T20 World Cup 2024: India Eye Semi-Final Spot with Comparatively Benign Contests in Group 1

With Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya remaining to show some form, the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team is all set to take on the spirited Afghanistan side in their first match of the Super Eight stage of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024. Apart from Kohli and Hardik, all the batters including Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, and Shivam Dube have shown glimpses of form in tough batting conditions at Nassau County International Stadium in New York. Writes Meenakshi Rao

Barbados (West Indies): With England making a chance entry into the Super Eight round of the T20 World Cup 2024, thanks to the Australians thrashing Scotland, the West Indies leg of the tournament has become interesting.

While India is in a comparatively benign contests in Group 1, having to play against Afghanistan at Barbados, Bangladesh at Antigua, and Australia at St Lucia to reach the semi-final, Group 2 with West Indies, England, South Africa the USA will figure in tougher matches.

The top two teams from the two Groups will get to play the semi-finals, one in Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago) on June 26, and the other one on June 27 at Guyana. If India goes through, it will play the semi-final at Georgetown (Guyana) on a pitch famous for aiding spinners.

The Group stage threw up a topsy-turvy result which saw at least two of the big teams falling by the wayside. These included New Zealand and Sri Lanka, the first eternal semi-finalists and the other having lifted the Cup.

On the other hand, it was a sunshine outing at the World Cup with debutants like the USA, who qualified to play in the tournament courtesy being the hosts, making their presence felt and Afghanistan putting up hallowed performances match after match.

Bangladesh, too, with all the mercury in their blood pipes, have the potential to turn fortunes of big teams like India with a history of staging upsets.

Also, the Super 8s come into play at a break-neck speed with just one day in between matches at different venues. The teams will be flying out of the venue after every match day to arrive at the next venue in time for pre-match practice and Press conference the next day.

However, Surya Kumar Yadav does not see much of a problem in this hectic schedule. “At the top level of the game this is expected, and the players are all professionals who have their own ways to use the recovery time and be back in action in a positive state of mind,” he said after a practice session at the Kensington Oval.

India will be playing three crucial Super Eight matches in a span of five days in three different Caribbean nations to qualify for the semi-final which, too, is just one day apart and in the fourth country. They will rush to Barbados to play the Final, again just a day apart from their semi-final in Guyana, if all goes well.

Meanwhile, in its first match on Caribbean territory, India meet an on-fire Afghanistan on the bouncy pitch at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, the venue which will also host the Final on June 29.

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