T20 World Cup: Cricket set for a leap of faith in search of the US market

The surprise in the voices of Rohit Sharma and Najmul Hossain Shanto, the India and Bangladesh captains, seemed genuine as they visited the makeshift venue of Grand Prairie in Texas – the venue of both teams’ warm-up game on 1 June. In a giant leap that took a long time coming, cricket is finally set to leave a footprint in the US, the biggest sports market as it hosts a major part of the first leg of the T20 World Cup from 2 June.

 The infrastructure to host a tournament of this stature, going by the feedback so far, still looks a bit of work in progress – but this is where a decent turnout in all four venues in Florida, North Carolina, Texas and New York City may compensate for the teething problems. It was almost a no-brainer for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to schedule the India-Pakistan league game within the first week in New York to create the buzz, though the pricing of the tickets for the match has become quite a contentious issue.

The coveted ‘Diamond Club’ seats for the India-Pakistan match have been priced at an outrageous $ 10,000, which will amount to $ 10, 863 (approximately Rs nine lakhs) with Taxes. The same amount of money, according to a travel website, can buy two return tickets from New York to Barbados, a stay in a four-star property and two ‘Club Open Air’ tickets (approximately $ 650 each) for a highly billed 5 June clash between Australia and England.

Meanwhile, who will be the last man standing on 29 June night at Barbados in a tournament which looks as open as ever? Can co-hosts West Indies, one of the two countries along with England to lift the trophy twice, win it for the third time under young skipper Rovman Powell or Jos Buttler can be the first skipper to lift back-to-back trophies? The odds will also be high on Rohit Sharma ending the ICC trophy drought after the heartbreak in the 50-overs World Cup final in 2023.  

Here's a look at some of the FAQs about the tournament:

Format & groupings     

The number of teams is at an all-time high as they have increased from16 teams in the last edition in Australia to 20 this time. The teams have been divided into four groups of 5 teams each:

Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, United States, Canada

Group B: Australia, England, Namibia, Scotland, Oman

Group C: Afghanistan, New Zealand, West Indies, Papua New Guinea, Uganda

Group D: Bangladesh, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Netherlands

A total of 55 matches will be played during the mega event from 2-29 June, where each team will play four matches during the initial league stages. The top two sides from each group will then advance to the Super 8 stages, where the eight qualifiers will be divided into two groups of four teams each. The top two finishers from each group will then qualify for the semi-finals with the finale set for 29 June.

The four venues in the US are Central Broward Park, Lauderhill, Florida; Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina; Grand Prairie, Texas and Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York City.

The six venues in the West Indies are Providence Stadium, Guyana; Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados; Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua; Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba; Arnos Vale Ground, Arnos Vale, St. Vincent and Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St. Lucia. Incidentally, this is the second time the Caribbean are hosting the T20 World Cup after 2010.

What happened in 2022:

Winners: England; Runners Up: Pakistan

Top runscorer: Virat Kohli, India (296 runs)

Top wicket taker: Wanindu Hasaranga, Sri Lanka (15 Wickets)

Squads of full member nations

India: 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 and Avesh Khan.

Australia: Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.

South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.

Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Taskin Ahmed, Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Shakib Al Hasan, Tawhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah Riyad, Jaker Ali Anik, Tanvir Islam, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib.

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan (c), Nangyal Kharoti, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik. Reserves: Sediq Atal, Hazratullah Zazai, Saleem Safi.

Ireland: Paul Stirling (Capt), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young.

England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Finn Allen, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee. Travelling Reserve: Ben Sears.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan, Azam Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abbas Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.

Sri Lanka: Wanindu Hasaranga (c), Charith Asalanka (vc), Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Dhananjaya De Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Thushara, Matheesha Pathirana, and Dilshan Madushanka. Reserves: Asitha Fernando, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, and Janith Liyanage.

West Indies: Rovman Powell (c), Alzarri Joseph, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd.