The ICC T20 World Cup 2022 is just around the corner. The tournament is set to start on October 16 with the final scheduled on November 13, 2022. All matches will be held in seven different venues in Australia which are in the cities of Adelaide, Brisbane, Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, and Perth.
It’s a much-awaited cricket event with 16 teams in total, and surely, all of them have taken the time to prepare for this season. Australia is the defending champion this year and since the matches will be held in their backyard, it’s undeniable that they have quite an advantage.
As early as now, Australia is one of the favorites for this tournament. Looking at odds on sports betting sites is a great way to take a look at the latest pulse as of now 10CRIC is providing the best World Cup betting offers and see the favorites and underdogs.
Let’s have a look at how the top teams this season are preparing for the upcoming World Cup:
Australia
Australia won the last T20 World Cup tournament and a month before this year’s season, the team played three T20 Internationals against India. They also played T20 matches against West Indies and England earlier this month.
Before the World Cup, Australia is still set to play more T20 games against England. The last match will be on October 14 in Canberra.
Quite a tight schedule for the team, indeed, but this could very well be the preparation that the team is looking for. The first T20 World Cup match of the team this year will be against New Zealand on October 22 at the SCG.
Here’s Australia’s full lineup this season:
Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, and Adam Zampa.
India
According to India’s Virat Kohli, the team started to prepare for the tournament right after the 50 Over World Cup last year and when they traveled to the West Indies for a 3-match T20 Series. Kohli spoke about their preparations and said,
“The T20 World Cup in 2020 is a big focus for us, and we must use the next 12 months to place ourselves in the best possible position to compete for another major ICC trophy.
“Players will be motivated to take their opportunities when they get selected for the T20I matches to put themselves forward for the T20 World Cup, as we want to have a settled team combination by the time we get to Australia.”
The team’s training in Australia already started last week and their first match will be against their arch-rivals, Pakistan. It will be on October 23 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Here’s India’s lineup this year:
Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, and Arshdeep Singh.
Pakistan
Before the T20 World Cup, Pakistan was in a seven-match series in Karachi against England. England’s favorite cricketer, Buttler, spoke about how Pakistan is a strong team and that they brought them a tough challenge.
Last month, however, Pakistan lost to Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final, but they will likely have to shrug off the disappointment of this to focus on improving their dynamics until the T20 World Cup begins.
Pakistan’s first match in the tournament will be against India, and surely, this is a spectacle for many cricket fans. Here’s Pakistan’s full lineup this year:
Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, and Usman Qadir.
England
The seven-match series in Karachi with Pakistan is also one of the ways that England has prepared for the upcoming World Cup. Jos Buttler is the team’s captain this season.
Buttler spoke about his condition before the tournament. He said, “I’m back to 100%. I had a good time in Pakistan rehabbing and getting back to where I needed to be. I’ve been taking it slow and cautiously – I probably could have played earlier but it just felt like with the World Cup around the corner it was the right thing to do.”
He also spoke about how Australia is quite a challenge for the team. Buttler said, “Australia is one of the favorites for the tournament so it’s a great challenge for us to go up against them and get battle-hardened in Australian conditions, against the team that knows those conditions best, and that will stand us in good stead for the tournament.”
England’s full lineup:
Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Liam Dawson, Richard Gleeson, Alex Hales, Tom Helm, Will Jacks, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Olly Stone, Reece Topley, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Luke Wood, and Mark Wood.
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