Legendary Pakistan cricketer Wasim Akram named all-rounder Hardik Pandya as India’s “main weapon” for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

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Wasim Akram spoke about the hosts’ chances of winning the world championship and its players to look out for on the Indian sports channel Star Sports.

He believes Hardik Pandya will play a key role for the side in its quest for the third 50-over world title.

“He (Hardik Pandya) is their main weapon in the upcoming World Cup and India are one of the favourite teams to win it,” he said. “For starters, they are playing at home and we have seen what they can do with the ball.”

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Wasim Akram’s praise for India’s star all-rounder comes after the latter’s brilliant spell in the Asia Cup 2023 final against co-hosts Sri Lanka. The side outplayed Dasun Shanaka’s team by ten wickets in the fixture to clinch their eighth title in the regional championship.

He was impressive in the summit clash, as his dismissals of Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, and Matheesha Pathirana helped the side dismiss the co-hosts for 50 runs.

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Hardik Pandya’s overall performance in the Asia Cup 2023 was impressive as he scored 92 runs and took six wickets for the side.

India will start their ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 campaign when they play Australia on October 8. They will take on Afghanistan on October 11, before taking on arch-rivals Pakistan on October 14.

The hosts will play Bangladesh on October 19 and 2019 finalists New Zealand on October 22. Their fixtures against reigning champions England and Sri Lanka would be contested on October 29 and November 2 respectively.

They take on South Africa on November 5 before going up against the Netherlands in their final round-robin stage fixture on November 12.