My heart says England . . . my head says India
IndIa have five or six batters of the highest quality and Virat Kohli, who is back to his best, is the obvious dangerman. I was surprised Rishabh Pant was not playing in the early stages, but he returned against Zimbabwe and I’m sure he will be there against England tomorrow. Suryakumar Yadav is getting a lot of attention but he has been in the India team for a couple of years now and has been a real star in the IPL. It’s not like he has emerged overnight. There is no doubt he is a quality player and at 32 has plenty of experience.
When I coached Kolkata he was with us as a young bloke, in and out of the side, but that flick over backward square leg for six was his go-to shot even then. He has become a lot more confident in various other shots now and has become a world- class white-ball player. England have been relying on Jos Buttler and alex Hales at the top and need something more from the middle order.
The other batters need to find their feet, but it was good to see Ben Stokes play that leading role in the win against Sri Lanka in Sydney. I think they will go with Phil Salt if dawid Malan is not right and I have no worries about him coming in.
He is a different type of player to Malan but he might just be able to give England the middle-order kickstart they need at three, especially if the openers have made a good start.
England’s bowlers have done a very professional job. Mark Wood is bowling nice and quick and picking up wickets and Chris Woakes has looked good, but it is Sam Curran who has been the stand-out.
He’s not fast but is accurate and has a good head on his shoulders. He can get the straight and wide yorker in there and slower variations, but he also bowls a well-placed short ball and pushes it through a bit quicker. That can surprise batters.
a quick word on australia not making it to the last four. They just did not play well enough — not necessarily badly, but nowhere near as good as we have become accustomed to in tournaments.
There was something lacking in the loss to new Zealand, that intensity or mongrel we’ve talked about, and they weren’t able to come back from it.
The players, as defending champions and in a home World Cup, will be as disappointed as anyone and there will be some changes come the next T20 World Cup in 18 months’ time. all good things must come to an end.