Starting with England, I think they have an excellent squad at their helm. There is always slight uncertainty with the conditions. In USA, there will be lack of knowledge among the teams about the conditions, pitches etc. But I think England’s balance of the side will help them immensely in
these conditions. They are one of the few sides in the competition who have a lot of bowling options within the batting lineup which gives them a great amount of balance to the side.
England have got Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Will Jacks as spin options among the batters. There is a solid pace-bowling all-rounder present in the form of Sam Curran. I like the fast bowling department as well. Jofra Archer is returning after attaining full fitness and looks fitter. Mark Wood has got genuine pace. England will hope Wood maintains his fitness levels throughout the competition. Adil Rashid’s leg-spin will play an integral part In England’s campaign. The quality of Rashid in the middle overs will be pivotal. They have got a left-arm fast bowling option present in Reece Topley. I will be surprised if he does not play a significant part in the competition. He may not be quickest in the game, but he has got deception in his bowling. He may have some bad days on the field but on good days, he is going to win you games.
England’s strengths are going to be the top-order power. Keep an eye on Jacks, who is very special. Playing spin in the middle overs will not be a concern but it will be something to watch out for. How England negotiate slow bowling will be key.
After what happened in the 50-over World Cup, all eyes will be on the captain-coach pair of Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott. They certainly have all the resources to win the tournament. Ben Duckett, I think, is a good selection. I do not think he will be picked from the first game itself, but his presence gives Mot and Buttler the chance to play a left-hander in the right-handed heavy top five of England. Duckett is also very good against spin.
England’s preparations have not been ideal as their four-matches series against Pakistan saw more rain and less cricket. They are going to fly out for the tournament a little later than others and hence acclimatisation of the weather is going to be slight problem for them.0
Canada have just four players under the age of 30, which means they are backing experience to come good in the tournament. Saad Bin Zafar, 37, is the captain who is also a left-arm spinner. He is decent with the bat as well. Aaron Johnson will be a key player for them. He averages over 50 in T20s and strikes at 167. Canada have got experience of playing a few Cricket World Cups,
in 1979, 2003, 2007 and 2011. They will be aiming to play good cricket and gain a great amount of experience from the tournament.
Hind-sights are a wonderful thing. Pat Cummins led Sunrisers Hyderabad so well in IPL and I am wondering if they are sitting and wishing if Pat was their captain for the World Cup. Jake Fraser-McGurk clearly made a big impact in the IPL, and I wonder Aussies think he was also a part of the squad. Having said that, Australia have still got a brilliant squad. They are a bit like England in the sense that they too have got a lot of batters who can bowl a bit. They have a lot of all-round options, especially pace bowling all-rounders.
Keep an eye out on Josh Inglis. He is an exciting talent, and this World Cup may just see the best of him. There are many marquee names in their squad. Starc and Cummins with the ball, Travis Head at the top of the order are all exciting players. Head has had his struggle against left-arm pace as seen in the last few games he played in IPL. England will be looking to employ Curran, Topley to take on Head. Other sides will also look to exploit that potential weakness of his. Glenn Maxwell’s form is a concern, but we all know that he is a big match player.
One of the concerns for Aussies will be to freshen up some of their IPL players in the next week or two. These players have been away from home for a long period of time. It is tough to be away from family and friends for such a long time due to a big tournament and then have another one coming up in quick time. These players need to be mentally fresh as soon as possible and that will be one of the challenges.
The Indian team have had near misses in the recent few ICC World Cups. Rohit Sharma and co will be looking to end this trophy drought this edition of the T20 World Cup. The first conundrum that needs solving as far as their playing 11 is concerned is the top-order batting. Do they opt for Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma as the top three or Virat comes down to number 3? If I were to make this call, I would want Kohli to open with Jaiswal and have Rohit come in at 3 and Suryakumar Yadav at 4.
The other question will be which keeper to play between Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson? While Samson displayed good form in the IPL, I will go with Pant. One of the main reasons is that the keeper is going to bat at 5 or 6 and I think Pant is a better bet on these positions. He is well-suited to this role and is a big match player.
India have got four spin options. I would have gone with three to accommodate Rinku Singh. He may not have had a special time in the IPL but Rinku will be in my team for the World Cup. I think they have gone with four spinners because they feel the pitches will be favouring the spinners.
Jasprit Bumrah is obviously going to be a key player. Bumrah is an excellent bowler irrespective of the conditions. India are clearly one of the strongest sides in the competition.
Pakistan are too very strong on paper. Their top-order is going to be key as Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam and Saim Ayub will be asked to do a lot of scoring in the tournament. I am pinning Ayub as one of the young players to watch out for as he has shown immense potential in the domestic competitions as well as PSL. Fakhar Zaman and Iftikhar Ahmed can hit the ball hard and long. Imad Wasim is a clever cricketer with both bat and ball and for me, he is another player to watch out for as he makes return to the national team.
Pakistan need to be very good with the new ball. Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf will need to be at their best to keep giving Pakistan those great starts with the ball.
There has been a bit of turbulence in the team with regards to captaincy. Babar went out and came in. Pakistan will look to leave these issues aside and focus on the bigger goal and I am sure they are mentally ready now. In terms of preparation, they must be as frustrated as England with rain washing out the matches in UK. It denied them the chance to test themselves against a good side. Yet I am expecting Pakistan to be alive at the back end of the tournament.
Paul Stirling took over the captaincy from Andrew Balbirnie. It will be interesting to see how he copes with the captaincy in a big tournament. He is a big player for Ireland as well as Harry Tector. Keep an eye out on him. Josh Little is a big player for them as well. He has a good experience of playing with the Indian players in the IPL and I am sure he will certainly pass on the knowledge to his teammates. Ireland are a dangerous side. The World Cup history tells that they like competing against the bigger teams.
This is their first appearance in a T20 World Cup. Clearly, they are leaning on the experience of Corey Anderson, one of the leading former New Zealand players. Monank Patel will lead the squad and Ali Khan will be leading the bowling lineup. They have got some quality there.
Netherlands have got some players in the squad who have experience of playing domestic cricket in England. Scott Edwards will lead the side. Bas de Leede will play a central role in their campaign if they are going to make some upsets. They will miss Colin Ackermann. Netherlands have got some good memories of ICC World Cups and while it is a tall order for them to compete, they can produce some good results on their day.
South Africa are very strong on paper. Quinton de Kock has recently looked short of his best and that is a little concern for the Proteas. But SA still have one on the stronger middle order batting in the competition. There is Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller and Tristan Stubbs who looked good in the IPL.
Like Australia, South Africa also face a similar challenge of freshening up some of their IPL players as they have been on the road for a long time.
As far as their bowling goes, I like Gerald Coetzee. Kagiso Rabada is all quality. The spin bowling department comprises of Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj. SA indeed look a very dangerous side.
Wanindu Hasaranga had a big role to play for Sri Lanka with the ball in hand but now he has been entrusted with a bigger role of captaincy. He will lean quite heavily on Angelo Mathews and Dasun Shanaka, the two pace bowling all-rounders and former captains. They do have plenty of spin options available in the form of Maheesh Theekshana and Hasaranga. They have got Matheesha Pathirana who is going to cause problems for the batters. He is a big match-winner with the ball.
Sri Lanka have a dangerous bowling lineup. If their batting can fire, they can be very hard to beat. But they do have some issues in their batting as some of their players are struggling for runs and with injuries.
Namibia were undefeated in the qualifying stages of the T20 World Cup. JJ Smit is having a great run with the bat for them. Gerhard Erasmus, their captain, has got wickets thanks to his spin bowling and bowls with a good economy rate. They have got players who are in good form. It will be a challenge for them to raise their game up to the standards of a World Cup.
Oman are led by all-rounder Aqib Ilyas. Watch out for Bilal Khan, left arm pacer, who is good at bowling yorkers. Ilyas is a better player when he is leading the team, which is a very good sign. They are facing Namibia in what is their first match of the tournament. That will be a big game for them.
Another team with a lot of potential which faces the challenge of raising the game to this level. They have their first game against England which will test them immensely. George Munsey is a terrific player at the top of the order and is more than capable of playing well against the best bowlers in the world. Keep an eye out on the left-arm spin of Mark Watt as well. They too have number of players who have played a lot of cricket in English conditions. They will not be walkovers by any means and that makes the first game vs England a very exciting contest. Remember, they have very little to lose against the much stronger side on paper.
West Indies are a dangerous side. They will be led by Rovman Powell and at home, they can become even more threatening. Shamar Joseph, who did not play a lot in IPL, has got great pace. Windies have got experience of Shimron Hetmyer and Jason Holder. There is an abundance of talent in the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Roston Chase. They have got a lot of all-rounders. Andre Russell had an outstanding season with KKR which they won. West Indies are going to be a side worth watching. They will be difficult to write off.
Another team which will be difficult to write off are New Zealand. There are not many sides who are better than New Zealand on paper. They are a team who have got all bases covered. They have swing of Tim Southee and Trent Boult, pace of Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry. The spin options are Ish Sodhi, Mitchell Santner and Rachin Ravindra, Michael Bracewell.
Devon Conway is coming back after a long injury layoff, and it will be a challenge for him to be as good as he was earlier. I am super impressed with Ravindra who has been a great addition to the New Zealand squad.
I think if New Zealand are to win the trophy, Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell are two players who need to have a great tournament. Both are known for their all-round abilities but what makes Mitchell a very special player in any setup is his vast knowledge, experience and ability to win big matches.
Bangladesh are never to be underestimated, certainly in these conditions. There are a few injury concerns for them. Bangladesh will be hoping that Shakib Al Hasan is at his best. Litton Das, Mahmudullah need to have a big tournament. Mustafizur Rahman showed good form in the IPL but he needs to get rid of the little niggle that has been bothering him.
Nepal have got a young side at the helm. They will be led by Rohit Paudel. I will be keenly watching them and the development of these players in Nepal. They are young and eager to prove themselves on the world stage. Dipendra Singh Airee is a big hitter of the ball who can change the game on his own. He will be fun to watch if he hits those big sixes. There is a lot of talent in Nepal but how they fare against the big teams will be interesting to see.
Afghanistan are a team who can never be written off. They will be hoping that captain Rashid Khan is back to his best. They have got many spin options: Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid. I am a big fan of Azmatullah Omarzai, who is going to be a key player with both bat and ball. Rahmanullah Gurbaz will also need to fire at the top. Naveen-ul Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi can cause trouble for any batting order with their fast bowling on their day.
Afghanistan are in a very tough group and it is never going to be easy to win but they are side known for their fighting spirit.
Uganda are in excellent form coming into the tournament. Brian Masaba is the skipper. Watch out for Alpesh Ramjani, who played for Mumbai U16 and U19 teams. He was part of the Ranji Trophy squad of Mumbai for a couple of seasons. He moved to Uganda in 2021 and started playing cricket over there and did well. It will be interesting to see how he goes.
This is the second time that PNG are playing in a T20 World Cup. Many versatile cricketers are a part of this group. Assadollah Vala captains the side. They too have won a lot of games coming into the competition and will be confident to play well. But they have got a tough opening match against West Indies. Let’s see how they go in this game.
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