Overwhelming favourites – that was the phrase being bandied about six months ago in connection with India’s chances of winning the forthcoming T20 World Cup on home soil. A few things have changed since then, most notably the fact that the men in blue will no longer be playing in front of packed out stands at Narendra Modi Stadium and Eden Gardens. Still, according to the bookmakers, they remain the team to beat.
Long overdue
India won the inaugural T20 World Cup back in 2007, and have since become the undisputed world leaders in the shortest form of the game. Yet they have only made one subsequent final, losing to Sri Lanka in 2014. Another trophy is long overdue, and is the one thing that’s missing from Virat Kohli’s remarkable list of achievements at the helm.
While they will, of course, miss the home support, India’s star players have the advantage of having played practically all their IPL cricket in the UAE over recent months. It’s even possible that playing without the weight of expectation that comes with 80,000 passionate fans will work in their favour. The fact is this is a team with a level of depth that takes you back to the Australia squad of the 1990s. It’s little wonder that in terms of sports betting odds India are quoted at 5/2 favourites to lift the trophy and are barely better than even money to make the final. Yet we have been down this road before, and there are plenty of teams capable of spoiling the party.
Can England still threaten without Stokes?
Virat Kohli has said several times that England will present the biggest challenge, while Eoin Morgan has been saying exactly the same about India. It’s a bizarre mix of self-depreciation and reverse psychology that is unique to cricket. England certainly proved in the recent series that they have depth of their own, when a whole new XI had to be assembled at short notice after the first choice team went into collective quarantine.
But one man who was present to coalesce the hastily formed team was England’s biggest star, Ben Stokes. The recent announcement that he is taking an indefinite break from the game could be as big a blow as losing the other 10 players at once. Still, most of the major bookies still have England at around 3/1 odds, just behind India.
Never rule out the West Indies
Despite the posturing of “Universe Boss” Chris Gayle, nobody really thought the West Indies had a prayer at the last World Cup. They said the same in 2012. Yet both times, they pitched up and played out of their skin to emerge world champions. Now here we are in 2021, and everyone is writing them off again. Will we never learn?
Gayle turned 41 last year, but his recent performances against Australia show he’s as dangerous a prospect today as he was back in 2007. His talent for hyperbole is also undiminished, and he’d be the first to tell you that at 6/1, the West Indies are the team to back to spoil the party for India.