'WTC Final always held in...' - Wasim Jaffer shuts down claims of T20 WC advantage for India, brutally mocks England

Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer has hit back at English outlet Wisden Cricket for their latest post on ICC favoring team India at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

The latest T20 WC edition, which is already underway in the USA and West Indies, is going to see England enter as the reigning champions for the second time in history. The Three Lions have previously played in the 2012 T20 World Cup as defending champions. Every English fan is dreaming about a title defense after their failure to defend the 50-over WC title last year in India.

Jos Buttler and his players are in very good form at the moment following a very good IPL 2024 season. The likes of Phil Salt, Will Jacks, Reece Topley, Mooen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, and Sam Curran, all picked up valuable experience from the Indian Premier League season. They will now try to use that experience in the World Cup and are riding high on momentum after beating Pakistan 2-0.

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Along with England, India are also the favorites to clinch the title but ahead of their group stages, English outlet Wisden published a post targetting the Indian team.

What did Wisden say to target Rohit Sharma's team India?

On June 1, the day of India and Bangladesh's warm-up game, Wisden published an article that questioned ICC's integrity and whether the board favors Rohit Sharma's side. As we all know, Indians are die-hard supporters of their national team with the game of cricket regarded as a full-fledged religion.

The passion among Indians about cricket is massive and so are the viewership numbers from the country. It's not just about the ICC but almost every nation knows that they will earn lucrative viewership revenue from India's audience.

Therefore, the International Council keeps the India-Pakistan tie fixed at all costs and also keeps India's matches in accordance with the country's timeline. All of India's matches are kept at 8:00 PM IST so that more and more people can tune into the match during prime time.

Moreover, the ICC has already confirmed that Rohit Sharma's men will, if they qualify, play their semi-final in Guyana at the same IST time. Team India is the only team that knows beforehand as to where their SF tie will take place. No other country has been informed about it yet.

This hasn't been welcomed by Wisden Cricket. They openly criticized the ICC for favoring India and expressed their frustration to see the biased treatment. The article had a headline - "Explained: Why most of the T20 World Cup is already mapped out, especially for India". Wisden had also made a tweet asking, "Have India been handed an advantage during the 2024 T20 WC?"

What did Wasim Jaffer say in this regard?

India is the only team aware of their SF venue, only India's SF match will begin at Indian prime time with others starting at 6 AM. And that SF 1 in Trinidad has a reserve day but the SF 2 in Guyana doesn't.

That intrigued a reaction from Wasim Jaffer, who claimed that India, knowing their SF venue, won't help them qualify. Jaffer took a dig by stating that England, despite knowing the WTC finals take place on their soil, did not end up qualifying.

It's one thing to know where your SF will be played, it's another thing to qualify for it. For example WTC Final have always been held in England but England have never qualified 😛 #<!---->T<!---->2<!---->0<!---->W<!---->o<!---->r<!---->l<!---->d<!---->C<!---->u<!---->p h<!---->t<!---->t<!---->p<!---->s<!---->:<!---->/<!---->/<!---->t<!---->.<!---->c<!---->o<!---->/<!---->Q<!---->W<!---->m<!---->D<!---->T<!---->4<!---->J<!---->k<!---->H<!---->t

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) J<!---->u<!---->n<!---->e<!----> <!---->3<!---->,<!----> <!---->2<!---->0<!---->2<!---->4