International cricket will thrive in a new territory, the United States, when the ninth edition of the Twenty20 World Cup will kick off on June 1 (June 2 in our part of the world) with the usual fun fare and will be watched across the world.
Despite the inhabitants of one of the world’s strongest and authoritative countries knowing little to nothing about the game the hype is increasing by the day. It is a great chance for the administrative body of cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC) to introduce and market the game to a large audience, specifically expats from the sub-continent. This World Cup is also seen as an introductory event for Twenty20 cricket included in the Los Angeles Olympics 2028. By the time that global event comes, the inhabitants of the USA would have been familiar with the game.
Schedule:
Since it’s the first time in USA, the opening game will be played in Dallas with the co-hosts USA taking on Canada. A total of 16 games will be played across three venues of USA. New York will host eight games including the bumper Pakistan-India game at the newly laid out Nassau Stadium. Dallas and Lauderhill will stage four matches each. The six venues in the West Indies will host 39 matches, including the semi-finals – June 26 in Trinidad and June 27 in Guyana while Barbados will host the grand final on June 29. The timings of the matches are set in a manner that they are held in the morning so that viewers in Asia – primarily in India because they have the clout and their money is used in the ICC events – can watch them in prime time. The high-profile match between Pakistan and India will be held at 7:30 PST which is 10:30 local time in New York. That looks odd for the fans who are going to the stadium but this is how it is! Make India and Asia happy.
Biggest World Cup:
This year’s World Cup is the biggest in terms of the teams involved, 20 in all. The two hosts – USA and the West Indies – were included directly while eight top teams from the 2022 edition held in Australia – title holders England, runners-up Pakistan, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia and Netherlands. Afghanistan and Bangladesh also got direct qualification. Scotland and Ireland got their tickets to the World Cup by qualifying from the European zone, Nepal and Oman from Asia, Canada from Americas and Namibia and Uganda qualified from Africa, Papua New Guinea from the East Asia-Pacific zone.
Uganda caused a major upset by defeating Zimbabwe and ousted them from the World Cup.
India vs Pakistan: Top of the chart
June 9 is the most sought-after match of the World Cup, with arch-rivals India facing Pakistan at Nassau Stadium in New York. It’s fire versus fire and promises a riveting last ball or last over finish, just like the Sharjah 1986 Javed Miandad sixer or Virat Kohli’s last over finish at the MCG in 2022.
Sadly, the stadium has a capacity of just 34,000 fans which will leave most of the fans deprived. The ticket for this match is in high demand and is going for a whopping 25-50k US dollars. Hotels in New York are fully booked and even the BNB service is turning down the aspirants as hundreds of wealthy Indians are likely to descend on The Big Apple a day before the match.
The match will provide a classic lesson to the US citizens on cricket, a large number of whom don’t know the ABC of the game. They will see how the biggest rivalry of cricket set stadiums on fire and beyond. The match is an attraction of over a billion eyeballs and the International Cricket Council savours the earnings from it.
But since India has overwhelmingly dominated the World Cup (50 and T20) contests, it has become a one-sided affair. Pakistan have lost all the eight ODI World Cup matches against arch-rivals and managed to win just one of the seven T20I face-offs. This time too Pakistan’s chaotic preparation and losing to lower ranked teams like Ireland and to an under strength New Zealand hint India will once again prevail. But you can never rule out Pakistan causing an upset.
Favourtites:
It is a million-dollar question. There are no clear-cut favourites. The format is so freak – one good batting or a destructive bowling spell can change the result of a T20 match. A lowly ranked team can beat a top flight team on their day. The shortest format of the game is full of upsets in the past and can spring many surprises in the coming mega event.
India is top of the pile, not only as favourites but also as one of the strongest teams in the competition. They have formidable batting with Rohit Sharma, Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli and Shivam Dube in their ranks. India’s strongest point is the triumvirate of allrounders, one fast bowling allrounder in Hardik Pandya, and two spinning allrounders in Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. The three allrounders – two of which will be in the eleven at all times. That batting strength allows India to play Kuldeep Yadav and Chahal simultaneously. But the 2007 winners look weak in fast bowling and rely more on Jasprit Bumrah, with Mohammad Shami and Arshdeep Sharma short on consistency.
England can match the West Indies – winners of two trophies in 2012 and 2016 — by winning their second trophy. They overcame the loss against Ireland to lift the trophy in 2022 and still have the wherewithal to have an encore. They will definitely miss the all-round skills of Ben Stokes who withdrew from the World Cup to concentrate on Test cricket. But with the return of Jofra Archer England’s pace bowling looks potent. Sam Curran was the player of the tournament in 2022 but has gone down in both skills of the game in recent matches.
England’s spin is in good hands with experienced Moeen Ali and Adil Rasheed who both are wicket taking bowlers and are handy in the middle overs.
Australia also have a star-studded team with world class allrounder Mitchell Marsh as their captain but with two pacers – Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood – and opener David Warner – all on the wrong sides of 30s, their team looks like a “Daddy’s Army.” Like always, Australia have powerful hitters in the middle with Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David and Cameroon Green – who all can bowl. Veteran Matthew Wade and Josh Inglis are two very competent wicketkeepers who can bat in the middle overs with guts and aggression.
Australia’s spin attack is in the wily hands of Adam Zampa who has support in Ashton Agar while Maxwell, David and Head can also bowl useful overs.
If Australia win they can become the second side to hold both the ODI and T20 World Cups, like England did with the 2019 and 2022 World Cups.
Pakistan is always amongst the favourites, no matter how chaotic the way they prepare and start a tournament. The winners of 2009 title have a wayward build-up with changes in Pakistan Cricket Board’s leadership and Babar Azam stalled back as captain, replacing Shaheen Shah Afridi. They roped in former South African opener Gary Kirsten as white-ball coach. But the World Cup winner as India head coach, Kirsten only joined the team a fortnight before the mega event which may not allow him to know the team inside out. Still, he can bring some good changes. The main problem for Pakistan is they are still unsure of their combination, especially who to open the innings. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have been successful as openers in terms of runs but they are vociferously criticized for a conventional strike rate of 120-125 which is way behind what you need at the international level. Pakistan’s middle-order and middle overs remain a problem. But once Pakistan clears the first round, they will be a different team. Discount Pakistan at your own peril, is the common advice given by experts.
South Africa and New Zealand also have formidable squads but when it comes to the World Cup both the teams are perennial under-achievers. Both have a single Champions trophy (When it was known as ICC Knock-out event, South Africa winners in 1998 and New Zealand 2000) and that is all. The word chokers is like a monkey on the back for South Africa as they fumble in main events at crucial stages. New Zealand too have not won a major trophy and for most of their players including skipper Kane Williamson, Tim Southee and Trent Boult this will be their last chance.
The West Indies – winners of the Twenty20 trophy in 2012 and 2016 – are the dark horses of the tournament. They play their games in the Caribbean and in Nicholas Pooran, Johnson Charles, Andre Russell, Shimron Hetmeyer, Rovman Powell and Sherfane Rutherford they have master blasters who can tear apart any team on their day. They look weak on pace bowling with the experienced Jason Holder out of the event with injury. The co-hosts has two quality left-arm spinners in Akeal Hosein and Gudakesh Moti who can stifle the batters and get wickets when needed.
Afghanistan is also one of the dark horses for the event. They have the youngest team with an average age of 25 and are loaded with spinners who can come good on the slow and low pitches in the Caribbean. But they have the first challenge to overcome at the Group C, with teams like New Zealand and the West Indies posing real challenges.
Past winners:
With the advent of T20 cricket in 2003 in England the format gained popularity by leaps and bounds. The International Cricket Council jumped into its popularity and cashed on it by staging the first Twenty20 World Cup – initially called World Twenty20 – in South Africa in 2007. Since then it has been regularly held but the frequency changed from time to time.
Winners Venue Year
India South Africa 2007
Pakistan UK ` 2009
England West Indies 2010
West Indies Sri Lanka 2012
Sri Lanka Bangladesh 2014
West Indies India 2016
Australia UAE and Oman 2021
England Australia 2022
Prize money:
The last World Cup had a total prize money of 5.6 million dollars. England, the winner of the T20 World Cup 2022, was awarded a whopping $1.6 million, while Pakistan was given $800,000 as runner-up. The two semi-finalists – New Zealand and India – received 400,000 US dollars. All the Super Eight Teams received 200,000 US dollars each while those eliminated in the first round pocketed 40,000 each. The eight teams (Australia, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Afghanistan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Netherlands, Bangladesh) that were out after the Super 12 stage took home USD 70,000 each. For every win in the Super 12s teams got USD 40,000. The four teams (West Indies, Namibia, Scotland, UAE) that were knocked out in the first round received USD 40,000 each.
