The best teams in the ICC World T20 will have to look out for sides like Ireland and Netherlands, Muhammed Ashar Khan reports.

India are being tipped to be the favourites in the ICC World Twenty20 in England, while the defending champions would not take teams like South Africa and Sri Lanka lightly, they will also have to watch out for smaller sides like Bangladesh, Ireland and Netherlands who are not there just to make numbers.

India are obviously happy with the make up of their group A that has Bangladesh and Ireland as the other two teams.

So it more or less means that it would be a cakewalk to the Super 8 stage for MS Dhoni's men. But the way Ireland manage to stun Bangladesh and Netherlands had caused upset to England, nothing can be said for sure.

History is testimony that minnows like Netherlands and Ireland are capable of spoiling the party for the favourites in a big tournament.

India and Pakistan, two of the major teams of the 2007 World Cup were beaten by underdogs Bangladesh and Ireland respectively and they failed to qualify for the super 8 stage.

Australia got jolted by Zimbabwe in the inaugural World T20 when they were beaten by five wickets in the group stage. Kenya, though not in the fray, also surprised everyone by reaching the semifinals of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

Minnows capable of causing upset:

Ireland bt Bangladesh by 6 wkts in the first round of the 2009 ICC World T20 Championship

Netherlands bt England by 4 wkts in the first round of the 2009 ICC World T20 Championship

Bangladesh bt India by 5 wkts in group stage of 2007 World Cup

Ireland bt Pakistan by 3 wkts in group stage of 2007 World Cup

Zimbabwe bt Australia in group stage of 2007 World T20

Kenya lost to India in semifinal of 2003 World Cup

The second edition of the ICC World T20 witnessed its first close shave when Sri Lanka scraped through in their warm-up match against Bangladesh in Nottingham. With the minnows determined to make their mark in the world stage, there may not be any favourites in the World Twenty20 Championship in England.