Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir has opined that taking a team like Afghanistan lightly can prove costly as in T20 matches ‘anyone can beat anyone.’ Speaking to Star Sports’ Game Plan, Gambhir asked teams to exercise caution with Afghanistan. “You can’t take Afghanistan lightly as well. I have always been a believer that if you want to talk about one team that is going to be a real underdog in this tournament, that must be Afghanistan. Additionally, they have got people like Rashid Khan, Mujeeb, and Mohd Nabi, you can’t take them players lightly.”
He added: “Yes, in a T20 format, anyone can beat anyone because it is a very individual kind of format, and we should not take any team for granted. For example, you should not take Afghanistan for granted. People like Rashid Khan can create upsets.”
Earlier he had said that group 1 can be the ‘group of death’ as it has a number of heavyweights in it.
“Group 1 is the group of death, and that’s actually the real group. You’ve got four teams locked in and playing what, on day one of the T20 World Cup, that’s going to be a very exciting Saturday. West Indies have always been very unpredictable with the kind of firepower they’ve got – they can go on to win the third time as well. England has also got the firepower; they have probably got the most consistent white-ball team over the last couple of years – after winning the 50-over World Cup. Australia has literally gone off the radar, probably because a lot of main players are missing, but then again, I think they can be very dangerous on that particular day.”
