Former England skipper Michael Atherton has said that England are still the favorites to win the World T20, despite their T20I series loss against India. England lost the series 3-2 but have managed to still hold onto the number one spot in the ICC rankings. India follows them at number two. Englan top the ICC ODI rankings as well with India at number two in the 50-0ver format as well.
Meanwhile, speaking to Metro UK, Michael Atherton has picked his top three teams who can win the World T20 title later this year in India. He has chosen India and West Indies among the top three teams along with England.
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India Are Favorites To Win World T20 Title: Michael Atherton
“I think so. They probably have more strength in depth because of the IPL and the T20 cricket they play and the fact they have just beaten England without probably three main bowlers. Put all those things together, and the fact they are playing at home, then they are the team to beat. It won’t be a cakewalk – England are a very good side and West Indies and other sides are dangerous as well – but if you priced it up, you would say India are favourites” Atherton said.
India were without the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja and still have managed to beat England in the series. Shardul Thakur ended the series with 8 wickets, the most by any bowler. Virat Kohli, on the other hand, has ended as the top-scorer in the series with 231 runs which also included a duck in the first game.
Meanwhile, Indian skipper Virat Kohli also said that England would be the team to beat in the World T20 ahead of the start of the series. England skipper Eoin Morgan spoke about a number of positives from the series loss and pointed out that their bowling in the powerplay was one of the big plus. This was England’s third straight series loss against India in a bilateral series in this format since the World T20 2016.
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