Not India vs Pakistan, South Africa vs Australia, England vs New Zealand! Steyn predicts CWC '23 finalists

The cricketing fraternity is eagerly waiting for the commencement of the ICC ODI World Cup, which gets underway on October 05 in Ahmedabad. The mega event will be held entirely in India. Many former cricketers and experts of the game have shared their predictions for the showpiece tournament. Former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn, who ended his career with 439, 196 and 69 wickets in Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively, has also predicted the finalists of the CWC 2023 edition.

Speaking on Star Sports ahead of the 2023 edition, Steyn said, "It’s a tough one, you know my heart wants to go with South Africa making the final. I would love them to make the final, their team, a lot of their players play in the IPL, they play in India regularly. They got some guys like in David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen who really started to figure out those conditions and bat well there. Then, there is KG Rabada who has been bowling there for ages and a lot of their other senior players have played a lot of cricket there. So I feel like they have got the ability to go on and get to the finals with getting those players."

"I feel like the favourites would probably be India, I feel like India is going to be one of the finalists and probably England. But my heart wants to say South Africa and India but I am kind of leaning towards India and England,” the former South Africa speedsteradded.

In the same discussion, ex-India fast-bowling all-rounder Irfan Pathan has also backed Temba Bavuma & Co. He stated, "See, on logic you can’t drop England from the finalists spot because they have a very strong team, and the way they are playing cricket with their all-rounders like at number 9, they have an all-rounder batsmen like Chris Woakes, so I know that but I have a hunch in my heart which says that South Africa will do great in this World Cup."

South Africa will play two warm-up games -- on September 29 (Friday) versus Afghanistan and October 02 (Monday) versus New Zealand inThiruvananthapuram -- before their CWC '23 opener versus Sri Lanka in New Delhi on October 07 (Saturday). The Proteas are entering the World Cup on the back of a stunning 3-2 ODI series win, at home, over Australia after trailing 0-2.

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