Sri Lanka, Namibia, Netherlands and UAE will contest Group A in the first round of the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup for the right to reach the Super 12 stage.
Sri Lanka
Asian powerhouse, Sri Lanka start the campaign having to play qualifiers for the second consecutive edition of the ICC WT20. They will be buoyed by the recent success having win the coveted Asia Cup last month and will look to top the group A & then impose a challenging march towards the world title. Sri Lanka have also hired the services of WT20 winners Mahela Jayawardene & Lasith Malinga which should help them immensely.
Favorites to top the Group, the young Lankan side will rely on Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis to give them a steady start. Rajapakse and skipper Shanaka will look to close the innings out with their big hits.
Hasaranga and Theekshana will shoulder the bowling attack having done exceedingly well in the last 10-12 months. Chameera & Kumara are back after lengthy lay offs but the surprise package might be the left arm pace of Madhushanka known to swing the ball prodigiously.
Namibia
Namibia, defying odds, progressed to the Super 12 stage in the last edition of the T20 World Cup by defeating Ireland & Netherlands.
They will be looking to repeat the feat and have already defeated Ireland again in their first warm up match to lay down the marker.
They have an experienced squad led by Gerhard Erasmus. All rounders Jan Frylinck, JJ Smit & the wily old David Wiese give their middle order an impressing look. I was very impressed by their opening left arm quick Rubel Trumplemann too!
Looking forward to seeing them again for the second time!
Netherlands
Having been on the cricket scene for a long time now, Netherlands are on a somewhat downward slope. They lost all 3 matches in their qualifier last edition and bowed out without a fight.
They've lost their warm up match against Scotland and will be looking to quickly turn things around if they are to get past the qualifier stage this time.
They have enough experience shoring their squad with openers Myburg & Max ODowd looking to set the pace. Tom Cooper, Bas De Leede & veteran van der Merwe will need to make useful runs from the middle to lower order.
Klassen, Gugten, Glover will be their main bowlers with all rounder Leede & spinner Merwe completing the set.
Retirement of star Ryan ten Doeschate will surely have left a big hole in this side though and it'll take a special effort for them to get past the qualifier stage.
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
UAE are back on the T20 World Cup scene after a long gap of 8 years and will be looking forward to get a scalp or two.
I was expecting them to roll over in their warm up match against West Indies but they first restricted the two time champions to 152/9 before making a spirited chase losing by only 17 runs in the end.
Junaid Siddiqui was the star with the ball taking a 5'fer while opener Muhammad Waseem made a sparkling 69 off 52 balls to keep them in the hunt till the end.
How they fare in high pressure actual matches remains to be seen.
T20 World Cup 2022 Qualifier Format
The top two teams will progress from the group after all four have played against each other once in the round-robin format, kicking off with Sri Lanka taking on Namibia on October 16.
All the matches will be played at Kardinia Park in Geelong.
The winners of the group will join current champions and hosts Australia, as well as Afghanistan, England, New Zealand and the Group B runners-up in Group 1 of the Super 12 stage.
The team who finishes second will join Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, South Africa and the Group A runners-up in Group 2.
Predictions from Qualifier Group A
1st Sri Lanka Q
2nd Namibia Q
3rd Netherlands
4th UAE
Do let me know what do you think about this group!
Click here to read about Group B Preview
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