Four Teams That Could Win ICC 2021 T20 World Cup
The ICC 2021 T20 World Cup will start on 17 Oct and will finish on 14 Nov in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Most of the matches will be played between Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, with the ICC T20 Final taking place in Dubai.
Fans will be allowed to attend these games provided they are fully vaccinated as per the laws of the UAE. They will need to wear masks while attending these games but will not interact with the players.
A total of 16 teams will take part in the 2021 T20 World Cup as the ICC looks to foster T20 cricket across the world. We look at the top four teams that have the best odds of winning the ICC 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE.
West Indies
Are the current T20 World Champions and are definitely among the top four teams that can win this T20 World Cup. Will the West Indies be able to win back to back T20 World Cups?
They certainly have the firepower in their squad, which captain Kieron Pollard leads. We think the T20 World Cup squad for the West Indies is packed with explosive batsmen but lacks quality bowlers. The batting department has big hitters like Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, S Hetmyer, Evin Lewis and the captain.
They have world-class all-rounders in Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo. However, when you look at their specialist bowlers, the other sides in the competition will not be shaking in their boots. They will rely on the experience of Ravi Rampaul and a lot of inexperienced bowlers such as Obed McCoy, Hayden Walsh and Oshane Thomas.
Our experts believe that a lack of options in the bowling department will hurt their chances to win the T20 World Cup.
India
Should have been huge betting favorites going into the T20 World Cup as all of the players in their squad have had a lot of match practice in the UAE playing the 2021 IPL. However, most of the T20 World Cup squad players have had a very poor IPL and are struggling to find form.
India’s batting department depends heavily on captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma. These two class players have had a miserable IPL, and their lack of form is a concern for India. It’s just not the two big names that have struggled, but talented batsmen like S Yadav, I Kishan and R Pant have also not been amongst the runs.
India does well in T20 cricket because they can put on a big score when batting first and chase down a total because of the depth in their batting. They also have bowling concerns as their premier all-rounder H Pandya has struggled while their main bowlers, like J Bumrah, R Ashwin and R Jadeja, have had average IPL seasons.
Our experts believe that this dip in form will hurt India’s chances of winning the T20 World Cup.
Australia
No longer have the swagger and reputation that saw them dominate world cricket. Aaron Finch will lead this Australian side that has a nice blend of experience and youth. David Warner, who Sunrisers Hyderabad dropped for his poor form, will open the batting for Australia. Steve Smith also makes his return to the side.
Australia is once again pinning its hopes on the likes of Matthew Wade, Mitchell Marsh, Dan Christian and Glenn Maxwell to help it out in the middle and lower order. The only spark for Australia comes in Maxwell, who has had a great run with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the IPL.
The bowling department looks good with the three quicks M Starc, J Hazelwood and P Cummins, with spinners A Agar, A Zampa and M Swepson.
We think there are too many internal issues going on behind closed doors in the Australian team that will prevent them from going all the way and winning the T20 World Cup.
England
In our books are the betting favorites to win the T20 World Cup. Their captain Eoin Morgan hasn’t been in great form during the IPL, but his leadership skills helped the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to qualify for the IPL playoffs.
They have an explosive batting department with J Bairstow and J Roy at the top of the order, D Malan, J Butler and E Morgan in the middle-order. They will miss B Stokes dearly, but they do have good all-rounders in M Ali and C Woakes. They have a good bowling attack with T20 specialists C Jordan, T Mills and A Rashid.
We are going to back England to win the 2021 T20 World Cup.
