The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 will see a new winner lift the trophy as England and New Zealand are ready to fight it out in the middle for the iconic clash. With this, the twelfth edition of the Cricket World Cup will come to a close.
The world will then have to wait for four more years for the next edition of Cricket ‘s biggest event.
The 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup will be held in India. The tournament will commence on 9 February 2023 and will go on till 26 March 2023. This will be the thirteenth edition of the tournament.
Although India has hosted three World Cups before – in 1987, 1996 and 2011, in each of these three occasions, India co-hosted the tournament with its neighbouring Asian countries – with Pakistan in 1987; Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 1996 and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2011. This implies the 13th edition will mark the first time that the mega event will be hosted solely by India.
Moreover, the tournament will be played in the same format as the 2019 edition. The top seven ranked teams and the hosts (India) will automatically qualify for the World Cup. Two more teams will play the tournament – these will be the finalists of the 2023 Cricket World Cup qualifiers.
Notably, England has had the privilege of hosting the most number of World Cups, having hosted five of the twelve editions so far -1975, 1979, 1983, 1999 and 2019.
However, England solely hosted the tournament in 1975 and 1979 while the other three editions were hosted along with neighbours Scotland, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The first World Cup to be hosted away from England was the 1987 World Cup, which was scheduled in India and Pakistan.
The subcontinent countries also went on to host the 1996 edition but Pakistan lost its co-host status for 2011 World Cup because of security concerns.
Interestingly, India was the first team to win a World Cup on home soil in 2011. Australia became the second team to do that in 2015, winning the finals in Melbourne. Hosts England are in the finals yet again and have a brilliant chance to win their first World Cup trophy ever.
With this trend started by India, can we say India might have a chance in the 2023 edition of the mega event given that they are all set to play in home conditions?
Perhaps, it is a little too early to say.