In the T20 World Cup, Skipper Rohit Sharma and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah to be key for India, according to Glenn McGrath, the iconic Australian speedster.
Also he said that there are no clear favourites. However, both India and Australia have an edge over others in this competition.
Excerpts from an interaction:
On India last playing a competitive T20I five months ago…
A team should be settled, comfortable and self-assured so who is aware whether it will work on their behalf. The players have come out of the IPL, so they have played too much T20 cricket and should be confident there. This one is going to go around Rohit Sharma a lot. He’s a quality player having experience playing different types of games. You need someone to hold the team together.
On India’s pace attack…
You got (Jasprit) Bumrah. He showed just how good he is throughout the IPL. One bowler whom batters find hard to play against and get on top of even in T20s is Bumrah It is also about who is going to take wickets around him; who is going to bowl around him as well?
Having a left-right pace-bowling pair (with Arshdeep in the XI)…
The same as having a left-right opening combination for batters. This also relies on how they bowl. In T20s, you do not have much time to get ready. If you take an over or two to warm up, the game is already over. That’s where you’ll win matches if you’ve got a good opening-bowling combination.
On who the tournament favourites are…
This will be a test of India’s strength. I understand that this is one day cricket but the ODI World Cup showed how powerful India can be. Australia has a strong bowling attack and Mitchell Starc is key to them; hence, he must deliver on bowling for Australia to win this world cup. We saw what Travis Head can do when he catches fire; it was very impressive. The West Indies because they play with no fear and enjoy themselves while at it are my favourite team . You never know with Pakistan, New Zealand is a good team and I don’t think there will be any side that goes unbeaten throughout this event but it’s part of the format.
On top players like Starc mulling retirement from one format to play franchise T20 cricket…
My fear for international cricket in 10 years’ time is immense. I hope Test cricket is still respected highly by all of us globally . It’s simply the way things go now days since everyone wants entertainment always which brings us back to holding international cricket high among senior players and administrators thereof . T20 continues unabatedly . There is so much more gain if this is what we use in taking cricket into numerous other countries
