Top three favorites to win ICC T20 World Cup 2021

The ICC T20 World Cup 2021 is to go ahead as planned in the next half of 2021. When the COVID badly interrupted the sports scenarios across the globe, cricket was affected either.

The ICC T20 World Cup 2020 was scheduled to be played in Australia in September-November, but the global pandemic’s conditions turned the idea down.

International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that ICC T20 WC would be taking place in 2022 as per the new schedule and regulations release.

The teams that were ready to represent their respective countries in the ICC T20 WC 2020 will now be commencing their participation in India in the 2021 version.

Other than this, the ICC Women’s World Cup 2021 was set to take place in February 2021. Amidst the global pandemic, it had turned down either, but the ICC will be planning as per the new agenda as the participants will be decided in 2021.

The official statements of ICC said about the past postponements that,

“There has been no women’s international cricket played since the conclusion of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup earlier this year and due to the varying impact of COVID-19 globally that is likely to remain the situation for a number of the teams,” Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said in a statement.

“Moving the event by 12 months gives all competing teams the chance to play a sufficient level of cricket ahead of both the qualification event and leading into a Cricket World Cup so the integrity of the tournament is maintained.”

Each and every competitor will be looking for a stable tournament stage to reach the playoffs. But here are the top three teams likely to win the massive title

Top three favorites to win ICC T20 World Cup

India:

Team India is currently ranking second on the ICC T20 team rankings table. The Virat Kohli-led side are yet to witness the triumph in any ICC event as, under Kohli, the team has sustained various failures.

Despite reaching the playoffs, final, and being dominant throughout the league or robin hood stage, Kohli is known to fail by the end of any event.

The final defeat against Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy could be unforgettable for Indians. Later, Kohli failed to make it in the semifinal of the ICC World Cup 2019.

Also, the T20 league, IPL, has been witnessing Kohli’s captaincy for more than 8 years. He is yet to win any trophy for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

RCB had been in playoffs and final multiple times but could not conquer the league overall. No doubt, he is the success of all captains with his winning ratios counted among those with bests, but the termination’s severe failures have cost him negatively.

As the ICC Test Championship continues, the final is scheduled between India and New Zealand. India might be seeking revenge on the ICC WC 2019’s semifinal.

If triumph, it will be Kohl’s first win as the captain in any ICC tournament. Despite various defeats in the crucial stages, he might be looking to grasp the first ICC trophy – if not in the Test championship, the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 prolly belongs to India.

Everything aside, India will be advantageous because of having home conditions to bat and bowl on.

Pakistan:

Team Pakistan are known for their ups and downs. No one can forget the comment of Nasser Hussain that came up in the CT17 final. He said that Pakistan Cricket at its best, one minute down, next minute up.

The line is immensely applicable and relatable as per the scenarios one has witnessed in Pakistan’s cricket history. Discussing the T20 cricket, the men in green became the ranked number one ICC T20I team and yield the spot for more than a year.

With as many as eleven consecutive T20I wins, the team’s golden era is unforgettable. No one can deny the proficient captaincy of Sarfaraz Ahmed. He led the team to be the Champions.

The major milestones came under Sarfaraz’s tenure, but the management has been unjust to him. Despite gifting many memorable cricket moments, a few of the mediocre performances brought his downfall.

He was sacked as a captain of all formats and then was removed from the national squads. After a few months, he consistently performed in the domestic, and a surprising fitness level forced the management to take him in the squad.

However, Rizwan, who is known to be Sarfaraz’s level competitor being a mid-order wicketkeeping batsman, Sarfaraz is yet to be in the playing XI after 2019.

Babar Azam, who is the new skipper, is also seeing some bad days. He has been swiped down to the fourth spot in ICC T20I batsman ranking after Aaron Finch from Australia has chased the second position with KL Rahul moving down to three.

He will be leading the team as he was assigned skipper duties after Sarfaraz’s removal. The show is yet to begin for him as Babar is to clinch any biggest victory in all the formats yet.

Although Pakistan thrashed South Africa in the 2021 series, the results were in front of everyone. It cannot go like this in the World Cup as consistency will be highly in demand.

Australia:

Team Australia previously has never won the T20 World Cup editions. They will be looking to clinch the title once again under Aaron Finch’s captaincy.

Recently, Aaron has shown some bombastic performances in the series against New Zealand. Consequently, he has become the world number 2 T20I batsman.

Besides him, Australia has a pile of best bowlers, all-rounders, and batsmen who will contribute to their victory to win the world cup.  They are one of the favorites teams to win the upcoming edition.

They are also the third-ranked T20I team and will be looking for the maiden title. However, the Kangaroos remained the runner-ups of the 2010 season after declaring a defeat against England in West Indies’ stadium. Notably, India and Pakistan have one title each.

Also, see:

Is Shahnawaz Dahani to get his maiden international call?