NEW DELHI: With New Zealand taking on Pakistan and India facing England in the semi-finals, the T20 World Cup is set for a blockbuster finish.
The historic Sydney Cricket Ground will host the first semi-final between New Zealand and Pakistan on Wednesday, while the picturesque Adelaide Oval is set to stage the second semi-final between India and England on Thursday.
TimesofIndia.com ran a poll asking readers to vote for their favourite teams.
The first question was: Who will go on to win the title?
The options were the obvious semi-finalists.
66.53% votes were polled in favour of the inaugural T20 World Cup champions India. Rohit Sharma‘s men topped Group 2 with 8 points following their victory against Zimbabwe at the MCG on Sunday.
16.77% votes were polled in favour of New Zealand who have never won the T20 World Cup title. Kane Williamson-led Kiwis topped Group 1 with 7 points.
2009 T20 World Cup winners Pakistan got 8.46% votes. Babar Azam‘s men reached the semi-finals after South Africa lost to the Netherlands on Sunday and they beat Bangladesh in a virtual quarter-final.
2010 T20 World Cup champions England got the least number of votes – 8.24%. Jos Buttler defeated Sri Lanka to reach the semi-finals – a result that also knocked out defending champions and hosts Australia.

The second question was: Will it be an India-Pakistan clash in the final?
Though an India-Pakistan clash would garner unprecedented hype and hysteria, majority of fans did not vote for an India-Pakistan final.
Only 35% votes were polled in favour an India-Pakistan final clash at the MCG on November 13 while 65% of the voters were not in favour of it.
India had registered a thrilling last-over victory against Pakistan in their opening encounter at the MCG on October 23. And had also beaten their arch-rivals in a pulsating 2007 final to win the inaugural title.

The third question was: Will it be a repeat of the 2019 ODI World Cup final clash between England and New Zealand?
England and New Zealand had clashed in a memorable ODI World Cup encounter at Lord’s on July 14, 2019. The match was decided in the Super Over and England were declared the winners on the boundary count.
But majority of fans do not want a repeat of the 2019 ODI World Cup final. 84% votes were polled against an England-New Zealand summit clash.
Only 16% votes were polled in favour of an England-New Zealand final.

The fourth question was: What was the biggest upset of this T20 World Cup?
There were a number of upsets in this T20 World Cup. Two-time champions West Indies lost to Scotland and Ireland, failing to reach the Super 12 stage.
But Netherlands beating South Africa to knock them out of the tournament was voted as the biggest upset of this edition of the T20 World Cup as 78.78% votes were polled for this option.
10.61% votes were polled for the option of Zimbabwe beating Pakistan by 1 run at Perth on October 27.
9.10% votes were given to Ireland beating West Indies (by 9 wickets) and England (by 5 runs via DLS method).
1.51% votes were polled in favour of Namibia beating Sri Lanka by 55 runs in the first match of the tournament.

The fifth and the last question was: Who has been the best player of this T20 World Cup so far?
Though Virat Kohli is the leading run scorer in this tournament with 246 runs in 5 matches, it is Suryakumar Yadav who has set alight the proceedings with his blitzkrieg strokeplay.
Surya, who has scored 225 runs in 5 matches, got 53.78% votes while Kohli garnered 44.01% votes.
Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva, who is the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 15 wickets in 8 matches, got 1.29% votes.
Dutch medium pacer Bas de Leede, who has 13 wickets in 8 matches, got 0.92% votes.