Virender Sehwag picks T20 World Cup favourites

Though the coronavirus pandemic has put the majority of the sporting events around the world on hold, the cricket fanatics will be hopeful of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to be in full swing as scheduled for October.

On Tuesday, Cricket Australia and the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that the tournament is pretty much on until further notice. Ahead of the mega event, former Indian opener Virender Sehwag was asked about the favourites of the forthcoming T20 World Cup.

The ‘Pandya’ Factor

In reply, the Nawab of Najabgad didn’t clearly go with a specific team but hinted that Team Indian could end up doing really well courtesy the return of star all-rounder Hardik Pandya.

Virender Sehwag believes that Hardik Pandya‘s presence in the playing eleven could be pivotal enough to win his side quite a few games in the tournament going ahead.

Hardik Pandya has recently been in some seriously good form as he smashed a couple of big hundreds om the DY Patil T20 Cup which comes as a breath of fresh air for the Indian fans.

In T20s, one cannot predict favourites. Such is the unpredictable nature of the format, any single player can change the complexion of the game on a given day,” he said. “The return of Hardik Pandya will make a huge difference to the Indian team. The whole combination will change with an all-rounder of the calibre of Hardik.

That being said, the men’s T20 World Cup is, to begin with, a pre-qualifying tournament from October 18-23. Whereas, the main contest kicks off with hosts Australia taking on Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground. As for the Men in Blue, their first game will be against South Africa at the Perth Stadium scheduled for October 24.