"Every nation has a chance of becoming champions" - Eoin Morgan on the upcoming T20 World Cup
England captain Eoin Morgan feels that the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup 2021 will be a very close affair and highly competitive. England have been drawn alongside West Indies, Australia and South Africa. They will also be joined by two more nations following the qualification round.
Here is the T20 World Cup live score and schedule for 2021.
The runners-up from the previous edition will kick start their campaign against defending champions West Indies. England endured a heart-wrenching defeat to West Indies in the final of the 2016 T20 World Cup.
Eoin Morgan, with the release of the tournament's dates, said in an International Cricket Council statement:
“The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is going to be brilliant. The standard of T20 cricket around the world is improving exponentially and every nation has a chance of becoming World champions. It should be one of the closest and most competitive world tournaments to date and we can’t wait to get started.”
Our biggest strength is consistency: Eoin Morgan
England walk into the tournament as one of the favorites and are ranked number one as well. The team enjoyed back-to-back series wins over Sri Lanka and Pakistan at home and endured a narrow 3-2 series defeat to India earlier this year in the format.
The Three Lions were slated to compete in a T20I series against Bangladesh as well. However, the series was eventually shifted to 2023.
The upcoming IPL campaign and a two-match T20I series in Pakistan lie as avenues for practice, but it comes with its own troubles as the dates coincide with the IPL playoffs.
Morgan feels that every team in the competition has a match-winner and believes that England have momentum on their side.
"I think in T20 Cricket, because the game can change quite quickly, there's a huge pool of talented teams within our group, like every game is important to us. All of the teams have match-winners.
"I think our biggest strength is the consistency with which we have performed, probably over the last two years. It has taken us number 2 in the world. I think we have that momentum going nicely for us," Morgan added.
The 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup will begin with hosts Oman taking on Papau New Guinea in the qualification round. The Super 12s stage of the tournament will kick start with Australia facing South Africa in Abu Dhabi on October 23.