With the IPL concluded, the Indian contingent will be heading to the United States and the West Indies for the upcoming 2024 ICC T20 World Cup.
India were knocked out of the 2022 T20 World Cup comprehensively by the English team in the semi-finals, and are yet to get their hands on the prestigious trophy since becoming the inaugural champions, back in 2007.
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Rohit Sharma will be the man to lead the team in the latest edition of the tournament with Hardik Pandya as his deputy. The two have had issues of their own in the Mumbai Indians (MI) camp but will have to sort out their differences and work together as a team if they are to lift the trophy in Barbados.
India is placed in Group A of the tournament alongside the likes of Pakistan, ireland, USA and Canada.
Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj
Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan
India will be kick-starting their 2024 World Cup campaign against the Irish at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New york. The match is set to kick off at 8:00 PM IST.
Ireland has always been the underdog team at the World Cups and is known for causing huge upsets, like the one they did during the 2011 ODI World Cup against England. They are yet to get past the group stage and will be aiming to do it for the first time under the leadership of Paul Sterling.
The quality that the Indian team possess though must be enough to see past the Irish in the opening game of the tournament for Rohit’s men.
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Arguably the biggest rivalry in the world of cricket, the Indians will be up against arch-rivals Pakistan in their second fixture of the 2024 T20 World Cup. Although the men in blue hold an upper hand over the Pakistanis in terms of previous results, it’s a fixture wherein form, squad and previous records are nullified by the sheer passion and intensity from both ends.
The fixture against Pakistan is easily going to be India’s most difficult fixture of the entire group stage games. The match will be played at the Nassau County International Stadium in New York on June 9, Sunday.
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Following the game against Pakistan, India will enter their third fixture of the tournament against the hosts of the tournament, USA. In recent days, USA managed to secure a 2-1 series win against Bangladesh against the odds. The win would have boosted the confidence of the team exponentially, considering that they will be the hosts of the upcoming tournament.
Beating Bangladesh is one thing, but taking on the Indian team will be a completely different ball game for the hosts. Considering the quality and the form that the Indians are in, the game against USA should be a comfortable win for Rohit and co.
It will also be the first time that the two sides will be facing each other in a cricketing event.
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After the game against the hosts, India will be playing its final group stage game of the tournament against the Canadian cricket team. This should be the easiest fixture for the Indians of all the other games.
Canada haven’t been in the best of forms and recently lost a five-match T20I series against USA by a margin of 4-0. If India manage to perform well in their first three fixtures, we could see the coach giving rest to some key players before the Super 8 clashes begin.
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It should be a comfortable road for th eIndians to make it through to the Super 8, with just Pakistan being the tricky opponent to handle. Following the group stages, the real battle for the title starts as India could face the likes of Australia, England, South Africa, etc.
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Rahul is a content producer for The Sporting News’ India edition.
