ICC Men’s T20 WC 2026: 4 players who have a lot to prove in the Super Eights

We are in the closing stages of the group stage of the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, and we have our Super Eight sides.

While some of the players have wasted no time in making a mark at this tournament, there are a few who entered the event with high hopes and lofty expectations but have yet to set the tournament alight.

Here, we take a look at those players who have a lot to prove as we enter the next stage of the tournament.

Jos Buttler | England

Jos Buttler is arguably England’s best white-ball player by a country mile. His exploits in the shortest format of the game are the stuff of legend. When on song, Buttler can single-handedly take away the game from any opposition, no matter how good they are or how much quality they possess in their bowling attack. Some of the best bowlers in the world have been reduced to cannon fodder when Buttler gets going. 

However, this World Cup has not yet seen the best of Jos Buttler the batter, as he is still searching for his rhythm and has struggled for fluency up top. In what has been a disappointing campaign for Buttler so far, he has managed to score a paltry 53 runs, with single-digit scores against Italy and Scotland and a top score of 26 against Nepal. 

Buttler’s failures at the top are magnified much more due to England having a rather indifferent tournament so far. His poor form has attracted some chatter, and calls for him to be dropped for Ben Duckett have been gathering steam. With England opening their Super Eight campaign against Sri Lanka on Sunday in conditions where spin will play a huge part, the Poms will hope that Buttler finally rises to the occasion and shows the world that there is still life in the old dog just yet.

Quinton de Kock | South Africa

When it was revealed that Quinton de Kock had decided to come back into the South African T20I setup, it sent a wave of massive euphoria and excitement among the Proteas faithful. He entered the World Cup on the back of scintillating form, with runs against the West Indies, and was expected to be the firebrand at the top of the order.

And while de Kock has definitely managed to get a few runs under his belt, his strike rate has not been up to the lofty standards that the southpaw has set for himself. He did manage to show glimpses of his destructive self against Afghanistan with a fluent half-century, but he also got dismissed just as he was starting to look more like the swashbuckler he was before the tournament.

With South Africa opening their Super Eight campaign against defending champions India on Sunday in Ahmedabad, they will hope that this is the game where de Kock announces himself as the devastating force that he is in the shortest format of the game.

Abhishek Sharma | India

The poster boy of modern India’s T20 juggernaut was touted for massive things at this World Cup. Abhishek Sharma has been in a league of his own, scoring runs at will and playing a brand of cricket that borders on stratospheric excellence. He entered the competition as the No. 1 batsman in the world and was expected to take the tournament by storm right from the very first ball.

Well, safe to say that things have not gone as planned. And that is putting it rather lightly. Sharma had an atrocious start to the tournament, with a bout of illness first disrupting his build-up to the tournament, and when he returned, he was dismissed for three consecutive ducks.

Against the USA, it was a nothing shot that got him a first-ball blob. Against Pakistan and the Netherlands, it was the match-up against off-spinners Salman Ali Agha and Aryan Dutt that brought about his downfall. For a batter who is so inclined to getting off the mark with a scoring shot, mostly a boundary, the 25-year-old seems to be trying way too hard and probably letting the occasion get the better of him.

Sharma’s lean run is drawing parallels with Virat Kohli’s T20 World Cup campaign from two years ago. If he manages to pull off something similar in terms of the veteran’s end result that time, it’ll be considered a pretty good job from the southpaw.

Phil Salt | England

Another Englishman finds his way onto this list, and no surprises to see that it is Buttler’s opening partner, Phil Salt, who is also having a lean run, which has resulted in England’s ordinary start to the tournament.

While Salt has been the slightly better of the two English openers, he has also not really had the explosive tournament he was hoping for. While, admittedly, he has had two blazing starts that underline his quality and skill level, his poor outings against Nepal and Scotland, who dismissed him for scores of 1 and 2, respectively, point to the inconsistent nature of his game.

At his best, Salt is a quintessential destroyer, who can butcher and pulverise any bowling attack at will, but in the Super Eights, where the margin for error is minuscule, he cannot go on a feast-or-famine run. His form could very well be the difference between a spot in the semis and an early flight back home.