7 Mar 2016 | Cricket
The Twenty 20 World Cup is set to begin tomorrow, with world ranked number 1 and tournament hosts India undoubtedly the favourites.
India have been on a roll after beating Australia in Australia, and will be certainly looking to dominate the World Cup in their own backyard, especially after the Asia Cup success yesterday.
MS Dhoni's team will be looking to make the most out of home conditions. They have kept their winning team from the Australian tour and the return of Yuvraj Singh and the inclusion of Hardik Pandya strengthen the team and give them more options as they can both bat and bowl.
The Indian team is in incredible form, so if one fails another takes up the responsibility and steps up to the occasion. But key players to watch out for are Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma who are in tremendous form. Their ability to adapt to different conditions makes them dangerous, so home conditions will definitely be an advantage for them.
Another player to watch out for is Ravichandran Ashwin, the captains go to man. He certainly stands out while playing at home and he showcased a remarkable performance against Sri Lank in India.
If Ashwin is the spin king, then Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah are the pace spear heads. Bumrah has impressed everyone with his unique bowling style and his death bowling along with Nehra who has made picking wickets with the new ball seem very easy.
After crushing the UAE for India's biggest T20I victory in terms of balls remaining, skipper MS Dhoni said, this T20 team can play anywhere in the world.
After yesterday's final, Dhoni was still in the mood for making grandiose statements, primarily as his team had just triumphed in a tournament that featured four of the ten Test nations and he wanted his team to be the best.
It's a special win, said Dhoni after his team lifted the Asia Cup trophy for the sixth time, beating Bangladesh by 8 wickets in Dhaka with 7 balls remaining.
Recently if you see there have not been too many tournaments where three nations have participated. Asia Cup is one tournament that happens every alternate year. So you don't get a lot of opportunity. Once you get an opportunity, it is important to get to the final and once you are there you look to win.
Twenty20 cricket is unpredictable format of the game, but India's performances and home advantage will stand India in good stead. The opponent's ability to adapt to the Indian conditions will play a vital role to stopping the hosts, but on any given day any side can be dangerous and in this shortened version of the game an individual can be a game changer.
Whilst the top teams are still to play warm-up games, the 2016 ICC Twenty20 World Cup gets under way tomorrow with Zimbabwe v Hong Kong before Scotland play Afghanistan.