Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has added that the 2024 T20 World Cup gives a great opportunity for England to become the first team to retain the title in the shortest format. He shared that it will be a massive test for them as they endured a poor run in last year’s ODI World Cup as well. England will face Australia in their second Group B game in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday, June 8 as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “What is the opportunity? There hasn’t been a team to date that has successfully defended their T20 World Cup title. So it’s going to be a litmus test for them because the ODI World Cup was not good for this team. It was a well below-par World Cup. They have reached here with an almost similar team to the one that played two years ago.”
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“Is there any weakness visible? In the spin department, who apart from Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali? Moeen Ali is not bowling that much. It seems like they might be a spinner short because they are forced to bowl Liam Livingstone a lot. They can also get Will Jacks to bowl but do they lack a little in spin bowling variation? Is that a slight weakness?” Chopra shared.
However, Aakash Chopra also stated that Saturday’s clash against Australia is crucial for England. He added that a loss against Australia will virtually leave the two-time champions with no further chances of a slip-up as well. He also chose England’s batting depth as their biggest
strength too.
“This is a very good side. There is a lot of depth in batting. This team’s biggest strength is the depth in batting because Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow down the order, Will Jacks in the middle, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Chris Jordan – they have plenty of firepower available to them. After that, they have all-rounders. All keepers are proper batters. Then they have Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone and Will Jacks as all-rounders. In fact, people also call Chris Jordan an all-rounder. They have variation in pace, whether it is Mark Wood’s pace, Jofra Archer’s sharpness, Chris Jordan’s death bowling, and Sam Curran. So they have the variety in pace,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
