LETTER TO THE EDITOR: England will be knocked out of WC 2023?

Defending champion England faces the danger of getting eliminated from the ODI World Cup 2023. Another defeat today at the hands of India will virtually knock England out of the tournament. It is sad that a power-packed team, which boasts of having plenty of all-rounders in its ranks, has been relegated to the state of a damaged ship struggling to sail through. As the holders of both ODI and T20 World Cup titles, England entered the 2023 World Cup with great expectations. Their aggressive Bazball approach also allowed them to steamroll opponents with ruthless precision. All these gave them an aura of invincibility, something that the West Indies enjoyed in the 1970s and 80s. But this aggressive approach is woefully missing from the team in this World Cup, and the body language of the English players doesn’t suggest that they are the defending champions. Perhaps one of the main reasons for the team’s lack of confidence is the hammering they received at the hands of New Zealand in the tournament opener—a poetic justice of sorts that has strongly and deservedly pushed them back.

Ranganathan Sivakumar

Chennai