There are no Underdogs in ICC T20 World Cup 2022

The initial stage of the ICC T20 World cup in Australia has come to an end and the tournament has already provided some breathtaking matches as well as unbelievable results. The first match of the qualifying stages saw a number of “upsets” taking place.

2014 T20 world cup champions Sri-Lanka suffered an unexpected loss to the hands of Namibia and the last match ended with Ireland dumping 2-time champions West Indies to secure a berth in the Super 12s. Exit of the most successful nation in the history of the competition – West Indies is a clear indication that there are no favorites and  heavyweights in the T20 world cup this year.

At the end of the qualifying stages, Sri-Lanka, Netherlands, Zimbabwe and Ireland have joined the other 8 teams in two respective groups A and B. Five of the six games in the qualifiers were won by the team batting first but all of them were played at Kardinia Park, Geelong, which will not feature any Super 12 fixture.

Earlier today in the opener of the Super 12s of T20 world cup, New Zealand thumped defending champions Australia by 89 runs, which was the Kiwis’ first win at the end land down under in 11 years. However, in this match too, the winner was the team that batted first. Youngster Finn Allen and Devon Conway gave the Blackcaps’ a perfect start as the latter smashed 42 off 16 balls with a daunting strike rate of 262.50.

Conway on the other end remained 92 not out and helped New Zealand put up a total of 200 runs. In response, the Aussies managed to put up only 111 runs on the score board as the bowling line-up of Trent Boult (24/2), Tim Southee (6/3), Mitchell Santner (31/3), Lockie Ferguson (1/20) and Ish Sodhi (29/1) bamboozled the Australian batting line-up.

Tomorrow is perhaps going to be the most awaited moment for cricket fans as India will meet Pakistan for the 7th time in a T20 World cup with the Blues winning 4 and Pakistan with a single win last year. Only one of the 6 fixtures ended in a tie and the Indian side led by Rohit Sharma will look to forget last year’s loss.

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