Defending champions England had registered a rather unprecedented start to their campaign in the ODI World Cup 2023 as they had suffered their defeat against New Zealand in the very first match of tournament. England, however, returned to winning ways after registering their win in the clash against Bangladesh in their second match. England’s third outing is going to be against Afghanistan on October (15) at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. England’s match against India will be held on October (29) in Lucknow. Ahead of England’s match against India, England pacer Chris Woakes talked about the challenges in India by admitting that it will be hard for them to beat India in their home conditions. 

“It’s an incredibly tough challenge to win in India. I think sub-continental teams will feel more at home with the conditions. That makes it extremely hard for us to knock them off they perch. But we’ve got the squad and the players to be able to compete. People have looked at us for a while and we’ve had a little bit of a target on our back as a white-ball team, around the world,” Chris Woakes was quoted as saying by SkySports. 

During England’s match against New Zealand in the first match of the World Cup, Chris Woakes had been rather expensive with his (45) runs from his (6) overs without taking any wicket. But, Woakes bounced back in England’s second World Cup game against Bangladesh where he had returned with (2) wickets after leaking (49) runs from his (8) overs. Woakes reflected on his bowling as well. 

“I certainly feel that I would’ve liked to have bowled a little bit better but these are long competitions and you don’t want to peak too soon. I have built into tournaments in the past and into series, which I suppose holds me in good stead. But you contribute every time yo go out in the field. So, I will be working hard in practice to try and make sure that I’m on the money,” he said.