T20 World Cup, Group A Preview: All eyes on cricket heavyweights India and Pakistan as underdogs look to impress

The T20 World Cup 2024 will involve 20 teams and start with four groups but the biggest focus is going to be on Group A which includes arch-rivals India and Pakistan. It also includes co-hosts USA who will be playing in the first match against Canada on 1 June (2 June). The USA vs Canada opener will be a repeat of the
first ever international match
.

Before we move forward, let’s check out what we can expect from Group A.

Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, USA and Canada.

India

Team India, led by Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid, enter the competition as the world No. 1 side and also as one of the favourites. But they face some big questions that India will need to answer as they look to end their 11-year wait for an ICC title. The Men in Blue won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 but have failed to recapture the trophy ever since. They reached the semi-finals in the previous edition in Australia but fell short against England who went on to win the championship. The two things that went against India in the 2022 tournament were their poor form in the ICC tournament as compared to bilateral assignments and also the inability of their batters to go whole hog from the very first ball – which is the template for most successful teams in modern-day cricket.

With Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube and Sanju Samson in the squad, India have picked up a few new players who they believe can help them turn the tide. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are also part of the team and will once against be expected to do the bulk of the scoring. Jasprit Bumrah will lead the bowling with spinner Kuldeep Yadav but the lack of other good pacers could hurt the team.

Player to watch

Suryakumar Yadav: India may not be seen as the perfect T20 team, but Suryakumar Yadav has managed to make a name for himself as one of the best batters in the format. He has a strike rate of 171.55 in T20Is with 2141 runs across 60 matches and for India to do well in the T20 World Cup, SKY will have to bring his dangerous Mor. 36 version to the tournament to uplift his team.

Squad

Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Fixtures

vs Ireland: 5 June 2024, New York, 8 PM IST
vs Pakistan: 9 June 2024, New York, 8 PM IST
vs USA: 12 June 2024, New York, 8 PM IST
vs Canada: 15 June 2024, Florida, 8 PM IST

Pakistan

Pakistan are somewhat in a similar situation to India. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have been their best batters for quite a while now but they have regularly faced strike rate criticisms. Pakistan also reached the semi-finals and final in the last two editions but the only time they won the tournament was in 2009. This time Babar and Rizwan will be supported by Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman and Iftikhar Ahmed in batting while Pakistan have picked up a strong lineup of spinners including Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim and Abrar Ahmed.

They also have some top pacers in Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Mohammad Amir.

Player to watch

Mohammad Amir: Haris Rauf was expensive during the 2023 ODI World Cup and Shaheen Afridi has not been the same in the recent period with his pace looking down in Australia last year. In such a case, an express pace bowler Like Amir who can also swing the ball can be critical to Pakistan. His decision to reverse the international retirement decision was taken with the same view.

Squad

Babar Azam (c), 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.

Fixtures

vs USA: 6 June 2024, Texas, 9 PM IST
vs India: 9 June 2024, New York, 8 PM IST
vs Canada: 11 June 2024, New York, 8 PM IST
vs Ireland: 16 June 2024, Florida, 8 PM IST

Ireland

Please don’t make the mistake of thinking that teams other than India and Pakistan are there to just make up the numbers. Ireland have qualified for the T20 World Cup for an eighth consecutive time. Paul Stirling will be captaining the side and he is the team’s most important batter alongside former captain Andrew Balbirnie. Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ross Adair and Curtis Campher are the other batters who add steel to the Irish lineup.

Mark Adair and Josh Little lead their pace attack while the spin department has leaders in Ben White and Gareth Delany.

India and Pakistan pose a major threat to Ireland but victories over USA, Canada and one of India or Pakistan can give them a real chance of reaching the Super Eight.

Player to watch

Paul Stirling: He will be captaining Ireland for the first time in an ICC event and Paul Stirling has been the team’s best batter for a long time. He has scored 3589 runs in 142 matches at a strike rate of 135.43. Stirling is the only Irish batter to cross the 3000-run mark and his form will be critical to Ireland’s chances.

Squad

Paul Stirling (c), 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.

Fixtures

vs India: 5 June 2024, New York, 8 PM IST
vs Canada: 7 June 2024, New York, 8 PM IST
vs USA: 14 June 2024, Florida, 8 PM IST
vs Pakistan: 16 June 2024, Florida, 8 PM IST

USA

This will be USA’s debut in an ICC World Cup. The only time they featured in an ICC tournament was in the Champions Trophy in 2004. Captain Monank Patel leads their batting along with Aaron Jones and Steven Taylor. The addition of former New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson gives the squad more strength with his experience and ability. Pakistan-born pacer Ali Khan will be leading their bowling.

USA are the form team by the way having beaten higher-ranked Bangladesh 2-1 in a T20 series recently at home.

Player to watch

Corey Anderson: The all-rounder played for New Zealand in the ODI World Cup (2015) and two T20 World Cups (2014 and 2016). He also featured in IPL and brings with him immense experience, ability to score fast runs and bowl tricky medium pace bowling. If he can perform consistently then the USA can have a good chance.

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.

Fixtures

vs Canada: 1 June 2024, Dallas, 6 AM IST
vs Pakistan – Thu, 6 June 2024, Texas, 9 PM IST
vs India: 12 June 2024, New York, 8 PM IST
vs Ireland: 14 June 2024, Florida, 8 PM IST

Canada

Just like the USA, Canada are set to make their T20 World Cup debut but they have played in ODI World Cups in 1979, 2003, 2007 and 2011. left-arm spinner Saad Bin Zafar is their best player and will lead their bowling alongside pacer Jeremy Gordon. While the focus will be on the USA as co-hosts, Canada would look to spring a few surprises.

Player to watch

Saad Bin Zafar: The left-arm spinner is Canada’s highest wicket-taker with 43 wickets to his name. He has also scored 272 runs in 19 innings at a strike rate of 133.99.

Squad

Saad Bin Zafar (c), Aaron Johnson, Ravinderpal Singh, Navneet Dhaliwal, Kaleem Sana, Dilon Heyliger, Jeremy Gordon, Nikhil Dutta, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Rayyankhan Pathan, Junaid Siddiqui, Dilpreet Bajwa, Shreyas Movva, Rishiv Joshi.

Fixtures

vs USA: 1 June 2024, Dallas, 6 AM IST
vs Ireland: 7 June 2024, New York, 8 PM IST
vs Pakistan: 11 June 2024, New York, 8 PM IST

vs India: 15 June 2024, Florida, 8 PM IST