The Super 12 stage of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 will start on October 22, with hosts Australia taking on Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground.
The Round 1 of the multi-team tournament finished on Friday, with Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Ireland and Zimbabwe qualifying for the Super 12s.
Ahead of the second stage, former England cricketers Eoin Morgan and Nasser Hussain have predicted the leading run-getters and wicket-takers of the 20-over showpiece event.
Morgan went with his former teammate and current England white-ball captain Jos Butler as the top run-scorer in the T20 World Cup 2022. Morgan reckoned Buttler has evolved his game quite significantly and bats on a completely different level.
“I’m going for Jos. Even when I was still playing, I watched him play shots that made me think I should retire because I can’t do that. He is on a different level with how hard he hits the ball and how he is consistently trying to evolve his game,” said Morgan, as quoted by Sky Sports.
Hussian also echoed Morgan’s statement and picked Buttler as his choice. The former England skipper, however, felt the likes of KL Rahul, Babar Azam, Rohit Sharma and Mohammad Rizwan are other candidates who can rock the charts in the multi-team event.
“It is going to have to be someone at the top of the order whose team do well, and so I would go with Buttler, but there are so many candidates. KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Babar Azam, Mohammed Rizwan. Suryakumar Yadav is a fantastic player, but he will come in at No 4 for India, after Rohit, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, so you wonder how many balls he will face,” said Hussain.
On the bowling front, Morgan mentioned he initially picked Adil Rashid and Rashid Khan, but the conditions in Australia will favour the pacers, and hence he went for Mark Wood – who could be the leading wicket-taker in the global competition.
“I was initially going to go for a spinner and say Adil Rashid or Rashid Khan, but the weather could negate the spin aspect a touch. I think the ball will really skid on, and so I am going to say a seamer. There are about five you could pick, but I will go for Mark Wood,” explained Morgan.
On the other hand, Hussain opined that picking the top wicket-taker was a tough choice, but he thinks one who bowls at the death can potentially end up at the top. The cricketer-turned-commentator feels that Mitchell Starc has all the ability to finish the tournament as the leading wicket-taker.
“That is a slightly harder choice. You want someone who bowls at the death, so I would look towards Mitchell Starc or Bhuvneshwar Kumar. I will go with Starc as he could also get wickets up front and then come back at the end with his slower balls and yorkers,” added Hussain.
