While India prepare for what is, arguably, a make-or-break match against New Zealand at the T20 World Cup on Sunday, former Australian spin legend Shane Warne has made a bold prediction.
In the run-up to the World Cup, many ex-cricketers had argued India were among the favourites to lift the trophy. But the humiliating loss to Pakistan in their opening match last week means India need to win against New Zealand to have a realistic chance of qualifying from Group 2. The top two teams in a group would proceed to the semifinal stage.
On Saturday, Warne tweeted he believed India could be in the final and could even face Pakistan, again. Warne tweeted that England would top Group 1, followed by Australia, while Pakistan would top Group 2, followed by India.
Warne predicted the semifinals would be "Eng V India Aust V Pak So final will be either India V Pak or Aust V England."
Pakistan currently top Group 2, while England top Group 1; both teams have won all the three matches they have played so far. On Saturday, England recorded a crushing eight-wicket victory over Australia.
Referring to the match, Warne commended England for playing "proper T20 cricket". He tweeted, "Australia will hopefully learn how they need to play after that smashing they copped from the Poms. Pakistan & England are showing how to play T/20 cricket. Australia need to change their thinking re style of play plus the team !!!!!"
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Pointing to Australia's poor batting performance, Warne had tweeted the side erred by not selecting Mitchell Marsh and having Glenn Maxwell bat in the power play. Warne argued Maxwell should always come in after the power play. Controversially, Warne also said while he loved star batsman Steve Smith, "he shouldn’t be in the T/20 team".
