Cricket News

Sachin Tendulkar reveals his top four for the 20-20 World Cup 2022, includes Pakistan

Cricket’s all-time great Sachin Tendulkar picked his top four teams for the 20-20 World Cup 2022. The master blaster revealed that he would love to see India lift the 20-20 World Cup. He picked Pakistan and England and the current title holders Australia and also the India team which are currently ranked as the number one T20I side.

The 20-20 World Cup got underway, and the qualifying games have seen a string of upsets with Namibia beating Sri Lanka and Scotland beating West Indies. The Super 12 stage will start on October 22, and it will be a 12-team event with eight teams already having qualified and four teams will come out unscathed from the qualification rounds.

The cricketing pundits have tagged Australia and India as the favourites for the tournament and Tendulkar said that the conditions in Australia will work to the advantage of certain teams only. Sachin went on to say that New Zealand will be the dark horse in the tournament and South Africa cannot be written off as they were born and bred on similar pitches and conditions back home.

Mohammed Shami will fill Jasprit Burmah’s void: Tendulkar

“I would obviously want India to be the champions but my top four would be India, Pakistan, Australia and England. New Zealand are the dark horse as are South Africa… These are the conditions South Africans get to encounter at home in September-October. They are used to such conditions,” Sachin Tendulkar said in an interview with Telegraph India.

He also talked about the impact of spinners in this World Cup which will be interesting to watch. All our three spinners (Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Axar Patel) are impactful. More importantly, they are wicket-takers, and picking wickets in the middle overs will be crucial in Australia. Fortunately, all our spinners are capable of doing that which bodes well for us. He added.

Tendulkar also shared his thoughts on Jasprit Burmah’s absence from the squad, here is what he had to say, Not having one of the best fast bowlers will obviously impact the team. Bumrah has always been someone who has been one of the prime players in the XI, a strike bowler, and a standout performer. But the positive thing is that the team has accepted this and moved on… because you can’t get stuck by setbacks. His replacement, Mohammed Shami, is also experienced and capable, someone who has performed well in the past. He can be a worthy replacement and is already proving to be so.