Former England captain Michael Vaughan has said that he fails to understand how come the Indian team has gotten the tags of being the favorites to win the T20 World Cup 2021 which is being played in UAE and Oman, starting on October 17.
Vaughan said the Virat Kohli-led side ‘has been a long way off’ in their last few tournaments. The former right-handed batter, however, did not dismiss the hosts India completely and added that they can be a threat to England along with West Indies, Pakistan, and New Zealand.
"England for me are the favorites. I don’t know how India gets the “favorites” tag in T20 cricket. I just think they’ve been a long way off in the last few tournaments. West Indies and Pakistan will be threats. I wouldn’t write off Pakistan either. New Zealand has high-class players and you know they will come up with strategies to win games,” Vaughan told BBC Test Match Special.
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"I’ll say it now, I don’t give Australia much chance. In T20 cricket they’ve struggled. Glenn Maxwell’s exceptional so he will have to have an incredible tournament. But I don’t see the Aussies doing too much. England, India, West Indies, New Zealand, one of those four and maybe Pakistan because of the conditions,” Vaughan said.
Michael Vaughan further said that pitches will play a crucial role in the outcome of the tournament. He added that the surfaces will be interesting as they were used for the IPL 2021 and totals like 150-160 will be defendable.
Meanwhile, commenting on his home team England, who are the ODI World champions, but are missing the likes of Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes, Vaughan said that he is confident that England has the goods to go all the way.
“I think T20 is unpredictable because you do need an element of fortune to go your way. In 50-over cricket, the best team generally wins. But in T20 cricket, an individual can have a burst with the bat or ball and win the game. I do think you need some luck. You need your star players to be in fine form, not many of England’s players did much in the IPL,” Vaughan said.
Michael Vaughan also commented on England captain Eoin Morgan, who captained the Kolkata Knight Riders to the final of the IPL 2021, but failed with the bat throughout the tournament.
“Eoin Morgan led Kolkata [Knight Riders] to the final and captained brilliantly, but with the bat he did nothing. England have everything covered. Jofra Archer is a big miss, as is Ben Stokes, but it’s a really strong squad,” he added.
England recently lost their first warmup match to India in Dubai by 7 wickets.
