Day 11 brings us three juicy encounters from the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup as the groups start taking shape.
In our first fixture, Nepal take on a struggling Sri Lanka side who still mathematically stand a chance to qualify, followed by the mighty Australians taking on Namibia, where a win for the Kangaroos will secure them Super 8 qualification. In the final game, we have table-toppers India and the US locking horns in New York, with the winning side set to confirm their qualification to the next stage.
Men’s T20 WC 2024 Match 23: Sri Lanka vs Nepal | 5:00 AM IST, June 12
The two teams that lie at the foot of Group D take on each other in Match 23, with the winner standing a chance of still getting through to the next stage, while the losing team get eliminated.
After getting comprehensively outplayed by South Africa, the Sri Lankans have only themselves to blame for their loss against Bangladesh. Having reached 100 in the 14th over with 7 wickets in hand, Wanindu Hasaranga’s men could only crawl to 124/9 as the Bangladeshi bowlers choked the Sri Lankan middle- and lower-order batters.
Nepal, too, had a similar problem when their batters failed to get any sort of momentum going against the Netherlands. Although the pitch at Lauderhill is expected to play much better than the ones in New York or in the Caribbean, this will still be a very tough assignment for Nepal. Although Sri Lanka’s batting order has been, and continues to be, iffy, their far superior bowling unit should see them through here.
Fantasy XI: Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Rohit Paudel, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dipendra Singh Airee, Dasun Shanaka, Karan KC, Matheesha Pathirana, Nuwan Thushara
Venue: Lauderhill, Florida
Winner Prediction: Sri Lanka
Men’s T20 WC 2024 Match 24: Australia vs Namibia | 6:00 AM IST, June 12
The Australians are coming into Match 24 on the back of an impressive victory against defending champions, England. Things are looking ominous for their opponents as the ODI World Champions seem to have most of their starters already firing on all cylinders. The likes of Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Starc are yet to come to the party, though; Wednesday’s game will be the ideal occasion for them.
On the other hand, we have Namibia, who after their high of beating Oman in a Super Over were brought down to earth after Scotland humbled them in Bridgetown.
Given the early form Australia have shown, giving them some semblance of a fight or not suffering a humiliating defeat would be satisfactory enough for Namibia in this encounter.
Fantasy XI: Matthew Wade, Travis Head, David Warner, Mitch Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, David Wiese, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazelwood, Ruben Trumpelmann
Venue: Antigua
Winner Prediction: Australia
Men’s T20 WC 2024 Match 25: USA vs India | 8:00 PM IST, June 12
The final game brings us the top two teams from Group A squaring off against each other at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. Both teams are coming into this game following closely-fought victories against the same opponent, Pakistan.
While it was the Indian bowlers who saved the day against Pakistan (not to forget Rishabh Pant’s crucial 40+ innings), most India batters must take this opportunity to right the wrongs from their narrow win.
The USA team, on the other side, have exceeded all expectations and are playing some scintillating cricket at the moment. Given the nature of the wicket in New York, the US bowlers surely have the pedigree to cause the Indian batters a problem or two.
However, despite their current form, beating this Indian team seems a step too steep for the US.
Fantasy XI: Rishabh Pant, Andries Gous, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Saurabh Netravalkar, Nosthush Kenjige
Venue: New York
Winner Prediction: India
Leave a Reply