'Absolute genius thought' - Fans back Ravichandran Ashwin's opinion on why rivals label India as favourites before every major tournament 

India are one of the giants of cricket and for the same reason, they are labelled as favourites before every major international tournament. However, the Men in Blue have yet to win a major trophy since their triumph in the 2013 Champions Trophy. With the 2023 ODI World Cup set to commence on October 5, India, who are hosting the event, will be looking to end their drought but have already been tipped as favourites.

Meanwhile, veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has raised an intriguing point regarding India being considered favourites ahead of every major tournament. The off-spinner, who often shares his views on cricketing topics on his YouTube channel, opined that it is a strategy used by other teams to reduce their pressure and put extra pressure on Team India.

“I know people around the world of cricket will keep saying India are favourites. All the cricketers worldwide will use this as a strategy and say India are favourites before every major event. They use this strategy to reduce their pressure and put extra pressure on us. India could be one of the favourites,” Ashwin said in his recent YouTube video.

Australia also are a powerhouse: Ashwin 

While Ashwin admitted that India are among the favourites, the 36-year-old also said Australia has a high chance of winning the World Cup. "India could well be one of the favourites, but Australia also are a powerhouse," he said. Notably, Australia is in excellent form, having just defeated England in the Ashes 2023 after winning the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 by defeating India in the final.

The right-arm spinner highlighted that sending Team India into the World Cup stress-free could be an integral part of their campaign. "We spoke about the second ODI loss in Barbados. I mentioned that we should back Team India and send them pressure free to the World Cup. Most agreed, but some of them were like, ‘Looks like he is already being cautious about what will happen if Team India doesn’t win and blaming everything on the fans."

Here's how fans reacted to Ravichandran Ashwin's statement: 

This is mainly due to Hubris of Team India Pandya in Press meet said India can easily field multiple team and win matches. May be this is the reason why the pressure is on us but a team believes in process should not unduly worry about pressure Process will absorb pressure

— Venkatraman sreedharan (@Venkatramansre3) August 9, 2023

The way India is playing currently, for sure they are favorites to win next IPL season 😂

— Ibad Ur Rehman 🍥 (@_ibad___) August 9, 2023

Ash spitting facts again

— YATO (@Yato1Gami) August 9, 2023

Words of Ashwin - facts

— 💎 (@iam_so_obsessed) August 9, 2023

Learn to handle pressure then..

— Lubana Warriors (@LovepreetS49) August 9, 2023

Absolute genius thought💭✊

— Mr. satya (@satyaraj45) August 9, 2023

Excuses...

— ѕнιναм (@xshivam1) August 9, 2023

We are favourites until we reach knockouts

— Utkarsh Kumar (@Utkarsh60596795) August 9, 2023

Baat toh sahi hai.

— Jai Kumawat (@JaiKumawat17) August 9, 2023