Australia cricket legend Adam Gilchrist on Wednesday tipped India as one of the favourites to lift the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia next year. Besides India, Gilchrist picked England, his own country and New Zealand as the front-runners.

“Probably they [India] will be featuring in semi-finals and the finals. I can’t predict who is going to win but I suspect that the usual suspects like India, England, Australia and New Zealand will probably make the long way, semi-finals of course,” Gilchrist said.

Insisting that current world No 1 T20 side Pakistan cannot be counted out, Gilchrist said that the results in the shorter formats are unpredictable. He added, “Pakistan are the No 1 ranked team in the format, so you cannot rule them out. But T20 cricket is a bit of lottery so it is hard to predict the winner until the final runs are scored or wickets are taken.”

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup begins from February 21 with hosts Australia taking on India at Sydney and the final us slated for March 8 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The ICC men’s T20 World Cup too will be held in Australia from October 18 to November 15 next year.

The two events will be played across eight Australian cities – Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Third umpire should be able to spot no-balls

Gilchrist feels the third umpire should be able to spot no-balls although he is all for the fourth umpire to take the call in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League, provided correct decisions are made.

Gilchrist made the comments after the IPL Governing Council proposed to have a dedicated “no-ball” umpire to reduce the number of howlers in the lucrative league.

He said: “It is pretty challenging for the on-field umpire to look down there, look up there, have everything else going on. Surely there was a replay last year that showed it was a no-ball.

“That should be allowed, whether you need a fourth umpire, may be not why can’t the third umpire just look at the replay and just go not out.”

He added, “That is the simpler version I would have thought. If it means having a fourth one [umpire] and he is going to get the right decision I am all for it.”

Will the extra umpire slow things down? “No because they can make the decision in an instant. I work in broadcast, they can have a replay within five seconds.”

There was a lot of hue and cry during the last IPL, when some debatable decisions were made with regards to front-foot no-balls. India skipper Virat Kohli even had a heated word with Indian umpire S Ravi, who failed to spot a no-ball by Mumbai Indians’ Sri Lankan legend Lasith Malinga, which proved costly for the Royal Challengers Bangalore during one of the IPL matches.

It is understood that the concept of having a no-ball umpire could be tried in a domestic tournament before a final call is taken on the matter.