Can England live up the favourite tag?

The team have all the ingredients to become champions

England have been playing top-notch cricket irrespective of the format. The Three Lions will arguably enter the T20 World Cup as the favourites to lift the trophy in Australia.

Initially, after the retirement of their white-ball captain Eoin Morgan, the English side seem to struggle a bit in the shortest format of the game to find their footing under the new leader Jos Buttler and to identify their best XI.

However, during their seven-match series against Pakistan and their three-match campaign against Australia, they seem to have found their winning combination.

The 2010 World T20 Champions are placed in Group A along with the hosts Kangaroos, New Zealand and Afghanistan.

England look like an extremely dangerous outfit with an aggressive batting line, diverse bowling attack and incredible fielding.

The former champions already had flamboyant batters like Buttler, who is the most dangerous white-ball batter at the moment, Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone, while the addition of the experienced opening batter Alex Hales and young Harry Brook makes them look extravagant now.

However, they will surely miss their star batsman Jonny Bairstow, who has suffered a horrifying ankle injury and is ruled out of the World Cup.

Despite missing the wicketkeeper-batter and out-of-form opener Jason Roy, they have enough firepower in the ranks that players like Phil Salt are likely to warm the bench in Australia.

Moreover, they have a good pace bowling attack which will come in handy in Australian conditions. Chris Jordan is exceptional at bowling in death overs, then there is Chris Woakes with his seam and swing, Mark Wood who can bowl in the late 150 mph, clever Sam Curran, Reece Topley and David Willey.

To complement the potent fast bowling attack, leg-spinner Adil Rashid and off-spinner Moeen Ali provide Buttler wicket-taking options in the middle overs.

Then comes Ben Stokes, who is pivotal for England’s success in any format of the game. The 31-year-old gives his team the much-needed balance, flamboyance, a thinking mind and a never-say-die attitude.

Stokes can bowl crucial overs and is a genuine wicket-taker. On the other hand, he is an integral part of their batting line and can play as an aggressor as well as an anchor.

Just like in World Cup 2019, if England are to do well during the campaign, a lot will depend on Stokes. On the downside, the Buttler-led side do not have the most respectable record in T20Is in Australia.

So far, they have played 10 20-over games in Australia and managed to win just three of them whereas they suffered defeats seven times.

However, there is a silver lining there. Almost all the top English players, including the captain, Malan, Livingstone, Hales, Jordan and Curran have a fair bit of experience playing in the Big Bash League, which can help their campaign in the upcoming showpiece event.

Though England are among the favourites to win the title, they were a bit shaky in 2022. They did not have the best of outings, playing 20 T20Is so far in the year and winning just nine of them. On a positive note, they have played all of their games against competitive sides like the West Indies, India, South Africa, Pakistan and Australia, which means they have played high-quality cricket.

Meanwhile, England have quite an impressive record in T20 World Cups overall. The Three Lions have played 38 games and won 18 of them, maintaining a winning percentage of 51.35. They also won the 2010 instalment of the tournament after beating the mighty Aussies in a one-sided final.

This year too, all the predictions made by former players and experts about the top four teams of the tournament feature the English side.

If the Three Lions are able to execute their skills during the campaign, there will be a high probability of making these predictions true.

Squad

Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Alex Hales.

Standby Players: Liam Dawson, Richard Gleeson, Tymal Mills.