"India has to be there" - Mithali Raj predicts her finalists for T20 World Cup 2022
Former Indian women's team captain Mithali Raj believes the Men in Blue will play the T20 World Cup 2022 final alongside New Zealand on November 13.
Rohit Sharma and Co. have four points from three games so far and Mithali believes they can go all the way in the tournament. The Indian side beat Pakistan and the Netherlands in their first two matches of the Super 12s stage before losing to South Africa in their third encounter.
Mithali acknowledged how well the Proteas have played so far and feels they will make it to the semifinals. From Group 1, she feels that only one of either England or Australia will qualify alongside New Zealand.
Speaking to Star Sports, here's what Mithali had to say about her semifinal and final picks:
“My predictions for [the] semi-final spots, that is four spots, will be India and South Africa from Group 2. From Group 1, it will be New Zealand and a toss-up between England and Australia. And the finalists, there is no doubt, India has to be there, and New Zealand.”
Team India will be hopeful of returning to winning ways against Bangladesh
After two wins on the bounce, Rohit Sharma and his men received a reality check against South Africa as the Proteas won by five wickets in Perth. The Men in Blue definitely have some issues to work on. One primary problem has been their inability to capitalize on the powerplay.
KL Rahul's form has been a bit of a concern as he has scored just 22 runs in three innings at the T20 World Cup. Rohit Sharma has also not looked fluent, while Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik failed to deliver against South Africa.
The team's batting will be keen to fire all cylinders in their next match when they take on Bangladesh in Adelaide on Wednesday, November 2.
Touchdown Adelaide 📍
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Squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami.
Standby players: Mohammed Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur.