Former Australia captain turned cricket commentator Michael Clarke has picked Team India as a possible threat for Australia in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024, slated to take place in the West Indies and the USA on June 1.
Team India has been considered among the strong favourites to win the T20 World Cup this time. The Men in Blue are clubbed in Group A alongside hosts USA, arch-rivals Pakistan, Ireland and Canada.
Rohit Sharma and his boys already landed in New York after their IPL duties. They began their preparation ahead of the warm-up match against Bangladesh at the newly built Nassau International Cricket Stadium on June 1.
Speaking on his ESPN Australia, Michael Clarke reckons that India might a pose threat to Australia's chances to winning the coveted trophy. He added that the Men in Blue are favourites to win the T20 World Cup due to amount of preparation the the selected players have had before the event.
"If you look at the favourites for the World Cup it's got to be India just because of the amount of cricket they have played, their preparation has been outstanding. Conditions are different in Caribbean and America to India but there are a lot of similarities so the players would be used to that." Clarke said (17.50)
The majority of the players picked in the India squad for the T20 World Cup had actively played in the recently concluded IPL 2024. The likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jasprit Bumrah, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube and others received gametime by playing in the 17th edition of the cash-rich T20 League.
'India have taken risk with the squad': Michael Clarke
2015 Australia World Cup-winning captain Michael Clarke believes that India took a lot of risk with the squad by selecting spin-bowling line-up. He added that India picked the squad keeping in mind the spin bowling conditions in the West Indies.
"Other reason is that I think India have taken a risk with the squad they have picked, heavily reliant on spin, very different from Australia." Clarke said.
"But in the conditions that I have experienced in the Caribbean I think how you play spin is going to be a huge part of whether you succeed or not. India are the biggest threat for me with regards to who is going to win the World Cup." he concluded.
India picked Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel as spin-bowling all-rounders, while Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav as specialist spinners in the squad for the T20 World Cup 2024.
