Australia are the defending T20 World Cup champions (Pictures: Getty)
Former England captains Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton have predicted who will win the ‘pretty open’ T20 World Cup.
Eight teams will begin a short and sharp qualifying stage on Sunday, with the top two teams from either group progressing to the Super 12.
Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa have already qualified for the Super 12 and will battle it out with four more teams for a place in the semi-finals, which take place on November 9-10.
It says something about the unpredictable nature of the T20 World Cup that only one team – West Indies – have won the tournament more than once.
Hosts Australia will aim to become only the second team to achieve the feat, following their triumph in the United Arab Emirates at the end of 2021.
Ex-England captain Atherton believes Australia are ‘justifiable favourites’ but has tipped ‘dark horses’ South Africa to cause an upset and win the tournament for the first time.
South Africa were T20 World Cup semi-finalists in 2009 and 2014 and finished level with both Australia and England in last year’s group stage only to be eliminated due to their inferior run-rate.
Australia is hosting the 2022 T20 World Cup (Picture: Getty)
‘I think it looks a pretty open tournament,’ Atherton said on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast. ‘I know there’s no standout favourite according to the bookies.
‘Every side looks to have some weaknesses. I would say Australia on home turf are probably favourites but if you think about the last tournament, although they won it, you wouldn’t say they were across the board the outstanding side. England smashed them in the group stages.
‘It looks quite open to me and I wonder if there might be a good case for someone like South Africa to come up from the outside.
‘I’m going to take a bit of a flyer and look outside of the top three and go for South Africa. They could be a dark horse and finally break a duck in these events.’
Fellow ex-England batter Hussain also views Australia as a ‘dangerous’ side, especially in home conditions, but has backed Jos Buttler to get his hands on the trophy.
England, champions in this format in 2010, were one of the favourites to win the 2021 T20 World Cup but were beaten in the semi-finals by eventual runners-up New Zealand.
‘Australia look a very, very strong side,’ Hussain said. ‘They look like they’ve got every base covered and on home turf they’re going to be very dangerous.
‘If you look at the odds, Australia are the favourites but England just beat them the other day [in a warm-up match] so I’m going for England.’
Atherton, meanwhile, explained why he does not view New Zealand as one of the main contenders to win the competition.
Like South Africa, New Zealand are also bidding to win their first T20 World Cup, having come so close at the last tournament.
‘They’re extremely consistent but I just have a sense that a few players have lost a bit of form over the 12 months and I wonder about their firepower with the bat,’ Atherton added.
‘They’re going to be competitive and dangerous, I just wonder if they have enough firepower to make it to the final as they did last time.
‘I think England and Australia are the favourites to go through from that group rather than New Zealand. But they’ll be aiming to prove people wrong as always.’
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‘It looks a pretty open tournament.’
