Sachin Tendulkar with the 9 matches in the World Cup.

Rohit, Rahul, and Kohli also averaged 50 plus in ODIs this year. Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav too have shown promising signs in the Australis series. Shreyas scored 156 runs in three matches. Ishan Kishan has also shown great temperament under pressure against Pakistan in the group-stage match of the Asia Cup.

Coming to the bowlers, the pacers and spinners have performed really well. Mohammed Siraj who bowled a dream spell of his life in the Asia Cup final picked up six wickets and dismantled the Sri Lankan batters. Jasprit Bumrah has made a brilliant comeback and looked good. Kuldeep Yadav is the leading wicket-taker in the format for India this year, picking 31 wickets in 16 matches. He will be definitely the trump card for the Men in Blue in Indian conditions.

Weakness: 

India's main problem is their lack of left-handed batters in the top orders. Ishan Kishan is the only proper batter who can bat top of the order, this weakness might be exploited by the other teams. Ravindra Jadeja is another option but the all-rounder is not a proper batter who can bat up the order. The batting form of Jaddu has been a question for the team as well. He has scored only 189 runs in 12 innings of 15 matches in 2023.

The spin bowling department is looking good on paper. But there is a question on how the two veterans Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will perform on the tracks that will be heavily in favour of the batters. Kuldeep is only the main-stream spinner for India in the World Cup.

Opportunities: 

The Rohit Sharma-led side are the favourites to win the 2023 World Cup. They have the biggest opportunity to win the trophy after 12 years at home. They have a chance to take advantage of home conditions and create problems for the opponents. The home crowd will also work as a confidence booster for the two-time title winners.

Threats: 

The main threat for India can be the players who are well accustomed to the environment in the sub-continent nation as a lot of players play in the Indian Premier League (IPL). They need to look that the collapses they had in the last few months are some of the things for the two-time World Champions. With Kuldeep as the only wrist spinner in the side, India would struggle if players attacks the leg-spinner.