T20 World Cup 2022: Brad Haddin, Isha Guha & others pick the Winner, Runner Up & Player of the tournament

The Super 12 stage of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 started with a shocker when defending champions and hosts Australia faced an embarrassing loss against their Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.

Not to mention, the first-round of the multi-team tournament finished on Friday, where Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Ireland and Zimbabwe qualified for the Super 12s.

Right before the opening match of the second stage, former cricketers Brad Haddin, Isha Guha, Allan Border and others picked who could lift the prestigious trophy, the runners-up and Player of the Tournament.

Haddin reckoned that South Africa has the potential to go long but Australia will be able to defend their T20 title, especially with the addition of match-winner Tim David. Like Haddin and Guha, legendary Mel Jones also named Australia as the winner and England as the runner-up.

“South Africa also has a great squad for Australian conditions, but Australia are the better team with the addition of Tim David. David gives Australia a match-winner in the last five overs, and he can turn a game in one over,” said Haddin as quoted by Fox Sports.

Border observed England and India would meet in the final at the MCG on November 13, and the English side will clinch their second title. Former Australian spinner Kerry O’Keeffe, however, picked the reigning champions and South Africa as the two finalists.

“They’ll do it for ‘Finchy’. They’ve also got a siege mentality after the criticism they received for their preparation. Tim David and Matt Wade will put teams away in the last 10 overs,” said O’Keeffe.

For the ‘Player of the Tournament’, the cricket experts had different opinions as they came up with five nominations. While Border went with England captain Jos Buttler, Haddin named Mitchell Marsh.

O’Keeffe picked South African batter Aiden Markram, whereas Guha and Jones went with India’s KL Rahul and Pakistani wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan, respectively.

Brad Haddin