Against the backdrop of a changing T20 batting landscape, precipitated by some no-holds-barred Powerplay batting during the recently concluded IPL, a record 20 teams will contest the 2024 T20 World Cup running from June 2-29.
Whether or not the slam-bang approach of the four openers of IPL 2024 finalists Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad will be replicated at the World Cup remains to be seen – and it could even end up being a moot point – but the topic is hot, and it could be that several international batsmen coming out of the IPL try to take the same approach.
Several teams from the previous T20 World Cup held in Australia – chiefly, India and Pakistan – did not have confident openers willing to take risks or care about falling cheaply, but as Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Sunil Narine and Phil Salt showed in the IPL, there is plenty of success to be had by putting pressure on opposition bowlers from ball one. A high-risk strategy, yes, but one that increases the chances of bowlers delivering hit-me balls as a result.
If such tactics are extended by enough teams at the T20 World Cup – and this is largely dependent on the kinds of surfaces in the USA and Caribbean – and with positive results, then IPL 2025 could end up as a watershed season in T20 cricket’s evolution.
Further, this kind of batting revolution could be just what the ICC and American cricket organizers need from the T20 World Cup to take the game’s popularity in America to a new level. While cricket has a deep connect to the USA given its centuries-old English influence and is played across the country at club and collegiate level, the idea behind having a T20 World Cup hosted in America was to expand the market and set in motion a shift towards cricket seen back in 1994 when the country hosted its first FIFA World Cup.
The 2024 T20 World Cup will be co-hosted America and West Indies, a decision approved by the ICC in late 2021, which makes it the first time a cricket World Cup will be played in the USA. Three American stadiums will host 16 of 55 World Cup matches during the first round of the tournament: Lauderhill’s Central Broward Park; New York’s Nassau County Stadium; and Grand Prarie Stadium in Dallas. The most interest is centered on the Long Island venue, since it has recently been completed with its pitch flown in from Adelaide and will host three of India’s games, including the marquee June 9 clash with Pakistan.
Over in the Caribbean, six islands will be hosting matches: Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobaga. The semi-finals will be played in T&T and Guyana and the final at Barbados’ Kensington Oval on June 29.
While USA and West Indies automatically earned qualification by virtue of being tournament hosts, Canada and Uganda will debut at the T20 World Cup. India, Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Netherlands sealed passage to the tournament after finishing in the top eight at the previous T20 World Cup in 2022. Afghanistan and Bangladesh qualified based on being the next two highest-ranked teams on the ICC standings for T20Is.
From the European Qualifiers, Ireland and Scotland joined the pool of 20 teams, Papua New Guinea from the East Asia-Pacific Qualifiers, Oman and Nepal from the Asian Qualifier, and Namibia and Uganda from the African Qualifier.
The 20 teams have been divided into four groups of five in the first stage and will play each other once each in a round-robin format, and the two top from each group will make it to the Super 8s where the remaining eight teams will be divided into two groups of four. From the Super 8s, the top two teams from these groups will gain passage to the semi-final (the winner of Group 1 versus the runner-up in Group 2, and vice-versa).
In the buildup to this World Cup, there have been a few upsets in T20Is. Ireland beat Pakistan in the first match of a three-game series, followed by 19th-ranked USA stunning ninth-ranked Bangladesh 2-1. Yet conventional logic suggests that the eight seeded teams – India, Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies – should make it to the Super 8s.
From there, with all games to be played in the Caribbean, it will take two good games of cricket from each team to boost their semi-final prospects.
The key to making it to the final four and then winning the T20 World Cup? Aggressive and calculated batting instead of the outdated safety-first approach.
