World Cup Group A: India's Strong Contenders

We discussed the tournament format in Part 1 of our World Cup preview. This time, we shifted our focus to Group A, which includes India, Ireland, Pakistan, Canada, and the USA.

1. India

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The winners of the inaugural tournament have been one of the most consistent sides,

They have reached the semi-finals on three of the last four occasions.

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In Australia 2022, Jos Buttler’s England thumped India out of the semi-finals with a comprehensive 10-wicket victory.

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Rohit Sharma, who led the side in that tournament, is expected to lead in this edition.

Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya(Vice Captain), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.

One To Watch: Virat Kohli

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King Kohli has the time of his life, especially as he has the highest run score of this year’s Indian Premier League, with 708 runs at a strike rate of 155.160.

Kohli had an outstanding 50-over World Cup and was the tournament’s top scorer with a record-breaking 765 runs at a strike rate of 90.32.

He also holds the record for the most runs at a T20 World Cup, with 314 runs in Bangladesh 2014.

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Kohli was also the highest scorer in the 2022 edition, with 296 runs.

He certainly relishes playing in big tournaments, and he will need to be at his best to give India a chance of lifting a second T20 title.

Suryakumar Yadav

He is also known as SKY, one of the most destructive batsmen in T20 Cricket.

The 33-year-old is the top-ranked batsman in this format, and his ability to score runs in all parts of the field makes him difficult to bowl at.

Sky has the second most centuries in International T20 cricket with four,

Sharma and Glenn Maxwell lead the way with five.

Sky also was the third-highest run-scorer in Australia in 2022, with 239 at a rate of 189.68.

Will he have an impact in the USA and West Indies?

But it’s not just the batters that make the Men In Blue a formidable team.

They also possess top-quality bowlers, such as Jasprit Bumrah, the number one Test bowler in the world and lethal in the other two formats.

ALSO READ: Bumrah? Gill? Pant? Rahul? India’s Next Test Captain?

Schedule:

India vs. Ireland: 5th June 15:30, New York

India VS Pakistan: 9th June 15:30, New York

USA vs. India 12th June, 15:30, New York

India VS Canada, 15th June, 15:30, Lauderhill

7. Pakistan

The 2009 tournament winners reached the Final in 2022 but were beaten by England by five wickets in the final.

Babar Azam, the number three ranked T20 batsman in the World, will lead the side for the third T20 World Cup in a row.

He was also the leading run-scorer in this year’s PSL (Pakistan Super League), with 569 runs at a strike rate of 142.61.

He will be vital to Pakistan’s hopes for this tournament.

The squad is as follows:

Babar Azam (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan,

Other Players To Watch Out For Abrar Ahmed

The 25-year-old wrist spinner is another player to watch out for in this tournament.

Ahmed was the third-highest wicket-taker in this year’s PSL, with 16 wickets at an economy rate of 7.83.

Given that the pitches in the US are likely to have good flat batting surfaces, Babar will probably choose a balanced attack based on the conditions in the three venues.

Schedule:

6th June: USA VS Pakistan: 15:30 Grand Prairie

9th June: India VS Pakistan: 15:30 New York

11th June: Pakistan VS Canada: 15:30 New York

16th June: Pakistan VS Ireland: 15:30 Lauderhill

11. Ireland

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The Irish will be competing in their eighth successive T20 World Cup, and they are a side that should not be underestimated in this tournament.

Paul Stirling’s side had an impressive tournament in Australia in 2022, where they qualified for the Super 12 stage by winning two out of their three group games against Zimbabwe, Scotland, and the West Indie.

They were then placed in Group 1 of the Super 12 but could only manage one victory in five matches.

That one victory was against Champions England, by 5 runs via Duckworth Lewis.

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Paul Stirling (Captain), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young.

ALSO READ: Zimbabwe to Kick Off England’s Summer of Cricket in 2025

One To Watch: Paul Stirling

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The Ireland Captain is our player to watch in this tournament.

Currently ranked 47th in the world, Stirling is Ireland’s all-time leading run-scorer, with 3,521 runs in 141 matches at a strike rate of 135.31.

After Ireland failed to qualify for the 50-over World Cup in 2023, Balbirnie, who was Captain, stepped down from leading the limited-overs side in July 2023.

“It’s an honour and privilege to get this role and be offered it in the first place,” “It’s a real motivator for me and I think it’s the reason I came back from county cricket to Ireland in the first place, to play in 50-over World Cups as I believe they are the top of our game and we need to be there.
Stirling: BBC Sport

Schedule:

5th June India VS Ireland: 15:30, New York

7th June: Canada VS Ireland: 15:30, New York

14th June: USA VS Ireland: 15:30, Lauderhill

16th June: Pakistan VS Ireland: 15:30, Lauderhill

Canada

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This will be the country’s first T20 World Cup after failing to qualify for the previous eight editions.

Their last appearance at an ICC tournament was the 2011 World Cup in India.

They were placed in Group A alongside Pakistan, Australia, Kenya, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Zimbabwe.

However, they could only manage one victory in five games.

Schedule:

2nd June: USA VS Canada: 13:30, Grand Prarie

7th June: Canada VS Ireland: 15:30, New York

11th June: Pakistan VS Canada: 15:30 New York

15th June: India VS Canada: 15:30, Lauderhill

Squad:

Saad Bin Zafar (captain), Aaron Johnson, Dillon Heyliger, Dilpreet Bajwa, Harsh Thaker, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Kanwarpal Tathgur, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Pargat Singh, Ravinderpal Singh, Rayyankhan Pathan, Shreyas Movva.

Ones To Watch: Aaron Johnson, Kaleem Sana

The explosive opener will be vital for the Canadians to get them off to a brisk start in the powerplay.

Johnson has 713 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 166.6. and is eager to make the most of it in the USA and West Indies.

ALSO READ: What? King Kohli Says Goodbye To Test Cricket

As for the bowling department, Left-arm speedster Sana will lead the attack, with 27 wickets in 16 games at a strike rate of 13.2.

However, the most important thing for this Canadian team is their competitiveness in posting good scores on the board and defending them.

If they can do this, they may spring one or two surprises in this tournament.

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Usually, Americans associate a bat and ball with being used for a baseball game, but they still have a bit of history involving cricket.

According to USA Cricket, the sport was first introduced to the country in 1709, and the first match was held between a London XI and a New York XI in 1751.

However, it wasn’t until 1965 that the USA became an associate member of the ICC.

In 1979, the nation participated in its first global tournament, the ICC Trophy.

Although they won seven out of eight games in the 1986 ICC Trophy, they missed the semi-finals via net run rate.

However, they did qualify for the Champions Trophy 2004 through the ICC Six Nations Tournament.

In 2010, the US participated in its first Qualifier tournament for the T20 World Cup in the UAE but lost in the Group phase.

Despite being in contention for qualifying for the 2016 T20 World Cup, the USA missed out by one point.

This year’s tournament will be their first major appearance at an ICC event for 45 years.

Moreover, Fast Bowler Ali Khan believes his side can cause a few upsets in this tournament.

“We [USA] are hungry and are going to try to eat whoever comes in our way,” “This is a time where we can make some changes and adjust. Team looks balanced, and all the guys are hungry. I am sure USA will do some upset [in the T20 World Cup].
Ali Khan: Cricinfo

Squad:

Monank Patel (c), Aaron Jones, Andries Gous, Corey Anderson, Ali Khan, Harmeet Singh, Jessy Singh, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Nitish Kumar, Noshtush Kenjige, Saurabh Nethralvakar, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir.