The State of Play
The first round of Super Eight matches at the 2024 T20 World Cup did not disappoint and we are getting to the more important round of fixtures now as teams look to book their place in the semi-finals.
The top two from Group A and Group B will advance to the last four, with India, Australia, England and South Africa looking like the favourites so far.
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But there are still two more matches to be played for each team and India must overcome Bangladesh if they want to make it two victories from two.
Rohit Sharma’s side swept past Afghanistan in their opening Super Eight match, batting first and setting a very impressive score of 181.
Afghanistan were ambitious in the chase, but could only muster 134 before losing all their wickets.
Suryakumar Yadav was the star batter for India, clocking 53 runs from 28 balls, including three sixes.
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Hardik Panya was the next-highest scorer with 32, while Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant both broke into the 20s.
In the bowling, both Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets, with the latter taking centre stage by only giving up seven runs in his four overs.
It was a great all-round team performance from India and captain Sharma was again impressed with his players.
After the match, he said: “We adapted well and got 180, which was a great effort from the batters.
“We know Jasprit Bumrah’s class and what he can do. It’s important for us to use him smartly regardless of conditions.”
Their opponents, Bangladesh, did not have as good of a time in their opening Super Eight match.
They lost to Australia despite the Baggy Greens only batting for 11.2 overs.
The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method was brought into play as the Aussies were halted on 100 runs due to the rain, with the match unable to be restarted.
Mitch Starc on 🔝
The Australia pacer has climbed to the #1 spot for most wickets in Men’s World Cup history across both formats 👏 pic.twitter.com/Kw0U2VeHbw
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) June 21, 2024
The calculations based on their performance across what had been played gave Australia a 28-run win.
Bangladesh scored 140 in the opening innings, with captain Najmul Hossein Shanto hitting 41 from 36 balls and Towhid Hridoy scoring 40.
But it was not enough as Australia started strong in the chase, David Warner finishing on 53 not out and Travis Head also scoring 31.
Rishad Hossein took the only wickets for Bangladesh but gave up 23 runs in the process.
It was a spirited performance, and Shanto explained after the match that his side needed to try something different if they were going to beat a team like Australia.
He said: “I think the wicket looked very, very good. A bit slow but I think we should have scored at least 170.
“Playing against this kind of team, we had to take risks. We couldn’t execute but we tried something different today.”
Expected line-ups
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Litton Das (wk), Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Jaker Ali, Mahmudullah, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur Rahman.
A sensational spell of fast bowling by Jasprit Bumrah 🔥 #T20WorldCup | Biggest takeaways from #AFGvIND 👉 https://t.co/dUb8yoIDdq pic.twitter.com/yagevLuAL0
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) June 21, 2024
How to watch
Sky have the rights to show the T20 World Cup to UK viewers in 2024 and will broadcast every game live. Coverage gets underway on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket from 3pm UK time on Friday morning.
In India, the games can be streamed on Disney + Hotstar app and website. They are also available across the Star Sports Network.
Prediction
After watching India cruise past an in-form Afghanistan in their first Super Eight match, it is hard to bet against them.
They barely broke a sweat against one of the most unpredictable teams in the tournament and will be looking to win this one and guarantee their place in the semi-finals.
Having said that, Bangladesh will be playing with anger following their DLS loss to Australia.
They set a respectable score against one of the favourites and were never given the chance to completely defend their lead.
We are going for an India win in this one.
