T20 World Cup 2024: West Indies veteran player Brian Lara has predicted the four teams that will reach the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2024. Brian Lara said that along with India, West Indies, Afghanistan and England will reach the semi-finals. The most surprising thing is that Lara feels that Afghanistan will surprise all the teams by making a big upset.
West Indies’ great cricketer Brian Lara is very excited about the T20 World Cup being held in America and West Indies. He called India a strong contender to reach the top four along with West Indies, England and Afghanistan. He said that the match between India and Pakistan is no less than a great battle. Abhishek Tripathi had a special conversation with Brian Lara regarding the upcoming T20 World Cup, here are the highlights.
This year’s biggest cricket tournament is being held in the Caribbean and America. How excited are you for this and what is your opinion about the pitches there?
-If more matches are played in the Caribbean within a few days, like two or three matches in four-five days, then we may get to see more spin there. There we will find the pitches a little dry, which can benefit the spinners more. However, I think everyone’s effort will be to make the World Cup great. On the other hand, wherever there are drop-in pitches in America, they have been prepared under the supervision of experienced curators from Australia. I am very excited about the matches to be held at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy Stadium. The first match here will be West Indies vs New Zealand. The Afghanistan team will also play here, whom I consider to be the best. A semi-final is also going to be held there. I am eagerly waiting for this historic match.
India has selected four specialist spinners in their team. Are you a bit surprised to see this?
-No, because when you look at the selected spinners, they also include Akshar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja. Apart from them, there are Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Singh Chahal. I do not see them as four spinners. Among them, there are two spinners, while two are all-rounders. I see them like this. Akshar and Jadeja have also won matches for India with their batting. In the Caribbean soil, if the pitches are helpful for spin, you would want to strengthen yourself. India has made these selections to have every weapon in its team, so that if the conditions are unfavorable, they can be useful.
What is your first reaction after seeing the Indian team? Don’t you think they have selected a good ODI team for the T20 World Cup?
– Laughing, no, first of all if you look at the team, all the players were worthy of being selected. There are also 10 more players who were worthy of being selected in the team. This is not a bad problem. Regarding the selection of players in India, the chief selector had also said that this decision was very difficult for him. This is a great thing. This means that your team is strong in every area. I think this team is very good. However, strategy will be very important. Rahul Dravid will have to pay attention to this. This is such a team in which there are so many experienced players that you would like to leave them alone, they can play on their own, but the Indian team should not do this. India should prepare a strategy and plan and go to the field. It will be very important to decide in advance how to bat in the powerplay, how to bat at which position. Here players are not important, what is important is at which number you have to bat and what strategy has been made for you.
Are you a bit worried about the pace attack of this Indian team except Bumrah?
– Yes, I will say that my concern is that Sandeep Sharma should have been in this team. His skills are perfectly suited for West Indies and American conditions. He should have been in the team.
Now let’s talk about the home team West Indies. The two-time former champions will be playing in their home conditions. How excited are you about their prospects?
– I am very excited. I think our team has a lot of match winners. We could not even reach the Super-12 in the last T20 World Cup, so we do not have the right to think that just because we are playing at home, we will be the favorites. A few years ago, we had the same players in our team and we could not win, so I want us to play as underdogs and be the fourth strongest team. I do not want our team to be seen from the perspective that it is the strongest contender. I want them to be hungry for victory, win matches and prove themselves. We should believe in ourselves, but not fall prey to overconfidence.
Will the West Indies team miss Sunil Narine?
– I don’t want to make it an issue because Sunil Narine knows what is best for Sunil Narine. I don’t know the full story behind it but I have read somewhere that he has said that he would like to see. There is no doubt that he should have been in any team. A team is not made by one person. A team is made up of many different types of players. I hope that Rovman Powell, the entire management including the support staff will together create a good environment for the team.
If given the opportunity, would you try to convince Narayan to play in this World Cup?
-No, he has made up his mind. He is a very good friend of mine, but I don’t want to poke my nose into his affairs. Because, I know it won’t change his decision.
Who do you think are your four semifinalists for this World Cup?
– If I talk about the four strong contenders then they are West Indies, Afghanistan, India and England. These four teams will be the strongest contenders in the tournament. Afghanistan because Rashid Khan is playing. They have good spinners, two-three good batsmen. In T20, if two-three batsmen are in good form then you do not need 11 batsmen. Rashid Khan can also come in the end and spoil the bowling attack. I think his strength is that he has the ability to defeat any team. If he is able to put 200 or 180 runs on the scoreboard then his spin bowling has bowlers like Rashid, Nabi, Mujeeb and Noor. On the other hand, Naveen Ul Haq is in the fast bowling attack. All of them are great cricketers.
What is your opinion about the India and Pakistan match? Whose team looks stronger?
See, in the last few years, this match has turned into a great contest. There is a different kind of excitement about the clash between these two teams in the World Cup. If we talk about the record, then apart from Dubai in 2021, the Indian team has never lost to Pakistan in the World Cup. In such a situation, the Indian team seems to have the upper hand.
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