The T20 fever is about to sweep over the entire cricketing fraternity as the 20-20 World Cup is all set to begin in the next 13 days. Cricket pundits all over the world have begun choosing their favourites, who will end up on the podium lifting the coveted trophy at the end of the tournament. England allrounder Moeen Ali has also jumped onto the bandwagon and named his two favourite teams for the upcoming 20-20 World Cup.
After beating Pakistan in the seventh T20I of the series and clinching the series 4-3, Moeen Ali said that India and Australia are favourites to win the upcoming World Cup. During the post-match presentation, Ali said, “We’re really happy to win the series against Pakistan and we go to Australia in a really good position, but I don’t think we’re favourites for the World Cup” Moeen said, “If I’m honest I don’t feel that way at all, but I know we are a very dangerous team to play and other teams will fear playing us.”
“But I still think Australia and India are the two favourites. We were disappointed in the end, because looking back I think if we’d been really on it we’d probably have won [the series] 6-1,” added the English allrounder. Coming back to the match, Pakistan and England locked horns in the seventh T20I on October 2, Sunday, to decide the winner of the series, tied at 3-3. Pakistan won the toss and elected to field first. After the openers Philip Salt and Alex Hales departed early, Dawid Malan and Ben Duckett stabilised the innings with a 62-run-stand for the third wicket.
After Duckett, Malan got great support from Harry Brook as the duo got involved in an unbeaten stand of 108 runs. England posted 209 runs at the end of their allotted 20 overs. Pakistan’s chase got off to a miserable start as Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan got out cheaply.
Shan Masood decided to bring some life back into the innings with his solid fifty but Pakistan were always behind the eight ball with the required rate soaring high. The rest of the batting faltered under extreme pressure as England emerged victorious by 67 runs taking the series 4-3.
