India surely one of the favourites to win T20 World Cup 2022: Shahid Afridi

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi feels that India are one of the favourites for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. He called India’s performance in the T20I series in England “outstanding”, following their 49-run win in Edgbaston, Birmingham. India also clinched the series after taking a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Afridi also said that India deserved to win the series and that their bowling performance was impressive. The group stage of the T20 World Cup 2022 is set to commence on October 16, and India are in the same pool as Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Africa in Super 12.

“India have played outstanding cricket and deserve to win the series. Really impressive bowling performance, they’ll surely be one of the favourites for the T20 World Cup in Australia,” Afridi wrote on Twitter.

India have played outstanding cricket and deserve to win the series. Really impressive bowling performance, they'll surely be one of the favourites for the T20 World Cup in Australia https://t.co/5vqgnBYfIX

— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) July 9, 2022

India register fourth-successive T20I series win against England

India won the first T20I by 50 runs in Southampton on Thursday, courtesy of an all-round show by Hardik Pandya, who top-scored with 51 runs and also picked up four wickets in his four overs. India defended a target of 199 and bowled out the hosts for 148 in 19.3 overs. Debutant pacer Arshdeep Singh picked up two wickets for 18 runs with a maiden over in 3.3 overs.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja were back in action for limited-overs for the second T20I. India batted first again and put up a total of 170 with the help of Jadeja’s unbeaten 46 off 29 balls. England’s debutant Richard Gleeson impressed with figures of three wickets for 15 in four overs.

England fell short of their chase yet again, as they were bowled out for 121 in 17 overs. Moeen Ali top-scored for the Three Lions with 35 off 21 balls and David Willey contributed towards the end of the innings with an unbeaten 33 off 22 balls. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the Player of the Match for his bowling performance, picking up three wickets for 15 runs in three overs.

“We were clear what we wanted to do. When you win games, it’s always nice. The group is also confident, which is very important. We will look to continue and focus on what lies ahead. Wanted to see how we do after a win and will look to challenge us as a group,” India skipper Rohit Sharma said in the post-match interview. This was also India’s fourth consecutive T20I series victory over England.