Team India, under the leadership of MS Dhoni, were the first ever side to win an ODI World Cup trophy at home in 2011, thus kicking off a trend where hosts have emerged as champions – Australian in 2015 and England in 2019. Veteran India spinner R Ashwin sees no “rocket science” in this as he hails the Rohit Sharma-led side as the “firm favourites” heading into the 2023 World Cup, which will be held in India. However, in further elaborating his point, he admitted that “India going to be a bit of short-changed”.

Team India have their ODI World Cup preparations right in place. After beating Bangladesh last month, they whitewashed Sri Lanka at home and now have a 1-0 lead in the three-match contest against New Zealand, the runners-up from 2019 World Cup.

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Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin highlighted India’s “impressive” home record since the last World Cup, winning against all teams who have visited the country during the period. However, he reminded that unlike in countries like Australia and England, who have only a handful of venues to play in, India played all their 18 ODIs at home in 14 different venues.

“India’s ODI home record ever since the 2019 World Cup finished is extremely impressive. India has won against every team that’s traveled to India in this space, which are West Indies, Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka. India’s home record is 14-4 in this space [since 2019 World Cup], which is a 78 to 80 percent win record in India. All of these 18 ODIs have happened in different venues every single time (14 venues). If you have to compare the same spree with Australia or England, the venues are pretty stock standard. They play all their Test matches at 4-5 venues, the ODIs are played in 2-3 venues and so they know their venues are the back of their hand, ,” he said.

Elaborating his point on the number of venues that the team has played in at home, he feels that “India are going to be a bit of short-changed”, explaining the wickets are different at each venues.

“Since 2011 World Cup, all teams have managed to win their home World Cup – India, then Australia in 2015 and England in 2019. This is no rocket science, knowing your conditions is extremely important. However, for India, in this regard is going to be a bit of short-changed because of the number of venues we play these games in. Every single time you play in some of these venues the wickets are going to be different. India does not have a stock standard Test, ODI or T20I season. You don’t know how the FTP is going to pan out but it gets hard from the team or player’s perspective,” he said.

Ashwin also spoke about the four losses India incurred at home during this period.

“The four losses that I mentioned have happened in Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Lucknow. It’s all evening in the evening. Largely, India have batted first and posted a score that they believe is par and par-plus.”