ICC T20 World Cup 2021: Nathan McCullum Picks His 4 Semi-Finalists Of The Tournament

Former New Zealand spinner Nathan McCullum has unveiled the names of four teams who he thinks will make it into the semi-finals of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021. The ICC event, which was to be played in India, had to be moved to the UAE and Oman after the second wave of COVID-19 ravaged the Asian country.

The ICC T20 World Cup 2021 will be played from October 17 onwards with the first round matches taking place in both the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman. Two each of the four qualifying teams from this first round will be divided into the Super 12s groups which consist of the host India and seven other teams which have qualified directly to the tournament.

Nathan McCullum Picks Former Champions India And New Zealand Amongst The Four Semi-Finalists For ICC T20 World Cup 2021

Recently the ICC announced the squads of all the participating teams on their website and shared the link of the article on their Twitter as well. Quoting the tweet, former New Zealand spinner Nathan McCullum, who is also the brother of former Kiwi captain Brendon McCullum, tweeted with his four picks of the semi-finalists for the ICC T20 World Cup 2021.

Out of his four picks, McCullum obviously named his home team of New Zealand which will be captained by Kane Williamson and has the likes of Martin Guptill, Glenn Phillips, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Adam Milne, and others in their ranks.

He then picked 2007 T20 World Cup champions India, who also were the finalists of the 2014 edition as well. India boasts of the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, who has the most centuries in T20I format, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and others in their ranks.

The third team McCullum chose was the two-time champions West Indies. The Men in Maroon will be captained by Kieron Pollard but had won their two championships in 2012 and 2016 under the leadership of Daren Sammy. This might also be the final international appearance for Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, apart from Ravi Rampaul who was called back into the Windies team for the first time after 2015.

And last but not the least, McCullum went for the reigning ODI world champs England. Eoin Morgan’s side reached the final of the 2016 edition which was played in India and has just reached new heights in the format since Morgan took over and transformed the unit into a world-beating side in white-ball cricket.

“Some very strong squads here and should be a great tournament. My pics for the semi finals are @ECB_cricket @windiescricket @BCCI @BLACKCAPS Men’s T20 World Cup 2021,” Nathan McCullum tweeted.

Some very strong squads here and should be a great tournament. My pics for the semi finals are @ECB_cricket @windiescricket @BCCI @BLACKCAPS. Men's T20 World Cup 2021 – All the squads and team news via @ICC https://t.co/7wm01zTgJl

— Nathan McCullum (@MccullumNathan) September 12, 2021

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