T20 World Cup 2021: Aakash Chopra reveals his semi-finalists

Former Indian cricketer and now a cricket pundit Aakash Chopra has revealed his picks for the semi-final position in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Chopra gave his opinion on a lot of subjects as he held a question and answer session with his fans on Twitter. 

The T20 World Cup is going to be held for the first time in five years. The last tournament was won by the West Indies in 2016 when India were the hosts. The tournament will start on October 17, with the qualifying stage that has two groups of four teams each. Two teams each will qualify from these two groups and join the eight teams who are being split into two groups. 

The main round, which starts on October 24, will see two groups of six teams each. The top two sides from these two groups will qualify for the semi-finals.  Group 1 of Super12 includes West Indies, England, Australia and South Africa. Chopra feels that from this group, West Indies and England, who were the finalists in the 2016 edition, will qualify for the semi-finals. 

India-Pakistan game to open the main round of T20 World Cup 2021

On the other hand, Group 2 of Super 12 consists of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and New Zealand. From this group, Chopra said India and Pakistan to be the favourites. Interestingly, in the 2016 edition, along with West Indies and England, New Zealand and India had qualified for the semi-final. Pakistan were also grouped with India and New Zealand but failed to make it beyond the Super 10 round.

India
Pakistan
England
West Indies https://t.co/Ewsj5Sf4hV

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) September 14, 2021

Sunny G and Viru S.
India Indiaaaa… West Indies close second. https://t.co/fzGthS3ZDi

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) September 14, 2021

In another tweet, Chopra called India as the favourites to win the tournament, while naming West Indies as the second favourites. India will start their campaign against Pakistan at Dubai International Stadium on October 24, which is the opening day of the main round of the T20 World Cup 2021.

Pakistan has never beaten India in a World Cup game, be it in the T20 format or the 50 overs format. In the 2016 edition of the T20 World Cup as well, India had won a match in Kolkata, apart from other T20 World Cup games such as in Dhaka in 2014, in Colombo in 2012 and in Durban and Johannesburg in 2007.