T20 World Cup 2021: 3 Teams Which Will Benefit From The Tournament Shifting To The UAE

ICC T20 World Cup 2021 has been shifted to UAE and Oman from India due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the country. However, BCCI will remain the host of the tournament. The tournament will kickstart on October 17, 2021, and end with the final on November 14. For UAE, three venues are selected to host the matches.

They are -Dubai International Stadium (Dubai), Sheikh Zayed Stadium (Abu Dhabi), and Sharjah Stadium (Sharjah). In Oman, the Oman Cricket Academy Ground is the 4th venue of the tournament.

India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, England, Australia, West Indies, New Zealand, and South Africa are already in the super-12 stage. 4 teams out of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Oman, Namibia, Scotland, Netherlands will also qualify for the super-12 stage after the first round.

The T20 World Cup 2021 was originally scheduled to be played in Australia last year, but it was postponed due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, and India was selected as the new venue.

Now, the tournament has been shifted to UAE and Oman. Since the new venue UAE gives a great assistant to spin bowlers, teams having a good spin attack will benefit from the shifting of the venue. Here we talk about 3 teams that will benefit from the shifting of T20 World Cup 2021 to UAE.

T20 World Cup 2021: 3 Teams Which Will Benefit From The Tournament Shifting To The UAE

England

England is the first team to benefit from the rescheduling of ICC T20 World Cup 2021 due to their dominant spin duo of Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali. While Adil Rashid is a full-time spinner for England in T20Is, Moeen Ali is also doing a great job as a secondary spinner.  The right-arm spinner Rashid has been in great form in the last couple of years.

In 2020, he picked 12 wickets in 11 matches while in 2021, he scalped 8 wickets in 8 matches. On the other hand, all-rounder Moeen Ali is giving great support to England in the spin department. As a result, England will have two dominant spin bowlers in the playing XI in ICC T20 World Cup 2021. This will be an added benefit for the team as UAE venues give good assistance to spin bowlers.

Pakistan

Similarly for Pakistan, Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan will the effective spin duo in ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Both Wasim and Shadab Khan are all-rounders who also bowls spin. Along with piling up runs, both the part-time spinners are doing a decent job in the bowling. In 2019, Imad Wasim picked 7 wickets in 9 T20Is while Shadab Khan picked 4 wickets.

In 2020, right-arm spinner Wasim picked 5 wickets in 8 games while Khan picked 7 wickets in 8 T20Is. The venues in UAE will benefit these all-rounders in the spin department. Therefore, Pakistan will get a benefit from these two spin bowlers during ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan is another team that will gain a lot of benefits with the shifting of the ICC T20 World Cup to the UAE. For Afghanistan, Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman will the leading spin attackers in the tournament. Rashid Khan is the 2nd rank T20I bowler in ICC rankings while Mujeeb Ur Rahman holds the 6th rank.

In 2020, right-arm spinner Rashid Khan picked 5 wickets in 3 games and also picked 6 wickets in 3 matches in 2021. Mujeeb, on the other hand, picked 11 wickets in 9 matches in 2019 and 5 wickets in 3 matches in 2020. With both the dominant spin bowlers in the team, Afghanistan will definitely have a strong spin attack during the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE.