India, Pakistan not favourites to win 2023 World Cup, hints Sangakkara

Teams from the subcontinent, including Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and India, won't be favorites to win the ODI World Cup, which will be played during the months of October and November this year, said former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara.

Speaking on a Star Sports show, Sangakkara claimed that the non-Asian teams have made significant improvement in their game against spin, which was unheard of even ten years ago.

"I think cricket's changed quite a lot since 2011, in those days I would say that in Asian conditions, it favours the subcontinental players. But over the years I think that England, Australia, New Zealand have learnt to play spin a lot better than even the subcontinental sides," he said.

The Lankan great added that the likes of Glenn Maxwell and Jonny Bairstow have a lot of the options against spin now and can negate spin better than a lot of subcontinent players. 

"You see a lot of reverse sweeps, paddle shots and sweeps, all of these new strokes using their feet. I think that has revolutionised the way we look at cricket in the subcontinent. IPL has helped a lot in terms of exposure as well," Sangakkara stated.

India won the World Cup the last time the tournament was played in the subcontinent.