The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 starts from Sunday with eight teams vying to make it the Super-12 stage, hoping to fill the four vacant spots. Among these teams are West Indies, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Ireland, UAE, Namibia, The Netherlands and Scotland.
Eight teams who have already qualified for the Super-12 stage include host Australia, India, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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Among the favourites are India who last won the showpiece event way back in 2007 when the first edition of the tournament was played. Under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, India will also be hoping to end their long wait for an ICC title which they haven’t been able to win since the Champions Trophy in 2013.
India have been pooled alongside Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh and two qualifiers in Group 2. While the route to the semi-finals isn’t easy, former the legendary Gautam Gambhir thinks that India’s biggest threat will not be from Sri Lanka – a team that will have to go through the qualifiers to make it to the tournament proper.
And Gambhir is basing his argument on Sri Lanka’s recent success over India at the Asia Cup 2022.
“Sri Lanka, because of the kind of success they have had at the Asia Cup. The way they are playing, the way they are probably peaking at the right time," Gambhir said on Star Sports show Game Plan.
“And with (Dushmantha) Chameera and Lahiru Kumara coming in, they probably got most of their places covered. They are going to be a threat and so they are going to take a lot of confidence in the T20 World Cup," he added.
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Gambhir also thinks that T20 is a more open format where the reputation of teams don’t matter much. Hence, every team has to be at their best no matter if they are playing against an opponent perceived to be weak.
“Just like any other game, just like against Pakistan, South Africa or any other game. No team can be taken lightly especially in a format like T20, because in a T20, the shorter the format, any team can upset anyone," Gambhir said.
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