Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg has predicted that West Indies, England, India, and Pakistan will be the four semi-finalists of the T20 World Cup.
West Indies is always one of the dark horses of the tournament but they aren’t in the best of forms as they lost both of their warm-up matches.
England is currently the number one T20I team in the ICC rankings and is known to play aggressive cricket. West Indies and England were the finalists in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup in 2016.
India is also one of the favorites to go all the way and they have a potent team, which can collectively deliver the goods. Pakistan is also one of the unpredictable teams and they can surprise any opposition on their day.
Brad said while talking to Deep Dasgupta YouTube show Deep Point, “The teams that I think are going to go to the semis are England and the West Indies from Group 1 and from Group 2 I think it’s going to be Pakistan and India.
On the other hand, India and Pakistan will begin their T20 World Cup campaign at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on 24th October in a high-octane match. Hogg reckons that Pakistan would struggle to make it to the last four of the tourney if they go on to lose their opening game against India. India has a 5-0 advantage over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup fixtures.
“If Pakistan gets beaten by India in the first game, they’ve got a short turnaround to play New Zealand. I think that will be a huge factor in whether Pakistan goes through or not. If Pakistan loses against India in the first game, I don’t think they will get through, India will get through. So watch that space.”
Both Indian and Pakistan will look to get off to a winning start in the T20 World Cup and it would be interesting to note which team will handle the pressure better than the other.
