Former England stylish batsman and current cricket expert, Kevin Pietersen aka KP, has had his final word on the only two teams that possess the firepower to upstage a ‘hot running’ Eoin Morgan-led England side.
The Three Lions are riding high on success in the ongoing ICC World T20 2021 wherein their wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler (101* off 67) recently powered the former World T20 champions to an emphatic win over Sri Lanka with his maiden century of the showpiece event so far.
The English pundit doesn’t hold back from expressing his opinions online as he stays proactive across all his social media accounts. KP took to Twitter to declare the two sides he deems capable enough of dethroning England at the present moment in the knockout stages of this year’s T20 World Cup.
The 41-year-old commentator is also a big Chelsea FC fan that competes in the English Premier League and in his tweet, he likened the England cricket team’s red-hot form to the successful winning streak of his favourite football club in Chelsea who are currently ranked no.1.
KP named Babar Azam’s Pakistan and Mohammad Nabi-led Afghanistan as the two teams that can beat England in the mega ICC event. But he made the exception to that claim by saying that provided the match is played at Sharjah, only then do the two Asian sides have a chance of outclassing Morgan’s men. As long as the ball turns and spins on a used surface in Sharjah, England can be beaten is what KP implied in his tweet.
“Only Pakistan or Afghanistan can beat England in this T20 World Cup. BUT and it’s a BIG BUT, the game would have to be played on a used wicket in Sharjah. Anywhere else, just hand England the trophy like Chelsea should be handed the EPL trophy RIGHT NOW!,” wrote Pietersen in his tweet.
England pulled off an awesome victory against a determined Sri Lankan side yesterday at Sharjah winning comfortably by 26 runs in the end due to a batting fallout in SL’s innings. However, if there were any bowlers in this tournament who could pose a threat to the hard-hitting English batsmen like Buttler and the others, it is the turning spinner on these UAE pitches especially in Sharjah proving to be highly effective.
While Morgan’s England are virtually through to the semi-finals of the T20 WC 2021, they await the results of Group 2 where Pakistan have so far emerged on the top winning all three of their games thus far.
Thus, going by the existing scenario, the only route to an England vs Pakistan clash seems likely in the finals of the tournament unless England finishes second in Group 1 which is the least certain outcome.
Afghanistan, on the other hand, will have to play out of their skins to ensure a semi-final berth by beating Team India in order to possibly face England in the semis later on.
