Battle of debutants: USA ready for T20 World Cup 2024 opener with Canada
Co-host opens its campaign against Canada in opening match
Rohit Sharma; USA Cricket team captain Monank Patel
DALLAS: With a team full of expatriates, tournament co-host USA, coached by former Australian batter Stuart Law, will promise some surprises when it kicks off the T20 World Cup taking on qualifiers Canada in a battle of debutants.
The USA has proved that it will be no pushover, having beaten the full-member side Bangladesh 2-1 in the build-up to the tournament.
It will also have the edge having beaten Canada 4-0 recently.
The side will be boosted by former New Zealand player and 2015 World Cup finalist Corey Anderson. The host will be led by wicket-keeper batter Monank Patel.
Born in Anand, Monank played for his home state at age-group level before making the US his home in 2016.
He was the top-scorer in the World T20 Americas qualifier 2018 with 208 runs from six innings and made his T20I debut against UAE in 2019.
The team will also feature some familiar names in former Mumbai and Rajasthan Royals left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh and ex-Delhi and Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Milind Kumar.
It also has Saurabh Netravalkar, the most capped USA player, Aaron Jones, and opener Steven Taylor, its highest run-scorer in international cricket.
Tearaway quick Ali Khan is also fit for the tournament, shaking off a hamstring injury which kept him out of the Canada series.
Batting all-rounder Nitish Kumar, who played 18 T20Is for Canada from 2012 to 2019, has now switched sides and will be seen in the USA jersey. He made his T20I debut for the USA against Canada in April this year.
Left-arm orthodox spinner Saad Bin Zafar brings a wealth of experience to the Canada team, with top-order batter Aaron Johnson and left-arm seamer Kaleem Sana also expected to feature heavily in a side with just four players under the age of 30.
WI aims for solid start against PNG
More than eight years after Carlos Brathwaite’s four sixes at Eden Gardens gave it its second T20 world title, a wounded West Indies will look to redeem itself at home when it begins its campaign in the event’s ninth edition by taking on Papua New Guinea in Georgetown.
Brathwaite had slammed Ben Stokes for four successive sixes in the final over to pull off one of the most astonishing chases that made the West Indies the first team to win the T20 World Cup twice. But what followed was years of agony as the team found itself lost in transition. In 2021, it endured four defeats in five games to make a Super 12 exit.
Worse was in store in the 2022 edition in Australia when it failed to qualify for the main round after shock defeats to minnows Scotland and Ireland.
Its two-time T20 World Cup winning skipper Darren Sammy is back as a coach and the Rovman Powell-led side already made its intention clear with a ruthless win over Australia in a warm-up match.
