Former England skipper Michael Vaughan is backing Team India to be the “hot favourites” to win the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE and Oman. He was left impressed after India’s display in the two warm-up games they played against England and Australia.
India won both of those games with flying colours. South Africa are the only other team that won both their warm-up games in the lead-up to the tournament.
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After seeing India’s heroic performances in the warm-up games, now Michael Vaughan feels India are the “hot favourites” to win the T20 World Cup 2021.
“The way India are playing the warm-up games suggests they may be now Hot favourites to Win the #T20WorldCup,” he wrote on Twitter.
The way India are playing the warm up games suggests they may be now Hot favourites to Win the #T20WorldCup !!!
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) October 20, 2021
Defending champions West Indies lost both their warm-up games and will be needed to pull their socks up before entering the main tournament. They will be playing England in their campaign opener in Dubai on October 23.
Team India played England in the first warm-up game. They bowled well against an aggressive batting line-up of England. Moeen Ali played a good knock in the death overs to take England’s total to 188/5 in 20 overs.
Indian openers KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan walked out and gave India a flying start. Both of them scored a flamboyant fifty and punished England bowlers with their power-hitting. India won the game by seven wickets and one over to spare.
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In the second game against Australia, India troubled Australian batsmen upfront and dismissed three top-order batsmen inside the powerplay. Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith played good knocks to revive innings. Marcus Stoinis’ finish touch took them to 155 in 20 overs.
Rohit Sharma, after resting in the previous game, walked out with KL Rahul to open. Both of them looked at ease and scored runs easily before Rahul got out for 39. Rohit wasn’t bothered by the departure of his partner and scored a well-paced fifty before retiring out.
Suryakumar Yadav spent some time in the middle and scored runs before Hardik Pandya joined him in the middle. Both of them took India over the line with 13 balls to spare and nine wickets in hand.
