The T20 World Cup is being played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from the 17th of October until the 14th of November. It was originally meant to be played in India, but like the Indian Premier League, it was moved to the UAE due to pandemic issues across India. In this article, we are going to provide you with our own T20 World Cup prediction.
2021 T20 World Cup Format
The 2021 T20 World Cup is made up of two rounds. The first round is made up of 12 games between the teams Ireland, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Scotland, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, and Oman. These eight teams have been split into two groups of four, and the top two in each group will advance to the Super 12s, which are scheduled to start from the 24th of October. Group A will be made up of Ireland, Namibia, Netherlands, and Sri Lanka, while Group B will be made up of Bangladesh, Oman, Papua New Guinea, and Scotland.
The Super 12s stage will be split up into two groups with six teams, and each team will play each other once. Group 1 is made up of Australia, England, South Africa, and the West Indies. The winner from Group A and the runner-up from Group B will join this group. Group 2 is made up of Afghanistan, India, New Zealand, and Pakistan. The runner-up from Group A and the winner from Group B will join this group. Once all matches have been played, the winner of Group 1 will play the runner-up from Group 2, while the winner of Group 2 will play the runner-up from Group 1 in the semi-finals.
Who Will Lift the Trophy?
Go onto any sports betting site and you will see that England and India are the favourites to win the competition, although the West Indies will be aiming to become the first country to win the trophy three times – they are the reigning champions after having beaten England in 2016 final when Carlos Braithwaite took Ben Stokes apart in the final over of the match by hitting him for four huge sixes. With the way he was hitting the ball, it was surprising that he did not add his name to the list of international players that have hit six sixes in an over.
It is no surprise that India is one of the favourites to lift the trophy as they have a side that is full of stars that have a lot of experience playing cricket in the UAE. With the 2020 IPL has just concluded in the UAE just before the World Cup starts, the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, and KL Rahul will all have plenty of practice under their belts. Kohli will captain the side and will be hoping to steer India to their second T20 World Cup trophy.
England will enter the competition with plenty of confidence, although they will be wary of the conditions. In the shape of Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, and Jason Roy they have some of the most brutal hitters in the game that can score quickly, but they all have something in common and that is that they can struggle when facing spin. Dawid Malan is probably England’s best player of spin, and as the current number one T20 batsman in the world, Morgan will be hoping to see plenty of fireworks from him. In Adil Rashid, England has one of the best spinners in the world at the moment, and England’s opponents will be wary of him.
The West Indies, led by Kieron Pollard, have been in the great T20 form as of late, and they will be quietly confident that they have what it takes to defend the title they won five years ago. They have a very strong batting line-up and all-rounders that could walk into most international T20 teams. With the likes of Andre Russell, Chris Gayle, and Dwayne Bravo, they have players who can hit a long ball and dominate bowling attacks. However, a common criticism of this West Indies side is that they rely too much on hitting boundaries – they use up too many balls trying to get big scores, so can struggle against quality bowling to produce a meaningful total. Being able to keep the scoreboard ticking over with ones and twos is a very important quality to have.
The Aussies come into this competition with inconsistent form and will be looking to get a bit of revenge for their 4-1 defeat to the West Indies this summer. They need to find a way to get the best from Ashton Agar, whose batting ability makes him an important part of this T20 side. If the likes of David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steve Smith, and Glenn Maxwell all fire, then the Aussies can hit some pretty demanding totals. Then, with the likes of Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, and Josh Hazelwood, they would back themselves to defend the total.
The title of dark horses has to go to Afghanistan. They are improving all of the time, and many of their players are no strangers to playing in the UAE. They will definitely be backing themselves to cause an upset or two in Group 2. It is highly unlikely that they will go on to win the trophy, but we would not be too surprised if they earned a semi-final spot over the likes of New Zealand or Pakistan. If they are to cause an upset, they will need the mercurial Rashid Khan to be at the top of his game.
So, when it comes down to T20 World Cup betting, who is our money on to be the T20 World Cup winner? Well, it really is hard to look past one of the favourites. After checking many expert T20 World Cup prediction sites, we are confident to put our money on India to lift the title, simply because they have players who have a lot of experience playing in the UAE. If the competition was being played in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, or England then we would back England to win the title, but we think they might struggle with the spin in the UAE. So, yeah, our money is on India claiming their second T20 title.