Part 1 of our World Cup preview, talked about the tournament format. This time, we shifted our focus to Group A, with India, Ireland, Pakistan, Canada, and the USA.
1. India
The winners of the inaugural tournament have been one of the most consistent sides,
They have reached the semi-finals on three of the last four occasions.
In Australia 2022, Jos Buttler’s England thumped India out of the semi-finals, with a comprehensive 10-wicket victory.
Rohit Sharma, who led the side in that tournament, is expected to lead the side in this edition.
Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya(Vice Captain), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.
One To Watch: Virat Kohli
King Kohli is having the time of his life, especially being the highest run-score of this year’s Indian Premier League, with 708 runs at a strike rate of 155.160.
Kohli had an outstanding 50-Over World Cup, and was the tournament’s top scorer with a record-breaking 765 runs, at a strike rate of 90.32.
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He also holds the record for the most runs at a T20 World Cup, with 314 runs in Bangladesh 2014.
Kohli was also the highest scorer in the 2022 edition with 296 runs.
He certainly relishes playing in big tournaments, and he will need to be at his best, to give India a chance of lifting a second T20 title.
Suryakumar Yadav
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Also known as SKY, is one of the most destructive batsmen in T20 Cricket.
The 33-year-old is the top-ranked batsman in this format, and his ability to score runs in all parts of the field is what makes him difficult to bowl at.
Sky has the second most centuries in International T20 cricket with four,
Sharma and Glenn Maxwell lead the way with five.
Sky also was the third-highest run-scorer in Australia in 2022, with 239 at a rate of 189.68.
Will he have an impact in the USA and West Indies?
But it’s not just the batters that make the Men In Blue a formidable team to face.
They also possess some top-quality bowlers such as Jasprit Bumrah, who is the number one Test bowler in the world but is also lethal in the other two formats.
Schedule:
India vs. Ireland: 5th June 15:30, New York
India VS Pakistan: 9th June 15:30, New York
USA vs. India 12th June, 15:30, New York
India VS Canada, 15th June, 15:30, Lauderhill
7. Pakistan
The winners of the 2009 tournament reached the Final in 2022 but were beaten by England in the Final by five wickets.
Babar Azam, the number three ranked T20 batsman in the World, will lead the side for the third T20 World Cup in a row.
He was also the leading run-scorer in this year’s PSL (Pakistan Super League), with 569 runs, at a strike rate of 142.61.
He will be vital to Pakistan’s hopes for this tournament.
The squad is as follows:
Babar Azam (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan,
Other Players To Watch Out For: Abrar Ahmed
The 25-year-old wrist spinner is another player to watch out for in this tournament.
Ahmed was the third-highest wicket-taker in this year’s PSL, with 16 wickets at an economy rate of 7.83.
Given that the pitches in the US are likely to be good flat batting surfaces, Babar will probably look to pick a balanced attack, based on the conditions in the three venues.
Schedule:
6th June: USA VS Pakistan: 15:30 Grand Prairie
9th June: India VS Pakistan: 15:30 New York
11th June: Pakistan VS Canada: 15:30 New York
16th June: Pakistan VS Ireland: 15:30 Lauderhill
11. Ireland
The Irish will be competing in their eighth successive T20 World Cup, and they are a side that should not be underestimated in this tournament.
Paul Stirling’s side had an impressive tournament in Australia in 2022, where they qualified for the Super 12 stage, by winning two out of their three group games against Zimbabwe, Scotland, and the West Indie.
They were then placed in Group 1 of the Super 12, but could only manage one victory in five matches.
That one victory was against Champions England, by 5 runs via Duckworth Lewis.
Paul Stirling (Captain), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young.
One To Watch: Paul Stirling
The Ireland Captain is our player to watch in this tournament.
Currently ranked 47th in the world, Stirling is Ireland’s all-time leading run-scorer, with 3,521 runs in 141 matches, at a strike rate of 135.31.
After Ireland failed to qualify for the 50-Over World Cup in 2023, Balbirnie who was Captain, stepped down from his role of leading the limited overs side in July 2023.
“It’s an honour and privilege to get this role and be offered it in the first place,” “It’s a real motivator for me and I think it’s the reason I came back from county cricket to Ireland in the first place, to play in 50-over World Cups as I believe they are the top of our game and we need to be there.
Stirling: BBC Sport
Schedule:
5th June India VS Ireland: 15:30, New York
7th June: Canada VS Ireland: 15:30, New York
14th June: USA VS Ireland: 15:30, Lauderhill
16th June: Pakistan VS Ireland: 15:30, Lauderhill
Canada
After failing to qualify for the previous eight editions, this will be the country’s first T20 World Cup.
Their last appearance at an ICC tournament was the 2011 World Cup in India.
They were placed in Group A alongside Pakistan, Australia, Kenya, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Zimbabwe.
However, they could only manage one victory in five games.
Schedule:
2nd June: USA VS Canada: 13:30, Grand Prarie
7th June: Canada VS Ireland: 15:30, New York
11th June: Pakistan VS Canada: 15:30 New York
15th June: India VS Canada: 15:30, Lauderhill
Squad:
Saad Bin Zafar (captain), Aaron Johnson, Dillon Heyliger, Dilpreet Bajwa, Harsh Thaker, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Kanwarpal Tathgur, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Pargat Singh, Ravinderpal Singh, Rayyankhan Pathan, Shreyas Movva.
Ones To Watch: Aaron Johnson, Kaleem Sana
The explosive opener will be vital for the Canadians, to get them off to a brisk start in the powerplay.
Johnson has 713 runs in 16 innings, at a strike rate of 166.6. and is eager to make the most of it in the USA and West Indies.
As for the bowling department, Left-arm speedster Sana will be the leader of the attack, with 27 wickets in 16 games, at a strike rate of 13.2.
But the most important thing for this Canadian team is how competitive they will be in terms of posting good scores on the board, as well as defending them.
If they can do this, they may just spring one or two surprises in this tournament.
Usually, Americans would associate a bat and ball to be used for a baseball game, but they still have a bit of history involving cricket.
According to USA Cricket, 1709, was when the sport was first introduced to the country, and 1751 was when the first match was held between a London XI and a New York XI.
However, it wasn’t until 1965 that the USA became an associate member of the ICC.
in 1979, the nation participated in its first global tournament, the ICC Trophy.
Although they won seven out of eight games in the 1986 ICC Trophy, they missed out on the semi-finals via net run rate.
They did, however, make it to the Champions Trophy 2004, through qualification via the ICC Six Nations Tournament.
In 2010, the US took part in their first Qualifier tournament for the T20 World Cup in the UAE but lost in the Group phase.
Despite being in contention for qualifying for the 2016 T20 World Cup, the USA missed out by one point.
This year’s tournament will be their first major appearance at an ICC event for 45 years.
Moreover, Fast Bowler Ali Khan believes that his side can cause a few upsets in this tournament.
“We [USA] are hungry, and are going to try to eat whoever comes in our way,” “This is a time where we can make some changes and adjust. Team looks balanced, and all the guys are hungry. I am sure USA will do some upset [in the T20 World Cup].
Ali Khan: Cricinfo
Squad:
Monank Patel (c), Aaron Jones, Andries Gous, Corey Anderson, Ali Khan, Harmeet Singh, Jessy Singh, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Nitish Kumar, Noshtush Kenjige, Saurabh Nethralvakar, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir.
One To Watch: Steven Taylor
The aggressive Left-Hander is the player to watch for the USA in this tournament.
Taylor has 742 runs in 24 T20s, at a strike rate of 142.41, and is eager to get amongst the runs in this tournament.
Schedule
2nd June: USA VS Canada: 13:30, Grand Prairie
6th June: USA VS Pakistan: 16:30, Dallas
12th June: USA vs. India: 15:30, New York
14th June: USA VS Ireland: 15:30, Lauderhill
So this is the preview for Group A of the ICC World T20.
Image Credit: Deposit Photos
