Former Australian all-rounder, Shane Watson was recently asked to pick five cricketers who will be the best performers in the upcoming T20 World Cup in October and he made some bold predictions. Perhaps his least surprising selection was Babar Azam at the top, given the Pakistani’s record as he is the number one ranked batter in the format. Thus, when Shane Watson was asked to pick five players for a World T20 XI, he had no hesitation in choosing the 27-year-old at the top of his list.

As per the quotes in NDTV, in the ICC review, Shane Watson said, “First one I’d pick would be Babar Azam. He’s the No. 1 T20I batter in the world, and he just knows how to dominate. It’s like he’s not even taking any risks, and he scores incredibly quickly against the best bowlers in the world. He’s going to do very well in Australian conditions (during the T20 World Cup) as well, as his technique is very much built for Australian conditions.”

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The Indian batter, Suryakumar Yadav was the next pick for Watson as the former has cemented his place in the T20I squad amidst unparalleled competition. His career strike rate of 175.45 is simply unheard of, giving him the edge in the explosive format.

Talking about Yadav, Shane Watson said, “He’s batting incredibly well, and he would be my No.2 pick. But I wouldn’t be surprised at all if KL Rahul explodes in the T20 World Cup in Australia because he’s got the game to dominate in these conditions in Australia.”

Australia will go into the tournament as firm favorites, thereby making David Warner an obvious pick. England’s Jos Buttler was the penultimate name amongst the top five for Watson, given his ground-breaking performance in the Indian Premier League’s latest edition.

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Shane Watson concluded by stating, “And the last one is Shaheen Afridi. We saw in the last men’s T20 World Cup his ability to be able to get the best batsmen out with that brand new ball. I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t really dominate in Australian conditions, with the ball swinging around and fast, bouncy wickets. My only a little concern with him is, if he doesn’t take wickets to start with, then he can tail off a little bit. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t dominate here.”