Is it coming home, India?

A home-ground privilege, seasoned campaigners in Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, and an overall imposing record this year, it's reasonable to consider that India will enter as outright favourites to lift the ICC Cricket ODI World Cup 2023 trophy, much as they did in 2011.

The ‘fairly-settled' Indian team got its final shape last Thursday as they look to be driving on a smooth highway to the 50-over cricket showpiece after having easily navigated the Australian challenge most recently. Some ropey performances in South Africa and Bangladesh last year were put to one side with an improved display to be ranked the highest in the format, suggesting that it is possible for India's well-travelled combination to get things together at the right moment to challenge for a first World Cup title since 2011.

The Men in Blue have, more often than not, have been able to extract the very most out of their collective talents - batting, bowling, fielding. If anything, India boasts of a stronger squad to call upon than 2019, given the emergence of Shubman Gill to help Rohit and others compile big scores. Especially where Indian conditions will be ideally suited to the team's bevy of dominant batsmen, coach Rahul Dravid is likely to place more onus on the top and middle-order to dig in and keep the runs ticking over at a steady rate.

Team India could be losing its sleep over the gargantuan pressure that a home World Cup brings. More so, because, they are yet to win a World Cup since 2011, were vanquished in the semi-finals in each of the past two editions and also thwarted in the Twenty20 World Cup. It may be noted that India's win in the Asia Cup and the recent three-match Australian series saw a group of men lead from the front in a number of ways, but sadly, they couldn't cement a spot in the final World Cup squad. The pressure is, thus, on India's old guard (Virat and Rohit) to stand tall and deliver in the same way Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni did 12 years ago.

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Sure, Rohit and Co. have the best chance of winning the World Cup on home turf this year. Heavy to very heavy dew is expected in a few venues and if it comes down to chasing totals, other teams could be on their way to losing sleep, fearing India's pinpoint consistency if the top-order gets going. Under these circumstances, the side would be mostly banking on chase master Kohli, who is breathing down Tendulkar's neck with as many as 47 ODI centuries, and is three tons away to get past that mark.

A deep and varied Indian squad with the likes of Gill, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Hardik Pandya, headlined by hitman Rohit and the hostile Kohli, India's top-order line-up is just as formidable as it gets. With the side rolling out its best crop of players this October, fans could be in for a relentless run-feast on flat batting decks with no signs of slowing down.

That ‘too many cooks spoil the broth' must have come out of experience. It could be the same way for India. Because, at times, too many options in the playing XI could do more harm than good.