Excitement Building for 2023 ICC Men's World Cup

Worldwide, cricket fans are gearing up for the approaching 2023 Cricket World Cup. Already, some fans are using offers from oddsmakers to back their favorite teams, both in the qualifying rounds and on to the World Cup. Now all eyes are on the Indian national team.

That's because this World Cup (the thirteenth hosted by ICC) will be played entirely on Indian soil for the first time-and it's coming off the heels of a rescheduled event. After previous disruptions, the tournament was rescheduled to run through February and March of 2023. It was delayed further and will now be played in October and November.

After so much uncertainty, the confirmed dates have been a reassurance to fans- this was doubled when India released its official brand identity for the upcoming World Cup. Slowly but surely, participating teams have also been confirmed. Australia, England, Pakistan, Australia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, West Indies, England, and New Zealand are heading to the round-robin stage in October.

As excitement builds for the 2023 ICC Cricket Men's World Cup, let's go over some of the top stories and teams to watch.

Image: images.pexels.com

Playing on Indian Soil

Above, we mentioned that the 2023 World Cup will be the very first that the event is entirely scheduled on Indian soil. After assuming responsibility as a part-time host in 1987, 1996, and most recently in 2011, India is finally going to host the entire event. The games will be hosted across thirteen incredibly diverse cities.

These include Rajkot, Nagpur, Guwahati, Kanpur, Mohali, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai. For non-cricket fans, and even for non-IPL fans, it may be hard to understand why these venues are a huge deal. The reason is that cricket in India is like football in England-it's a highly important part of their lifestyle and culture.

In other words, playing the 2023 Men's World Cup in India is like hosting the World Cup in England or Brazil. The host nation doesn't just have the honor of facilitating a global event, but they're doing so on their own home turf where cricket is larger than life.

At the moment, it's not certain which teams will play where over the course of the tournament's 48-50 matches.

Looking for that Next Win for India

Above, we briefly covered why hosting the World Cup in India is a big deal. First, because cricket is a part of life. Second, fans across the country will help create an unforgettable sporting atmosphere for visitors. Third, because England took home the last ICC title-and literally millions of fans are hoping that India will take the title on home soil.

At the moment, oddsmakers favor India to battle it out for the global championship title. However, they'll need to contend with other dominant teams, including England, Pakistan, and Australia. While it's far too early to make a solid prediction about which team will win, it's always compelling to have a home team that could take the title.

And for Team India, it's not totally out of the question. When the country hosted its last ICC World Cup back in 2011, the national team managed to win the finals against Sri Lanka. It was an unforgettable moment that Indian fans will want to replicate.

Image: images.pexels.com

An Expanding Audience

Clearly, the main headline surrounding the upcoming ICC World Cup will be how well Team India contends with its rivals. However, there's going to be another element influencing this event's popularity: a growing base of fans. Last year, the Twenty20 World Cup managed to nab around 6.65 billion views across every platform, which is over a 50% boost from the previous event.

Many predict that the ICC World Cup will draw in a similar number of viewers-which trumps the five billion viewers who were engaged in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. FIFA managed to snag around 1.5 billion viewers for the Argentina-France final. Could this be the edition when ICC viewership records blow through the roof?

While the vast majority of the tournament's attention will focus on the cricket action, it's still worth pointing out that cricket continues to grow in popularity around the world. And events like the World Cup are pivotal in helping expand the sport's reach.

And an Expanding Interest in Fantasy Cricket

While cricket increases its global presence, there's been one clear shift in fan engagement: an interest in fantasy cricket. For sports like football and American football, fantasy leagues are a way for fans to create a winning lineup based on real-world results. And despite the fact that cricket is on-par with the popularity of both football and American football, fans haven't been too interested in fantasy leagues.

All that has changed over the last two years. Some publications predict that there are around 100 million fantasy cricket players worldwide. This shift is largely due to the availability of fantasy league apps. After all, while the original fantasy 'roto' leagues were all structured by hand and mental math, today's fantasy leagues are largely digital.

This too has helped boost interest in the upcoming World Cup. That's because fantasy league players now have a stronger understanding of their favorite players, at least in terms of hard statistics. This makes them feel closer to the sport and to the players who are preparing to compete in the upcoming World Cup.

Betting Predictions

Above, we mentioned that India is one of the favorites of sportsbooks. However, the team has officially slipped behind Australia in the rankings. And they'll also need to contend with an elite English team if they want to advance in the tournament, who are coming off a 2019 win.

But nothing is certain at the moment. Will the English bowlers be enough to push them ahead of the competition? And what about the Indian batting side-is it enough they have the No. 1 bowler and No. 1 batsmen? Along with Australia, some are also keeping an eye on the Pakistan national team. Compared to other sides, the Pakistani team is largely unpredictable-but it looks like their bowling team will be hard to beat.