India have the strength and depth to win a T20 World Cup played on spin-friendly tracks

29/05/2024 12:14

They’re used to seeing the ball fly into the stands in the United States with baseball stars like Aaron Judge hitting home runs at an extraordinary rate.

But over the next few weeks cultured sports fans will also watch equally powerful sluggers smash sixes over the boundaries with the likes of India superstar Virat Kohli and Australia dynamo Travis Head taking their outstanding skills to the crease rather than home plate as cricket's T20 World Cup is staged in America and the Caribbean.

Texas, Florida and New York will host matches, with India playing Pakistan on Long Island a week on Sunday, the same time as the Yankees face the Dodgers in the Bronx and the Philadelphia Phillies play a two-game series with the New York Mets at the London Stadium.

Cricket conditions in the States and West Indies are likely to favour spin and that's an incredible bonus for India, still smarting from their shock defeat to Australia in front of 125,000 partisan fans in Ahmedabad in last year's World Cup final in the 50-over format.

They have gone for a spin-heavy bowling line-up with Jasprit Bumrah providing top-class pace and their deep batting is led by Kohli – the top scorer in this year's IPL – captain Rohit Sharma, exciting young talent Yashasvi Jaiswal and the reliable Suryakumar Yadav.

India's strength in depth is so impressive that top-bracket players Shubman Gill and Rinku Singh are reduced to travelling reserves rather than being in the squad and they are worthy favourites at 5/2 with Paddy Power and Betfair.

England, who flopped in the 50-over tournament last year, will miss Ben Stokes' unique ability with bat and ball and despite welcoming the return of Jofra Archer they look a little short of what's required to win for a second time following their 2021 success. 

Australia and South Africa will expect to reach at least the semi-finals as well but don't appear as strong as New Zealand, who consistently punch above their weight. The Black Caps are each-way value at 11/1 with Unibet.

Head recently clobbered 533 runs in 11 IPL matches, just nine behind leading scorer Kohli, and is the value to be the T20 World Cup leading batter at 12/1 with Sky Bet, who offer 10/1 he smashes the most sixes while Bumrah is 8/1 with Paddy Power and Betfair to take the most wickets.

Meanwhile, Surrey are 7/1 with Ladbrokes and Coral to win the Vitality T20 Bash which also starts this weekend.

• Derby favourite City of Troy will be beaten by a stablemate named after the City of Angels with Aidan O'Brien's Los Angeles fancied to enjoy soft going and win Saturday's Epsom Classic at 4/1 with Ladbrokes and Coral. The Irish trainer’s Opera Singer won the Criterium going away from the field over a mile at Longchamp in October and can handle the step up to a mile-and-a-half in the Oaks on the Surrey Downs as her sire Justify won the Belmont over the extended trip. She is worth following each-way at 33/1 with the same two firms.

• Rory McIlroy successfully defended his Wells Fargo title at Quail Hollow earlier this month and can win this week’s Canadian Open, which returns to the Hamilton Golf and Country Club for the first time since the Irish golfer topped the Sunday leaderboard five years ago. He's 4/1 with bet365 while Shane Lowry, who recently won the Zurich Classic with Big Mac before a creditable T6 at the US PGA, is a worth an each-way flutter with the same firm at 20/1. Canada's Nick Taylor sank a 72-foot putt to win a play-off with Tommy Fleetwood 12 months ago and the defending champion, who won the Phoenix Open in February, is 40/1 with bet365. Rookie Mac Meissner, who qualified for the US PGA before finishing T5 in last week's Charles Schwab Challenge can build on his momentum and is our final e/w with bet365 at 60/1.

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