T20 World Cup 2021: India's Record Of Late In ICC Tournaments Isn't Good, They're Not Clear Favorites - Nasser Hussain

Former England captain Nasser Hussain doesn’t think that Virat Kohli and co. are the clear favorites heading into the T20 World Cup. He feels the team suffers in knockout games, where it doesn’t have a plan B if things go awry.

India’s performances in knockout stages have been quite poor, as demonstrated by the semifinal loss to New Zealand in the 2019 ODI World Cup and the 2016 T20 World Cup. They generally fail to recover from mistakes and they will be desperate to set things right this time around.

“They are favorites. I wouldn’t say clear favorites because of the format. The shorter the game, things can happen. An individual brilliance, a 70 or 80 or 3 deliveries suddenly changes it the other way around. So anyone could upset India in any knockout game.“

“Their record actually as of late in ICC tournaments is not good and that’s something they are going to have to deal with – with the weight of expectations of the Indian audience and fans heavy on their shoulders – when they get to a knockout game, all of a sudden you cannot afford a mistake and that’s going to be a thing for them,” Hussain said on Sky Cricket.

Nasser Hussain points to India’s loss against New Zealand in 2019 World Cup as an example

Justifying his reasoning behind feeling that the Indian team isn’t a clear favorite, Hussain cited the defeat to New Zealand back in 2019 as an example. Having dominated the tournament in the group stage, Kohli and co. fell devastatingly short at the semifinal hurdle.

“When they get to a stage – you look at the last World Cup against New Zealand – and suddenly it’s a low-scoring game and they don’t have a Plan B, they got rolled over a very good New Zealand side.“

“So that’s going to be an issue for them. The knockout game, the expectations, everyone thinking that they will win. And the reason people think that is when you look at that line-up on paper, it has everything,” Hussain mentioned.

India will play against Pakistan in their first Super-12 match on October 24, Sunday, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

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