T20 World Cup: 5 reasons why England could lift this year’s T20 World Cup

After adding the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in their trophy case, England is in a prime position to win this year’s T20 World Cup.  

The ruthlessness of the England cricket team was showcased in the first match of their T20 World Cup campaign against the two-time T20 World Cup winners, West Indies. The defending champions failed to establish their dominance against a very motivated, agile and versatile England bowling attack and were bowled out for a paltry score of 55.

In their second match, England managed to subdue the Bangladeshi batsmen to 124. Adding another victory in their pursuit of glory, here are five reasons why this side could very well be the favourites to lift their second T20 World Cup:

ICC Men’s World Cup winners

On July 14, 2019, England lifted the ICC Men’s World Cup and became kings of the One Day International format. England has 9 players from that world cup winning squad in this year’s T20 World Cup which means that majority of these players have first-hand and most recent experience in competing and winning a major cricket tournament. Furthermore, they are under the leadership of the same captain in the form of Eoin Morgan.

The top-ranked team in T20Is

According to ICC’s T20I rankings, England sit at the top with a rating of 278 giving them an edge over second-place India. Furthermore, their ranking also merits consistency as they have stayed first since Dec 2020 (10 months).

7 T20I series victories since 2018

Ever since the start of the 2018 cricketing season, Morgan’s side have played 10 T20 International bilateral series, winning 7 of them and drawing one. Their victories have come against well established T20 sides such as Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand. The team also got clean sweeps against Sri Lanka, South Africa and West Indies thus cementing their place as one of the most in-form teams of the T20 cricket format.

Dawid Malan – Top Ranked T20I batter

With T20 international average of 43.19 and strike rate of 139, Dawid Malan has been a revelation for the England squad. The 34-year-old has played a pivotal role in England’s rise to the No 1 spot in the ICC T20 team rankings and his services are at Morgan’s disposal for this tournament. The left-handed batsmen finished the match against Bangladesh however, we have yet to see the best of him in 2021.

Malan has yet to express himself at the world cup because of two very low totals to chase but we can expect some fireworks from the best T20I batsman in the world and what better stage to showcase your talent than at the World Cup.

A chance to cement themselves as one of the greatest ever limited-overs team

No team has ever held the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and T20 World Cup at the same time. England have as good a chance as any side ever has to pull it off, going into the tournament as the No.1 team in the world. If they manage to pull this off, this England team could very well be one of the greatest ever limited-overs team.