‘Terrific’ Indian side favourites to win T20 World Cup 2021: Steve Smith

Team India’s preparations for the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 are indeed on song. The Virat Kohli-led side thumped England and Australia in warm-up matches and would be confident ahead of the group stages. Even Steve Smith feels the Men in Blue are the favourites to get the glory this time around. The veteran Australian batter said the Indian side is studded with several match-winners and would be a team to beat in the competition.

Smith’s comments after Australia suffered a nine-wicket defeat against India in the warm-up game on Wednesday (October 20). The Indian bowlers did pretty well to restrict Australia to 152/5 at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai. India’s chase couldn’t have been smoother as the likes of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Suryakumar Yadav tormented Aussie bowlers. As a result, the Men in Blue crossed the line in mere 17.5 overs.

There are some serious match-winners in the Indian side: Steve Smith

Smith, in an interaction after the game, said India have got all the bases covered and they would be a force to reckon with in the competition. “They (India) are a terrific side, they have got all bases covered and some serious match winners in there,” Smith was quoted as saying by ‘Sydney Morning Herald’.

“They’ve obviously been playing in these conditions during the last couple of months with the IPL so they’ll be used to that,” he added. Meanwhile, Smith did well in the practice fixture, albeit of his side’s dismal show.  The former Aussie skipper scored 57 off 48 deliveries before falling prey to Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Besides him, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis scored 37 and 41 respectively. Notably, the seasoned batter crossed the 50-run mark for the first time since he struck 86 for New South Wales against Queensland in March this year. Speaking of his performance, the 32-year-old it was good to spend time in the middle.

“It was nice to spend a bit of time in the middle again. It’s never easy when you’re three down. You have to rebuild for a period there and I thought we did that pretty well. The partnerships with Stoinis (Marcus Stoinis) and Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) were obviously important,” he asserted.