Hardik Pandya can win India the T20 World Cup on his own, India's defensive bowling a concern, says Shane Watson

Shane Watson, while tagging Hardik Pandya as a 'match winner' has said that India's star all-rounder, thanks to his rich vein of form, can take India to their second T20 World Cup title win. India won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, under MS Dhoni's captaincy. The 8th edition of the ICC T20 World Cup is currently being played in Australia and the Indian team, led by Rohit Sharma, will kick off their campaign on October 23 against arch-rivals Pakistan in the Super 12 stage. In the 7 completed editions of the tournament so far there have been as many as 6 different champions, with only the West Indies managing to clinch two titles - in 2012 and 2016. India have gone into the tournament without the services of two star players - pacer Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. In Bumrah's absence, the experienced Mohammed Shami will spearhead the Indian bowling attack. Apart from Shami, young Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Pandya are the weapons India will have in their pace armoury.

A swashbuckling all-rounder in his time, Watson played 59 Tests, 190 ODIs, and 58 T20Is for Australia between 2002 and 2016. Watto, who retired from all forms of cricket in November 2020, spoke to TimesofIndia.com in an interview before the 2022 T20 World Cup began and talked about Rohit Sharma's leadership, Pandya the all-rounder, the Rishabh Pant vs Dinesh Karthik debate and much more... Excerpts...You have seen Rohit lead India for a fair bit as a full-time captain. Do you see his captaincy combined with the role of an opening batter winning India the T20 World Cup?Definitely. India (have) certainly got the world-class skills for their team to be able to win the T20 World Cup. Rohit is an experienced