T20 World Cup 2024: England ignored as Mohammad Kaif picks World Cup semi-finalists; backs an India-Pakistan final

The T20 World Cup 2024 kicks off from June 1 with India taking on Pakistan on June 5 in New York. India is placed in Group A along with teams like Ireland, USA, and Canada other than Pakistan. 

India and Pakitan are expected to move ahead to the next round from this group with the two teams taking on the bigger teams in the rest of the tournament. India played the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022 while Pakistan lost the final against England. 

India have been constantly making the knockouts of the ICC tournaments. Pakistan made it to the knockouts of the T20 World Cup in 2021 and 2022. Incidentally, they reached the finals of both these events. Ahead of the T20 World Cup, the newly appointed PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi reappointed Babar Azam as the captain of Pakistan across all formats. BCCI Secretary confirmed that Rohit Sharma will lead India in the tournament. Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif picked his top four while speaking to PTI. 

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India vs Pakistan Finals Why Not .. - Mohammad Kaif

“Somehow New Zealand find their way to be in the top four, in the ICC events you can’t write them off so add New Zealand. I think West Indies since they’re playing at their home so at home they might be a dangerous side. I don’t know maybe Australia or Pakistan one of them can come through. If Pakistan comes then if we meet them in the semis or finals then it will be great, India vs Pakistan finals why not,” Kaif was quoted as saying by PTI.

India and Pakistan played in ICC T20 World Cup in seven matches with India winning in six games. The only match that they lost was in the 2021 edition. The previous match was closely contested in Melbourne with Virat Kohli scoring an unbeaten 82 to win the game for India. 

Kaif further reflected on Team India's bowling combination and said that this team is better than the one that played in the T20 World Cup 2022. The return of Jasprit Bumrah is one of the major changes in this squad. Meanwhile, India will miss the likes of Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar who were a part of the last T20 World Cup squad.

“We have a much better bowling attack compared to last time, we had Chahal but we couldn’t play him in the first XI. This year we have Kuldeep Yadav, we have Axar Patel, Jadeja, good spinners. All very experienced and wicket-takers they can change the game on their day. Bumrah didn’t play last year, he will be playing I feel he’s going to be a key player in this World Cup,” Kaif said. 

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