Eoin Morgan Names India As Favourites For The T20 World Cup 2024

Former World Cup-winning England captain Eoin Morgan has identified India as the favourites to win the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024, which begins on June 1 in the West Indies and the USA.

Morgan discussed Team India's squad depth and quality during a podcast on Sky Sports with former England cricketers Naseer Hussein and Michael Atherton. The conversation took place as anticipation for the tournament intensified.

The former England skipper believes that the Rohit Sharma-led side can outperform any team in the tournament due to their squad strength. He also mentioned the challenges selectors faced in narrowing down the squad to 15 players.

"For me, the strongest side even with injuries throughout the tournament is India without a doubt. They are favourites for me," Morgan told Sky Sports Podcast on Monday, May 27.

"The quality that they have on paper if they produce it I think they can beat anybody quite in the tournament. The strength and depth is absolutely incredible at the moment. We are talking about the players who missed out on the squad of 15 because of the quality they possess," he added.

India, placed in Group A, will kick off their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign on June 5 against Ireland at the newly constructed Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. They will also face arch-rivals Pakistan on June 9 in a highly anticipated match.

The Men in Blue aim to end their over ten-year wait for an ICC title. Following their match against Pakistan, they will play tournament co-hosts USA on June 12 before facing Canada on June 15 in their final group match.

India last won an ICC tournament in 2013 when they clinched the ICC Champions Trophy under MS Dhoni's leadership. Dhoni also led India to victory in the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2007 T20 World Cup.

Since their 2013 Champions Trophy win, India has reached several key stages in various ICC tournaments. They were finalists in the 50-over World Cup in 2023, semifinalists in 2015 and 2019, finalists in the ICC World Test Championship in 2021 and 2023, finalists in the T20 World Cup in 2014, and semifinalists in 2016 and 2022.

Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya (vice captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj. Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.

India has announced a robust squad with hopes of ending their trophy drought. Notably, this could be the final T20 World Cup for stalwarts like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.