As another year for professional cricket draws to a close and another T20 World Cup is about to start, all eyes are on a few favorites, one of which will hold the title. With so many interesting highlights of the past few years coming into play as the tournament approaches, it will be interesting to watch the favorites and gasp in awe as some dark horses rise up in the ranks.
Will 2016 Be a Year of Surprises?
Although fans of cricket are die-hards like in any other sport, it is not as widely popular or publicized as other sports such as football (soccer to us Yanks) and football (NFL) as we play the game. Even so, cricket does have a huge following elsewhere around the globe and in recent years there have been some surprises which many fearless fans just didn’t see coming. “Sometimes we clean up on surprise wins,” says Zach Mcphail, CEO of www.realbookies.com. “Other times we lose our shirts. It’s the ones where the spread is huge that people like to bet. Everyone wants to be a winner, but with a big spread, they can go home with more money than they often know what to do with.”
Who Are the Favorites in the Super 10 Group?
In recent polls the predictions have gotten down to the Super 10 Group Predictions which, based on this year’s stats, is fairly much in keeping with how the teams played throughout the season. In Group 1 the consensus is that South Africa will come out the winners with England being the runner up. Following that it is predicted that Afghanistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka will then come in in some order. In Group 2 the winner is predicted to be India with New Zealand favored as the runner-up. Then, again, it is anyone’s guess as to where the remaining three will fall. Those teams are Australia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Taking Down to Home Stretch
In the semifinals it is predicted that of the matchup between South Africa and New Zealand, New Zealand will come out on top. With India up against England it is probably going to be close but all eyes are on India this year. Surprise, surprise, surprise. Finally, again it comes as no surprise, when up against New Zealand, most sportscasters and analysts are putting their money (not literally, of course) on India. It is going to be close if it comes down to this, but still, India is predicted to take home the Cup.
Most of the time these predictions are right on the money but it is that one upset that goes down in the books as the ‘shocker.’ Will India win the cup for the first time since 2007 or will New Zealand come up as champs? Then again, maybe neither team will make the finals with the winner being such a surprise that bookies everywhere will be paying out the big bucks! Even so, it’s an exciting year as it’s the first time ever that India has hosted the T20 World Cup and with the hopes of taking home the cup in their own home, it would be a double win for residents of the seven cities hosting the games. Take home the cup, take home the cash and celebrate all the way to the bank.
