I don’t think so. No team can be favourite in a Twenty 20 Cup. Never mind their last unexpected victory in ICC T20 World Cup in South Africa; they will have to bring both luck and pluck to do an encore. They might run out of both in this edition.
The favourite tag doesn’t suit the Indians. There haven’t been many occasions either. The last one I remember is at Asia Cup, 2004, where they bungled big time. Also, the team doesn’t look to be in cohesive and full force. Somewhere there is a hollow. Captain has started losing his cool (first noticed in IPL). Veeru is rendered hors de combat. Gambhir seems to have slowed off. But the most noticeable loophole is the bowling. Never a great force, the bowling looks even weaker, read floggable, in this format. Irfan Pathan is an apple pie thrower to even the dunce. The fielding is OK, read better than Pakistan’s, but that too can explode on any big day. So, how can they win?
But if they do win, that will be a feat bravura. Australia’s three successive ODI World Cup triumphs too might look smaller then. But will it happen? Let me ponder more on it with the India-Ireland match that is due to start now after the rain-delay.
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