Australia has a fantastic chance to go down in history as the first team to win back-to-back Twenty20 world championships, but they are up against a difficult opponent in India and England. Since the T20 World Cup began in 2007, Aaron Finch’s team has benefited from being the first champions of cricket’s shortest format to attempt a title defense on home soil. The Australians, who have a star-studded lineup led by David Warner, Pat Cummins, and Glenn Maxwell, also have all but one member of the squad from the UAE team that won the event the previous year.
Finch resigned as one-day captain to concentrate on T20s and said they would be going all out to defend the championship.
“When in doubt, act aggressively. Which is we want to play,” he said.
“That will occasionally carry high risk and a large payoff. It occasionally has no payoff. That is only one element of T20.”
The first qualifying round of the eighth edition of the event begins on Sunday in Geelong, one of the seven locations being used for the 45 matches, with Sri Lanka taking on Namibia and the UAE taking on the Netherlands.
Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Perth, and Sydney will all host games, with the Melbourne Cricket Ground’s enormous stadium hosting the final on November 13 under lights.
Australia will begin their defense against Kane Williamson’s New Zealand in Sydney on October 22. This matchup was a rematch of the 2021 final in Dubai when Mitchell Marsh’s unbeaten 77 helped Australia win by eight wickets.
Despite a few notable absences, India, England, and Australia are the favorites.
On October 22, England will play their opening match against a rapidly developing Afghanistan in Perth. Still, they will be without their top batsman Johnny Bairstow because of a catastrophic leg injury he sustained in a “freak accident” on the golf course.
A thrilling matchup between India and Pakistan, the 2009 winners, is scheduled for 24 hours later in Melbourne, with more than 90,000 spectators anticipated.
Last week, India was dealt a devastating blow when pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was forced to withdraw from the World Cup due to a back ailment, further reducing the resources of a squad that has struggled in the T20 format’s closing overs.
Additionally absent is all-arounder Ravindra Jadeja due to a knee issue.
Although Rohit Sharma’s team is rated first, they haven’t won the T20 championship since 2007 and didn’t get past the previous semifinals.
As for their bowling, swashbuckling opener Rohit Sharma stated, “Areas of worry, we have to examine at our bowling, what additional alternatives we can find in the powerplay, middle, and death.” Sharma and run machine Virat Kohli will be crucial to their prospects.
It won’t be easy, and we need to find solutions. We are currently working on it.
Threat from England: World No. 2 England, who defeated Australia on Sunday in a warm-up game, is a serious contender for their first championship since 2010.
They won 4-3 in Pakistan and are now in Australia. Captain Jos Buttler was present but did not participate in the series because of a calf injury.
He believed that not playing had advantages even though he was fit to participate in the World Cup.
He told reporters, “I’ve learned a lot by listening to the group and seeing how they do things, watching without as much passion as when you are participating and thinking about what you would do at various moments.
The West Indies, the only team to win the title twice (in 2012 and 2016), were shocked to discover that they did not automatically advance to the Super 12 round because they were not one of the top eight ICC teams at the time.
After Andre Russell was passed over and several veterans decided to call it quits on their international careers, Nicholas Pooran is in charge of an inexperienced team.
They face Scotland on October 17 and are partnered with Ireland, Zimbabwe, and Scotland.
Even though they are now placed eighth and have been drawn into a preliminary bracket alongside Namibia, Netherlands, and UAE, newly crowned Asian champions Sri Lanka are in the same situation.
In Group 1, the top four finishers join the Super 12 countries, while in Group 2, the top four finishers join Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and South Africa.
