Team Preview: India look for T20 Silverware again after 15 years!

India 15 Man squad for T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia

Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami.

Team India is coming in the T20 World Cup on the back of some impressive performances in the shortest format of the game. Although they couldn't make the finals of the Asia Cup but they defeated strong Australia and South Africa teams at home. They also won their warm up match against Australia.

Batting

Batting of the men in blue seems well settled with captain Rohit Sharma set to to open with KL Rahul. Kohli at 3 and the impressive Suryakumar Yadav at 4 give a formidable look to the top 4.

Hardik Pandya, DK/ Pant, Axar Patel complete the lower middle order.

Probably an issue there could be the lack of left handed batsmen in the line up. There have been concerns about the strike rate of Rahul as well but he's looked to correct that in the warm up games.

Bowling

The bowling attack of India is under a lot of fire as Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out with a back injury while Ravindra Jadeja is also out with a knee injury. Shami replaces Bumrah in the 15 man squad and must have played himself in the starting XI after a stellar final over in the warm up match against Australia.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel are the other seam bowlers at hand. Chahal and Ashwin will handle the spin part of things with Axar a like for like replacement for Jadeja. Pandya has been bowling well too in the recent times.

Death bowling remains a concern for team India. Lack of pace from Bhuvi, lack of international T20 matches from Shami and indifferent form of Harshal Patel are all enough to give the management cause for enough concern going into the big matches.

India Fixtures T20 World Cup 2022

23 October: v Pakistan at MCG

27 October: v Netherlands at SCG

30 October: v South Africa at Perth

02 November: v Bangladesh at Adelaide

06 November: v Zimbabwe at MCG

India Probable Starting XI for T20 World Cup 2022

Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal

Overall, India looks to be a side that has enough to reach the semi finals looking at their opponents but the bowling department needs to give a good account of themselves if India are to go any further. Batting looks too reliant on SKY right now to provide the much needed impetus with Rohit, Rahul and frequently Kohli take their time to settle in.

What do you think of Team India? How far will they reach?

Read Other Team Previews for the T20 World Cup 2022.

Team Preview: Reigning Champions & Hosts Australia out to defend their crown

Australia 15 Man Squad for T20 World Cup 2022

Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.

Australia have had an up and down season as far as their T20I results have been concerned. They have lost to India away and to England at home but have managed to beat the West Indies comfortably at home. They also lost in their opening warm up match against India.

Batting

Australia are stacked with an explosive batting unit starting with the experienced pair of Warner and Finch at the top. Mitchell Marsh looks to be back from injury and should slot in at number 3. Wade and Tim David along with Glenn Maxwell should make up for their lower middle order.

The only question for the Australian management is whether they need Steve Smith in this line up. At number 4, ideally in T20's you need someone who can force the issue with the run rate when required. Australia have Inglis and Stoinis in the squad who can easily play at either 4 or drop down with Maxwell slotting in at 4.

The form of Maxwell and Finch should be a minor concern as well but they are big match players and Australia shouldn't be too worried about that aspect.

Bowling

There might be a few issues with the batting unit but the bowling unit seems to be well settled and firing for most part. Starc and Cummins with pace and Hazlewood with that nagging line make their pace attack. Zampa is quite an underrated spin bowler, but he's always getting wickets in the middle overs. The lines of Marsh, Stoinis and Maxwell can fulfill the quota of the 5th bowler with ease.

Australia Fixtures T20 World Cup 2022

22 October: v New Zealand at SCG

25 October: v Sri Lanka at Perth

28 October: v England at MCG

31 October: v Ireland at Brisbane

4 November: v Afghanistan at Adelaide

Australia Probable Starting XI for T20 World Cup 2022

Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tim David, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade,  Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa

Australia always find a way to go deep at global ICC events and this time it should be no different. I can see them having enough in their team to reach the semi finals at the very least.  The pressure of being hosts and indifferent batting form are the only weakness that they currently seem to have. They have the squad to be the first team to successfully defend their T20 World Cup crown as well.

What do you think about this Aussie side? Do they have it in them to go all the way?

Read Other Team Previews for the T20 World Cup 2022.

Sri Lanka face must win UAE test in Geelong!

Sri Lanka face UAE in the second match of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia to put their campaign back on track after having lost the opening game to a spirited Namibian side.

Sri Lanka should be relatively confident but the loss in the opening game has surely put a spanner in their works and the loss of West Indies yesterday to Scotland has shown that no game can be taken lightly.

The spin twins will once again hold the key for Sri Lanka but it might be time to unsettle UAE with pace of Chameera and Kumara both. If Binura Fernando is available for the match, then he should start in place of Madhushan.

The place of Dhanushka Gunathilakha is also under scrutiny with him having failed in the Asia Cup and in the first match here. Asalanka needs to start over him.

United Arab Emirates have been driven by Junaid Siddique, who took 5 wickets in the warm up match against the Windies & then picked another 3 against the Netherlands in their opening game. The opener Muhammed Waseem has also been in good form scoring 69 & 41 in the two games so far.

The drop in pitch in Geelong proved to be slow and difficult for run scoring in the opening two matches, so bowlers will have to use change of pace and with shorter boundaries bowl to one side of the pitch.

Top Fantasy Picks from Sri Lanka v UAE

Sri Lanka

Mendis, Nissanka, Theekshana, Hasaranga

UAE

Waseem, Junaid, Zahoor

Key Battle

Sri Lankan spinners v UAE batsmen

How UAE batsmen handle the Lankan spinners will be the most important battle in this match, one that will most likely decide the outcome of the match.

Junaid Siddique v Sri Lankan batsmen

Siddique is very similar to Frylinck who wrecked them in their opening game, so he will be a big weapon for the UAE side.

Sri Lanka: Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Bhanuka Rajapasksa, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Theekshana, Chamika Karunaratne, Chameera, Kumara/ Binura

UAE: Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Chundangapoyil Rizwan, Basil Hameed, Zawar Farid, Aayan Khan, Kashif Daud, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Zahoor Khan

The match will start at 1.30 PM IST (streamed live on Disney Hotstar app & on TV on Star Sports 2)

How do you see the match panning out?

Asian Champions Sri Lanka to take on Namibia in T20 World Cup Opener

So the big day has finally arrived with Sri Lanka taking on Namibia in the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia to kick start their campaign!

Sri Lanka would be confident and raring to go but face a Namibian side that will be looking to impress once again after a stellar showing in the last edition.

They squared off in the qualifier stage in the T20 World Cup last year and Lankan Lions trumped Namibia easily.

Theekshana and Hasaranga proved too much for them as they folded for 96 batting first and Sri Lanka then chased down the total with ease.

The spin twins will once again hold the key for Sri Lanka especially as news is coming out that the impressive left arm pace bowler Madhushanka suffered an injury scare in their last practice session.  That could mean a coming together of last year's combo of fast bowlers for Sri Lanka - Dushmantha Chameera & Lahiru Kumara.

The batting is fairly settled with Asalanka making way for the multi faceted Dhananjaya De Silva at least to begin with. Kusal Mendis and Rajapakse will be the driving force for them as far as the strike rates are concerned.

Namibia will rely on their skipper Gerhard Erasmus along with all rounders Jan Frylinck, JJ Smit & the ever present David Wiese. Trumplemann, the left arm pacer, who impressed last year will be looking to put on another good showing.

Geelong is a very funnily shaped ground with some sides as small as 51 m. Bowlers will have to keep their line and restrict the batsmen to one side of the ground.

Top Fantasy Picks from Sri Lanka v Namibia

Sri Lanka

Mendis, Nissanka, Theekshana, Hasaranga

Namibia

Erasmus, Smit, Frylinck, Wiese

Key Battle

Sri Lankan spinners v Namibian batsmen

How Namibian batsmen handle the Lankan spinners will be the most important battle in this match, one that will most likely decide the outcome of the match.

Sri Lanka v Namibia Probable XI

Sri Lanka: Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Dananjaya de Silva, Dhanushka Gunathilaka, Bhanuka Rajapasksa, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara

Namibia: Stephan Baard, Lohandre Louwrens, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus, David Wiese, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, Zane Green, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo

The match will start at 9.30 AM IST (streamed live on Disney Hotstar app & on TV on Star Sports)

How do you see the match panning out?

T20 2022 World Cup, Group B preview: Ireland, Scotland, West Indies & Zimbabwe

Ireland, Scotland, West Indies and Zimbabwe will contest Group B in the first round of the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup for the right to reach the Super 12 stage.

Ireland

Ireland are a regular feature at ICC events and as always they'll be looking for a collective effort and reach the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup.

They won the 5 match series against Afghanistan recently but lost the warm up match against Namibia.

As always, they'll depend on Paul Stirling to give them a brisk start. Harry Tector in the middle order is a very talented hard hitting young batsman I'm looking forward to seeing in this world cup.

Experienced hands of Little, McCarthy and Adair will lead their charge with medium fast bowling while Delaney and Simi Singh will shore up the spin department.

They'll have to be on top of their game if they are to progress to the next round.

Scotland

Scotland, like Ireland, are regulars at ICC events and they did exceedingly well in the last edition by progressing out of the qualifier stage.

They made respectable totals against New Zealand recently although they lost both games but they defeated Netherlands in their warm up game quite comfortably.

They will depend on Berrington to inspire them like last time as he's their most dependable and consistent batsman.

Watt, Greaves and Leask are their main bowlers all very adept at different kinds of spin. The trio is also capable of batting with meaningful contributions down the order.

West Indies

West Indies, 2 time champions in the shortest format will have to play the qualifiers to progress to the main round. 

Their recent form has been shaky with losses to Australia, New Zealand and India in the T20 format. They won their warm up match against UAE although not without some difficulty.

They've again left out Russell, Narine while Hetmyer was left out because of discipline issues having missed his flight twice.

WI still boast of some great batsmen suited to this format in Evin Lewis, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers & their skipper Nicholas Pooran. They will however need to click as a unit and show consistency if West Indies are to make a deep run into the tournament.

They also have some of the hardest hitting all rounders in Odean Smith, Rovman Powell and Jason Holder.

Cottrel, McCoy and Akeal make up for their bowling giving the whole team a well rounded look.

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe, after missing out last time, are back with the big boys! And they come into the tournament with decent form behind them having recently beaten Australia in an ODI and running India close just before that.

Their batting will depend largely on Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams and Craig Ervine while Chatara, Ngarva and Burl are their main weapons with the ball.

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 Scotland taking on West Indies on October 17

All the matches will be played at Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

The winners of the group will join current India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa and the Group A runners-up in Group 1 of the Super 12 stage.

The team who finishes second will join current champions and hosts Australia, England, New Zealand, Afghanistan and the Group A winners in Group 2.

Predictions from Qualifier Group B

1st West Indies Q

2nd Zimbabwe Q

3rd Ireland

4th Scotland

Quite frankly, this Group of death is almost impossible to predict how it'll eventually go. All 4 teams look equally matched. Should be some very good competitive cricket from this group.

Who will make it out of the group to the Super 12, do leave your predictions in the comment section.

Click here to read about Group A Preview

T20 2022 World Cup, Group A Preview: Sri Lanka, Namibia, Netherlands & UAE

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

India Face Pakistan in CT17 Opener at Edgbaston - Match Preview

India Vs Pakistan, Edgbaston - ICC Champions Trophy 2017; Match Preview

India and Pakistan, the bitter arch rivals will take on each other to start their campaigns in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.

For once the roles have reversed for the Asian giants, what with Pakistan having a settled coach in Mickey Arthur while India grappling with how tough a disciplinarian Anil Kumble is being, with the Indian superstars.

As India continue to refuse to play Pakistan outside of ICC tournaments, this clash comes as a relief for cricket fans from both sides of the border.

Edgbaston, which will host the crucial tie has had iffy weather conditions lately; with the Australia - New Zealand match having already suffered a washed out yesterday. But the pitch is a very good one for batting with scores in excess of 300 a regularity at this ground in the recent matches.

Both India and Pakistan have a strong batting line up but the difference is that this time, India have a bowling attack that matches that of Pakistan. With Umesh, Bhuvi and Shami during on all cylinders and Ashwin and Jadeja manning the spin department Indian bowling looks to be in a pink of health.

Their batting however is a concern this time with Rohit, Kohli, Dhawan and Yuvraj all having a mediocre IPL which ended just a few weeks ago. Dinesh Karthik looked good in the warm up match and he might play over Yuvraj. Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya will provide the finishing along with the evergreen Dhoni.

Pakistan batting will depend on Hafeez and Shoaib Malik both of whom love playing against India. They also have the talented Babar Azam and explosive Ahmed Shehzad in their ranks. Sarfaraz provides late hitting along with a couple of new players who stole the limelight in the warm up match against Bangladesh.

Amir, Junaid, Wahab and rookie Shadab Khan lend a menacing look to the Pakistani bowling attack and they will be keen to unsettle a tentative looking Indian batting line up.

Key Battles:

Virat Kohli Vs Mohammad Amir

Shoaib Malik and Hafeez Vs Ashwin and Jadeja

India vs Pakistan is a contest which is a money milking cow for the ICC and Star Sports has been promoting this match as #SabseBadaMoh. I just hope that the English weather holds up and we are treated to a spectacle by both India and Pakistan. One thing is for sure though, the ground will be packed, there will be noise, there will be passion in the air and a silent prayer on the lips of the millions who will witness this encounter!