• Source:JND
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JE Sports Desk: Indian stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli shared their opinions as the schedule for the 50 Over World Cup 2023 got announced on Tuesday in an event organised by ICC (International Cricket Council) in Mumbai.

The hosts will play all their nine league matches at different venues including the new Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.

The Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said he was hoping his team would live up to the expectations of the home crowd.

"It's going to be a great experience playing in the World Cup at home. India won here 12 years ago, and I know fans nationwide can't wait for us to take the field this time. This World Cup is going to be very competitive as the game has become faster and teams are playing more positively than ever before," Rohit was quoted as saying in an ICC release.

The Indian skipper said he was hoping his team would live up to the expectations of the home crowd.

"All this augurs well for fans worldwide, promising them many thrilling moments. We look forward to preparing well and being at our best this October-November," he added.

On the other hand, former captain Virat Kohli stated that he is looking to forward to play at the iconic Wankhede stadium in the World Cup.

“Amazing, I’ve played one already but I was 23 at the time, I didn’t probably have an idea of the expectations on the senior players but now being a senior myself, I can understand what they went through and how special it is to play a home World Cup. How excited people are going to be, so it’s an experience that everyone wants to have in their career and I’m getting to do it twice to I’m really happy," said Virat.

“Personally I’m looking forward to playing in Mumbai, fond memories of the finals in 2011 obviously, and it’d be great to experience that atmosphere again. I think cricket blends perfectly into the fabric of our culture that is precisely why you see so much passion when it comes to Indian cricket because people live the game at home," added Kohli.

“For us at the end of the day we’re going out to our job but it’s a lot more than that, when we grow up and start playing the game it’s purely down to the fact that there are so many people who love the game, look at the game. That amount energy invested into one thing obviously grows the importance of that particular thing tenfolds. Even we as cricketers value it so much because there’s so much competition we go throw from young age groups to make our way to the top so we’re absolutely committed to doing everything for the game," Kohli stated further.

India will start their tournament against Australia on October 8 at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.