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The seventh edition of the showpiece Twenty20 World Cup was set
to take place in India, but a COVID-19 surge in the country
forced it to relocate. The tournament will begin on Sunday with
co-hosts Oman playing debutants Papua New Guinea in a
preliminary Group B match in Muscat.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host the Super 12 stage and the
knockout matches across three venues -- Dubai, Sharjah and Abu
Dhabi -- with 70% fan capacity.
The 16-team tournament is the biggest global cricket event since
the COVID-19 pandemic struck and the event had to be shifted
even though the Indian board retains its host status.
Kohli will step down as India's Twenty20 captain after the
tournament and his team mates will hope to give him, and
outgoing head coach Ravi Shastri, a fitting farewell. Each
member of the team has played the UAE leg of the Indian Premier
League (IPL) and are familiar with local conditions.
Kohli will be able to tap into the experience of team mentor
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who led India to the inaugural title in
2007.
England will be out to become world champions in both white-ball
formats two years after winning their maiden 50-overs World Cup
under Eoin Morgan.
Morgan has endured a lean IPL, and they will be without
explosive all-rounder Ben Stokes, who is addressing mental
health issues, as well as injured fast bowler Jofra Archer.
Bowling all-rounder Chris Jordan believes they still have the
"talent and chemistry" to win a second world 20-overs title.
"Having been together for so long, the chemistry is there, the
talent is there - all the ingredients are there for us to make a
decent run in this campaign," said Jordan. "The squad is very,
very strong and I am pretty optimistic."
T20 MERCENARIES
West Indies, the only team to have won the tournament twice,
will once again bank on their awe-inspiring bunch of Twenty20
mercenaries, cricketing guns-for-hire who ply their trade in the
world's lucrative T20 competitions, to accomplish a treble.
Captain Kieron Pollard and fellow all-rounders Andre Russell and
Dwayne Bravo are the three pillars of a side teeming with
match-winners.
New Zealand have reached the final in three of the last four
global tournaments and the reigning world test champions under
Kane Williamson are once again strong title contenders.
Aaron Finch's Australia will be hunting for the one major trophy
that has eluded them but their recent form does not inspire
confidence.
They head into the tournament having lost their last five
Twenty20 series, including a 4-1 thumping of their depleted team
in Bangladesh. Former champions Pakistan will enter the
tournament slightly undercooked but motivation will be high.
Babar Azam and his team mates were outraged when New Zealand and
England pulled out of their Pakistan tour over security
concerns, and plan to channel their anger to improve their
performance on the field. Afghanistan had an even more
tumultuous buildup since the Taliban swept to power in August.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Toby
Davis)
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