Three Favourites to Win T20 World Cup 2024

With the curtains drawn on the IPL 2024, the focus now shifts to yet another showpiece T20 event, the ninth edition of T20 World Cup. It is considered as the pinnacle of the shortest format and will be co-hosted by the West Indies & the USA.

It is set to start on June 1 with USA taking on their neighbours Canada in the opening encounter at Texas. England go into the tournament as the defending champions having won the title for the 2^nd time defeating Pakistan in the final at MCG.

This tourney will be played among 20 countries split into 4 groups. Every team will be vying for the top brass but only among them will walk out of Barbados on June 29 as the T20 World Cup champions.

Like any of the multi-national sporting events, this marquee tournament also has some pre-tournament favourites. This is based on their current form and historical performances over the years.

Here are the teams who will start as favourites to go all the way and clinch the World Cup

Australia

If there is a side that cannot be ruled out of contention in any ICC tournaments, then it must be the Australian cricket team. The winners of the 2021 edition are amidst of a stellar run-in global cricketing events having retained the Ashes away from home, winning the World Test Championship, winning the World Cup and all these happened in 2023.

So, they will be in right frame of mind to add another T20 World Cup to their already glittering trophy cabinet. The Aussies also have in their squad, some of the best T20 players who can take them all the way. These players have plenty of experience playing in different conditions and are versatile to adapt to slow pitches that will be on offer in the Caribbean and USA.

Also, the last time the tournament was played in West Indies back in 2010, Australia emerged the runners-up. So they would want to go one step further this time around. 

T20 World Cup 2024 Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), David Warner, Adam Zampa. 

Travelling reserves: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matthew Short.

England

The three lions in recent times have become one of the strongest teams in white ball cricket, be it the ODI or T20Is. One of the reasons is the batting depth they possess, and they have batters who are coming as low as 10 with great hitting ability. 

These batters have shown the world they can rip aside any bowling attack on their day. At the same time, they have in their arsenal some skilful bowlers who have seen success across the globe. In all, England has a solid team at their disposal and will take short of a triumph in this tournament, especially after their disappointing campaign they had in the 50-overs World Cup last year. 

We shouldn’t also forget the fact that England are the defending champions and will have good memories of playing a World Cup at the Caribbean. In the last T20 World Cup held in the country back in 2010, England were victors beating their rivals Australia in the final.

T20 World Cup 2024 England squad: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood

India

Though an ICC tournament triumph eluded India since the 2013 Champions Trophy, they will start favourites. The reason being is the presence of some of the world class players in all departments of the game and the conditions they will play will make them feel home.

Also, India has reached the knockout in most of the recently concluded ICC events and the only blemish is that they are unable to go all the way and win the elusive trophy. With enough experience in the touring personnel, the inaugural T20 WC champs will be hopeful of a strong show in the Caribbean and USA.

T20 World Cup 2024 India Squad: Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan.

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