The World T20 is a very open tournament: Faf du Plessis

South African skipper Faf du Plessis has become the latest to state that the Indians are undoubted favorites to win the World T20 2016. The Indians have been tipped to win the World T20 by one and all ever since the tournament has caught wind in the past few months. However, Faf du Plessis took note of the uncertainty factor the shortest format of the game has to offer by saying that it is still an open tournament.

The Indians have been in simply brilliant form with series wins in the Asia Cup and the bilateral series against Australia down under. Their current form has prompted many to deem the Indians favorites for the tournament.

“India are favourites to win the title for the home condition advantage but otherwise it is a very open tournament. The teams in the competition are such any team can beat any team. I think this World T20 is going to be a cracker of an event,” Du Plessis said at press conference here ahead of South Africa’s warm-up game against India at the Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday.

In contrast to the consistent Indians, the Proteas have been highly inconsistent over all formats. With a history of not being able to play the big match to their fullest potential, the infamous ‘chokers’ tag has remained with the South Africans. However, du Plessis reckons that the tag will be shed should they pick up the World T20 title this time around.

“I think if we can get a trophy we can get rid of the tag. In T20 cricket, we do not have much time to think of such stuff.”

“For now this team has not been thinking of that at all and focusing and trying to play some good cricket. And I think in the build up to the World T20, there were lot of pressure moments and this team stood up and played well.”

The South Africans, under the leadership of AB de Villiers in ODIs and du Plessis in T20Is saw them achieve marginal series wins in India during their tour towards the fall of 2015. Faf du Plessis further stated that the Indian conditions are not alien to them anymore while the side is expected to perform well.

“India is no longer foreign conditions to us. We have played lot of international matches and majority of our players play IPL here every year. Our results speak for itself here. We are confident in going into the tournament and doing well if we play to potential.

“The guys we have in our batting make us a real competitor. De Villiers, Miller, De Kock and Morris, Wiese make a better and powerful batting line-up,” Du Plessis concluded.