THE CHALLENGES IN FRONT OF TEAM INDIA

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has started preparations for the 9th Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup tournament which will be hosted jointly by the West Indies and the United States from June 4, 2024 onwards.

The basic theme of international T20 cricket has been included in the logo of T20 World Cup 2024. The logo is a creative blend of bat, ball and energy. As many as 20 teams from across the globe will participate in the event where twelve teams have already confirmed their places for this tournament, including Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

The remaining eight qualifiers will come from regions with two teams each from Africa, Asia and Europe and one team each from the Americas and EAP. In the T20 World Cup, a total of 20 teams will be divided into groups of four and there will be five teams in one group.

The top two teams of each group will advance to the Super 8 race in the tournament. After that, the qualifying teams will be divided into two groups, one group will have 4 teams. Later the top 2 qualifying teams will enter the knockout phase after which the teams will play each other for the semifinals and final of the championship.

LIST OF TEAMS PARTICIPATING IN T20 WORLD CUP 2024

India, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, England, Ireland, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, Canada, Nepal, Oman, West Indies, United States, Uganda, and Namibia.

INDIA WON THE T20 WORLD CUP IN 2007

India won the first T20 World Cup in 2007 by defeating Pakistan at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. This was the first edition of the T20 World Cup. In the last edition of the tournament, Jos Buttler-led England won the title by defeating Pakistan by five wickets. This was the second time that England became the champion, before this England became the champion in 2010.

CHALLENGES BEFORE TEAM INDIA AHEAD OF THE TOURNAMENT

Talking about the Indian team regarding the T20 World Cup, there are many challenges facing Team India before the World Cup. India’s path in the T20 World Cup seems to be full of difficulties. If we talk about the first big challenge in this series, then it is the Indian team’s dependence on top-order batsmen to a great extent.

The lower middle order has been the weak link of Team India. Many batsmen lose their rhythm when they change positions. In such a situation, how Team India recovers from this remains to be seen.

• Indian team’s performance in ICC tournaments has not been good since 2013. Team India last won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. Reaching the T20 World Cup final in 2014 has been the last best performance in terms of this format.
• The biggest challenge before Team India will be regarding the final 11 players of the team. There is still a big question as to which senior players will return for the World Cup 2024.
• Who will be the wicketkeeper of Team India in the T20 World Cup? It is not possible to say anything about this yet. The name of one wicketkeeper among KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan and Jitesh Sharma will have to be locked.

Finding an all-rounder will also be an important issue for Team India. The biggest issue for Team India is that the team still does not have any proven all-rounder in the T20 format except Ravindra Jadeja.

If we talk about allrounders in the World Cup 2023 team, they were Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya. But Hardik got injured in the middle of the World Cup and there are still questions as to when he will play in the international circuit.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

Mukesh Sharma The writer is a sports enthusiast