ICC ODI World Cup 2023: Countdown for ODI World Cup 2023 in India has begun with less than three months remaining for the marquee event. The tournament will kickstart in Ahmedabad from October 5 onwards and will conclude on November 19. A total of 10 teams will participate in this tournament. Meanwhile, ex-India skipper Sourav Ganguly, who celebrated his 51st birthday on Saturday, picked the teams he expects to make the semi-finals of the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.
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ODI World Cup 2023 will be played in round-robin format. All ten teams will play each other at least once in the league stage and then on the basis of points, the top four teams will qualify for the ODI World Cup 2023 semi-finals. In the 2019 edition of ODI World Cup, the tournament was played under the same format in which India had qualified for the semi-finals and lost to England, who became the ODI world champions for the first time.
Ganguly named five teams that could be in contention for a semi-final spot at the World Cup and remained hopeful about India vs Pakistan clash at Eden Gardens in one of the semi-finals on November 16.
"It’s very hard to say [teams that could make the semi-final]," Ganguly said in an interview on RevSportz.
"Australia, England, India. You can never underestimate New Zealand in these big matches. I will pick five, and include Pakistan also."
"Pakistan better qualify so that we will have the India-Pakistan semi-final at the Eden Gardens."
Kolkata's iconic Eden Gardens will host ODI World Cup 2023 2nd semi-final with Mumbai hosting the other. India is slated to square off against arch-rivals Pakistan in Ahmedabad on October 15 in the league stage, but Dada hoped that the two teams would meet again in the semi-final.