Steve Smith labels India as favourites to win 20-20 World Cup

Australia batter Steve Smith has labelled team India as favourites to win the 20-20 World Cup. Smith’s comments came after India thrashed Australia in their second warm-up game. This was the team’s second win after steamrolling England in the first game.

Smith said India have multiple match-winners in the team and will be a tough opponent to get past. “They (India) are a terrific side, they have got all bases covered and some serious match-winners in there,” Smith was quoted as saying by ‘Sydney Morning Herald. “They’ve obviously been playing in these conditions during the last couple of months with the IPL so they’ll be used to that,” he added.

Speaking about the match, Indian bowlers had an outstanding day as they restricted Australia to a below-par 152-5. Later, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav helped India cruise to a win by 8 wickets. Smith though got some decent batting practice and scored a 57 ball 48. This was his first half-century since March this year.

Speaking about his performance, Smith Said, “It was nice to spend a bit of time in the middle again. It’s never easy when you’re three down. You have to rebuild for a period there and I thought we did that pretty well. The partnerships with Stoinis (Marcus Stoinis) and Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) were obviously important.”