The Cricket World Team Make Their ICC WT20 2014 Predictions

It's time for the Cricket World team to give you their views on who they think will win the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, and the reasons behind their choices.

As ever, you can leave us a comment below with your own predictions.

John Pennington - PAKISTAN / ENGLAND

Earlier this year, I predicted that India would win. While I still expect them to challenge, they have had a dreadful run of form, a poor Asia Cup and I'm not sure they are my favourites. It is going to be very hard for teams like Australia, South Africa and New Zealand to consistently perform in the conditions in Bangladesh, so I'm going to go for Pakistan.

Unlike India, they had a strong Asia Cup and with Ahmed Shehzad and Shahid Afridi in top form, Umar Gul back fit and Saeed Ajmal doing what he does best, I would be very surprised if they don't at least reach the semi-finals.

I will stick with my January prediction that England will win the Women's event, but if they do it would be a greater achievement than when they won in 2009. This is a young, developing squad and this tournament will be a steep learning curve. But if anyone can lead them home, then Charlotte Edwards can.

Daniel Grummitt -SRI LANKA / ENGLAND

Like John, at the beginning of the year, I went for India to win the tournament. However, also like John, I think their poor form in the Asia Cup could well count against them so I will switch to Sri Lanka to finally shake off their runners-up tag.

New Zealand are my dark horses to surprise many as they must be riding high after their series win over India that was led by Brendon McCullum’s record-breaking exploits. He appears to have galvanised the team as captain.
 
I also am going to predict an upset in the preliminary event, with neither Full Members, Zimbabwe or Bangladesh, making the cut, with Ireland and Afghanistan to progress.
 
For the women’s event, it is probably between England and Australia as usual and I will go with the former as they triumphed in the recent Ashes contest.

Andrew Wood - WEST INDIES / ENGLAND

I predict we will see another West Indies victory, and maybe even a repeat of the 2012 final. Chris Gayle is the most explosive player in the game for me and his support of Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo etc all just makes for an unbeatable Twenty20 side; I can't see anyone outscoring them.

In the women's tournament, I don't think it would be a stretch to see a similar final but I think West Indies will edge out Australia, and this time England will be walking away with a win.

Charlotte Edwards was leading run-scorer last time and will definitely have what it takes to lead England to a tournament win.

Chetan Narula - AUSTRALIA

My pick is Australia. Their first XI from the squad looks very, very strong.

Jack Vittles - PAKISTAN

With T20 being so unpredictable it’s hard to determine who could be considered the favourites, but form plays a big part in the shortest format of the game, so for me the favourites at the moment are Pakistan. 

They’ve just come of the back of a successful Asia Cup, finishing runners up to Sri Lanka, and the form of Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi in particular gives them a good shot at the title.

I always like to look at the number of match winners in a side when talking about T20, and for me Pakistan contain the most in the tournament. In addition to Afridi and Ajmal, any one of Mohammed Hafeez, Umar Akmal or Umar Gul are capable of single-handedly winning a match.

Conditions will also play into their hands, having played their recently and having a number of players who are very much at home on low, slow sub-continental pitches.

For more detailed predictions from Jack, please click here.

Matt Carter - SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka look to have every based covered with an experienced squad loaded with both quality and depth, further to that they should be in their element on the slow surfaces of Bangladesh. They are also boosted by being placed in the more comfortable of the two groups; the only question marks are whether they can finally get over the line at a major tournament.

If they don’t, then Pakistan, who have as strong of a record in this tournament as anyone and are coming into form at the right time. They must negotiate a group that looks incredibly difficult to call with Australia, India, West Indies and Pakistan all capable of lifting the trophy on their day.

In terms of players who will shine, aside from the usual suspects this could be a breakthrough tournament for David Miller, whilst Samuel Badree might not be so underrated once the tournament is over.

Debashish Das - PAKISTAN

From what I have seen and keeping in mind the venue, I will keep my money on Pakistan to win the trophy. The shorter the format,the more dangerous they become.

With plenty of quality spinning options (world class Ajmal, versatile Afridi and consistent Hafeez), backed by lively fast bowlers, they can restricts any team to a modest total.

Batting has always been the cause of concern for them but with only 20 overs to play and big hitters (like Afridi & Akmal) in their lineup, Pakistan are a safe bet in T20.

Laura Williamson - AUSTRALIA

With Twenty20 it's anyone's game and there are a lot of strong teams coming into the tournament. Ever the optimist I'd love to say England who have some big names in their squad; however in the form that they're in at the moment Australia are going to be a hard team to beat.

If Finch and Warner perform well when opening and Mitchell Johnson continues bowling the way he has been then they at least get to the final. But as I said, in Twenty20 it really is anyone's game.

Will Edwards - PAKISTAN

I predict Pakistan. I think sub-continent conditions will prove to be a decisive factor and Saaed Ajmal will exploit the conditions best of all.

Peter Steward - PAKISTAN / ENGLAND

Pakistan have been very impressive recently and I'm going to break the habit of lifetime and go with the general consensus so far.

The England Women have been showing the men how to win games this year so I predict they will continue to do so and win again.

Daniel Atkinson - AUSTRALIA

I always lack to back the underdog but I won't go for Zimbabwe as they are not looking like they will get through the qualifying stage. Instead, I'll go for Australia.

So that's what we think - if you think you know better, please leave us a comment below and if you want to write more than a couple of paragraphs, then please get in touch with us as we're always looking to expand our team.

© Cricket World 2014