The T20 World Cup is the leading event of the year in cricket in 2022. All of the key nations in the sport will be battling it out for the trophy in Australia.
Here is a look at the main contenders for the trophy and who their leading players are with the bat and ball.
Australia
As hosts of the tournament, Australia have a big advantage over their rivals at the T20 World Cup. They will not only be playing on familiar surfaces, but the home crowd will be right behind them. With those factors in mind, they have been made the +300 joint-favorites in thecricket bettingfor the trophy.
Australia are one of the leadingbetting tips on cricketfor the event this year as they showed how good they can be in this format of the game at the last edition in 2021. They defeated Pakistan and New Zealand in the semi-finals and final respectively, before lifting the trophy.
For his super spell of 3/24 👌🏻 Josh Hazelwood is Man of the Match 🌟
How brilliant was he with the ball tonight 😎#VIVOIPL #SRHvCSK
Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/QPrhO4XNVr pic.twitter.com/tON9rIWAli
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) September 30, 2021
The home side has the number-one-ranked bowler in the ICC T20 rankings in Josh Hazelwood. There is also a lot of experience with the bat, as players like Aaron Finch, David Warner and Glenn Maxwell have played so much of this format.
India
Arguably the most in-form T20 team heading into the tournament is India. They arrive after series wins in England and West Indies over the last few months. Rohit Sharma’s side dominated both of those series.
It has now been 15 years since India last won this trophy, which is a huge surprise given how highly they are always ranked in T20 cricket. The number one team in the ICC T20 standings have a fine mix of experience and youth.
Ravindra Jadeja is one of their leading all-rounders and he could be set for a big tournament for his country. The Chennai Super Kings star played a key role with the bat and ball in the West Indies. He is now one of the senior players in this India team, so he will also have some leadership responsibilities on his shoulders this year.
England
England have been so strong in white ball cricket over the last few years. The highlight for them was their Cricket World Cup victory at Lord’s in 2019. They will be hoping for more success in the shorter format this time.
Captain leader legend. Thanks for everything boss pic.twitter.com/U5bMBPbgZI
— Jos Buttler (@josbuttler) June 28, 2022
Jos Buttler is now in charge of the team on the field following Eoin Morgan’s decision to retire from international cricket. The wicket-keeper batsman has some destructive players in his team, with the likes of Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingston and Dawid Malan all capable of producing big performances with the bat.
England do need to bounce back from a disappointing summer in T20 cricket. They were beaten by India and New Zealand on home soil. However, they were missing some key players from those games, so once they have their big stars fully fit again, they should prove to be a match for any team in the competition.
The opening games of the T20 World Cup takes place on October 16 when Sri Lanka host Namibia in Group A.
