By Varun Desai
Next year’s ICC T20 World Cup will be played from June 4 – 20, 2024. Jointly hosted by the West Indies and USA the World Cup’s matches will be played in seven Caribbean countries, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, St Lucia, St Vincent and Trinidad as well as the three USA cities of Dallas, Miami and New York.
20 teams will be participating in the 2024 World Cup, making it the largest ever to be
held in the format’s history!
Commencing from this Issue onwards WI Wickets editorial content will include an ICC
2024 T20 World Cup Countdown featuring the twenty participating teams!
With the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
World Cup fever gripping the world,
the Cricket showdown has already
started. Last tournament winner, England is back with
the right to claim back their glory amidst a
host of new challenges that could encumber
their hopes during the upcoming tournament.
England has a distinct advantage in the
overall head-to-head record, winning 18 of
their 28 contests.
England defeated Pakistan by five wickets
and won the T20 World Cup in played in the
MCC Cricket ground in Australia last year .
Stokes and Sam Curran were the star playerswho defeated Pakistan by five wickets to
win the Twenty20 World Cup on November
13, 2022. Ben Stokes, with his unbeaten 52-
run knock, was England’s big-match hero.
He guided the team to its second T20 World
Cup title. England also claimed cricket’s first
dual white-ball championship, holding 50
and 20-over titles.
It was an emphatic victory for England
over Pakistan as it dominated those crucial
moments that either turned the game in their
favour or allowed them to stay in control. It
was England’s second T20 win after they had
one in 2010 since the tournament’s inception
in 2007. England joined the West Indies as
the only two-time winners in the game.
England had last won the 50-over title
England in 2019, under the inherited
legacy of their former captain, Eoin
Morgan, who retired in June last year after
metamorphosing his team into a white-ball
menace.
England prepared well and started as one
of the favourites. They met with their first
success with an easy win over Afghanistan.
England faced Ireland in their second
match, which was rain-washed, and they
ended up losing on a rain-adjusted target
just as they were about to take control. A
game with Australia followed, which, too,
was abandoned after a heavy shower. The
2010 champions overcame the block and
played against New Zealand and Sri Lanka,
taking them to the semi-finals. A semi-final
against mighty India could have been
challenging for England but they chased
the target (169 ), winning by 10 wickets,
which was nothing but a cakewalk.
On the other hand, Pakistan lost its first two
games against India and Zimbabwe, after
which they reorganized their line-up and won
the previous three games. The Netherlands’s
win over South Africa helped Pakistan
reach the second group spot. Pakistan then beat
its favourite World Cup semi-final opponent, New
Zealand, which is how it reached the final.
The final on November 13 2022, was a showdown
between two powers; Pakistan’s lethal attack on
one side and England’s strong top order on the
other put their supporters on the verge of frenzy.
After winning the toss and sending Pakistan to bat
first, England produced disciplined and economical
bowling to unnerve the 2009 champions, with Shan
Masood’s 38 being the top score. Curran andStokes shook Pakistan with the new ball. Rizwan and
captain Babar Azam shared a 100-run partnership in
its semi-final against New Zealand, but the duo did
not shine, when Rizwan hit a delivery from Curran
onto his stumps on 15.
The introduction of Adil Rashid soon after the six over
power play reaped an immediate reward for
England, with Mohammad Haris (8) striking the first
ball only to air a simple catch to Stokes.
Shan Masood started swaying the bat in the second
half of the innings, hitting a four and a six to Liam
Livingstone. But again, Rashid got the first
break, diving to grab a catch from his own
bowling to claim the vital wicket of Babar
Azam, who scored 32 off 28 balls.
Taskin Ahmed could survive only six balls
until Masood and Shadab Khan (20) were
out in the gap of two runs. Pakistani openers
failed to give a good start to their side.
Pakistan managed to skim through the over
as opener Rizwan was nearly run out going
for a risky single.Pakistan caved in in the final overs to finish
on a poor 137 for eight; 24-year-old Sam
Curran was a true revelation. Curran scored
0/42 in the Sami final, but his bowling hissed
fire in the finals. He instantly unnerved the
Pakistanis by dismissing Mohammad Rizwan
and added Pak dangerman Shan Masood
and Mohammad Nawaz for miserly 12 runs.
He finished with a spectacular 3/12 off four
overs, which turned out to be the second best
figures in a T20 World Cup Final.
Curran’s match-defining spell got him the
Player of the Final award, while his superlative
form throughout the tournament also
brought him the Player of the Tournament.
Pakistan claimed the early wickets in the
form of Alex Hales in the first over of the
run course, followed by Phil Salt and Jos
Buttler, all of whom were dismissed in the
power play. Hopes were raised amongst
Pakistani fans, and with three quick wickets
down on the English side, they were simply
unrelenting. Pressure in a final is a different
beast, and soon England dived to 49-3 in
their sixth over as they struggled to get any
momentum against Pakistan’s fiery pace
attack, with boundaries hard to come by.
Naseem Shah was a menace, terrorizing
England’s batsmen with an outstanding spell
of fast bowling that did not give returns.
England quickly returned on track to get
home and claim the T20 World Cup trophy.
A steady partnership between the Stokes
and Harry Brook got England close. But it
also needed selfless, attacking and hitting to
ensure the required rate stayed high. Brook
tried but was caught on the fence. Pakistan
bowlers put up their best fight and attempted
to defeat a low target of 138 runs, but Stokes
and Moeen Ali proved themselves to be too
good for the opponents in the slog overs.
When asked “What is it about you and World
Cup finals”? Stoke’s reply was “ Dunno.
Good fun to play in though. It was weird: it felt like
the wicket got harder as the ball got older. I made
sure I stayed there as long as I possibly could; it’s
never really panic stations when it’s under eight an
over.
The way Mo played got us down to a run a ball.
Yeah, decent, decent. There was always gonna
be a time when he had to attack an over, and
unfortunately for Pakistan Shaheen had to go off.
It was obvious what we had to do – that over was
the big one”
True to Stoke’s observation, Pakistani bowler
Shaheen Shah Afridi was missed in the death overs
as he was injured while he tried to take the catch
of Harry Brook. Stokes and Moeen Ali capitalized on
it to pin Pakistan down in the summit clash. Stokes
and Moeen Ali used their experience and cool,
calculating minds to take England to 138-5 with just
six balls left, climaxing to a sensational tournament
that spanned 45 games over nearly a month. Ben
Stokes hit a52 not out to take the side home on
Sunday in Melbourne.
Thirty years ago, England lost their 50-over ODI
World Cup final to Pakistan at the MCC venue.
This time, the Englishmen avenged their defeat on
Pakistan with brilliant death bowling and Stokes’s
heroics.
“In finals, especially when chasing, you probably
forget all the hard work before that. To restrict
them to 130, the bowlers have to take a lot of
credit. Adil Rashid and Sam Curran won us the
game,” concluded Stokes. “Pretty good evening.
Representing your country in World Cups is amazing;
it has been good.”
Skipper Jos Buttler had the final say about his team’s
win,”The chase wasn’t easy at all. When you hit the
right length there was a bit of seam movement –
they were very attacking and obviously bowled at
good pace. That man again was there for us, Ben
Stokes. He’s the ultimate competitor in everything
he does. He has a lot of experience and can take
everything on his shoulders. The impetus he and
Moeen Ali showed just took the game away”.