India favorites for ICC T20 World Cup 2024: Kumar Sangakkara

Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has tipped India to be the favorites in the upcoming T20 World Cup. India has picked a potent squad for the T20I showpiece and they will look to come up with a collective show.

The Men in Blue were at their best in the ODI World Cup 2023 as they dominated the whole tournament but could not bring their best in the all-important final clash against Australia.

India wll look to once again bring their best in the T20I showpiece and end their major ICC trophy hoodoo. The Indian team last won a major title back in 2013 when MS Dhoni took them to glory in the Champions Trophy.

“It’s an extremely strong squad. They’ve got their batting covered, they’ve got their all-rounders in. They’ve got very high-quality spin and they’ve got very good combinations that they can play,” said Sangakkara on Wednesday, the eve of Rajasthan’s match against Hyderabad.

Speaking on the team combination, he elaborated, “Knowing the conditions there, I’m sure Rahul (Dravid) and Rohit (Sharma) have a good idea of what the squad should be to play the cricket they want in the World Cup. And they’ll be having two or three different combinations, depending on whether they want a deeper batting line-up or more strength in their bowling. But it’s a really well-balanced squad, a very strong squad and India’s always been very strong in international tournaments,” he added.

Meanwhile, RR players such as Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Yuzvendra Chahal have made it to the 15-man squad whereas Avesh Khan has been added in the reserves players list. The RR head coach is proud of the players who have made the cut into the national team’s squad.

“We are very proud of the players who have made it. They’ve worked really hard. I can understand how their minds would have been until the final announcement was made. A lot of credit should be given to players because they’ve tried their best to shut out all of that and played a good IPL. That’s worked for them,” he said.

India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5th.