Predict your semi-finalists for the ICC World Cup T20 2024

Why must Rizwan play if he is such a liability? He has a strike rate of 120 as an opener…in every competition he plays
It decreased to 114 in the recent series and 110 in psl.

This whole logic doesn't even make sense. According to posters, Rizwan must open as he's useless anywhere else.
 
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It decreased to 114 in the recent series and 110 in psl.

This whole logic doesn't even make sense. According to posters, Rizwan must open as he's useless anywhere else.
Of course he just has to be in the side to somehow overtake Sarfaraz’s legacy. That’s the agenda behind his inclusion in the first place.
 
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I am curious to see your world cup playing 11 for Pakistan?

Like what's your 11?

1) Babar (c)
2) Rizwan (Wk)

Who are the rest?

If Saim continues to fail:

Babar
Rizwan
Usman/Agha Salman
Fakhar
Shadab
Iftikhar
Imad
Shaheen
Usama/Abrar
Naseem
Amir/Haris

If Saim does well:

Saim
Rizwan
Babar
Fakhar
Shadab
Iftikhar
Imad
Shaheen
Usama/Abrar
Naseem
Amir/Haris

Still not convinced on number 7, but with Imad being guaranteed a spot in the team, he will definitely slot in at that position.
 
If Saim continues to fail:

Babar
Rizwan
Usman/Agha Salman
Fakhar
Shadab
Iftikhar
Imad
Shaheen
Usama/Abrar
Naseem
Amir/Haris

If Saim does well:

Saim
Rizwan
Babar
Fakhar
Shadab
Iftikhar
Imad
Shaheen
Usama/Abrar
Naseem
Amir/Haris

Still not convinced on number 7, but with Imad being guaranteed a spot in the team, he will definitely slot in at that position.
Shadab and chacha at 5 and 6 was a failure against a D string NZ. Their a horrible option to have.

Bro you can choose any playing 11, don't be restricted to kakul camp.

For me my playing 11 is

1) Haris
2) Fakhar
3) Babar/ Abdullah Shafiq
4) Tayyab Tahir
5) Imad Wasim
6) Salman Ali Agha (Make shift with tayyab at 4 if wickets fall early)
7) Shadab (His high sr gives him no 7)
8-11) Shaheen, Abrar, Amir, Abass/Wasim Jnr (On current form naseem doesn't make it in my 11)

Saud is backup opener with usman khan being backup keeper.

Azam Khan can be tried at 7 as well.
 
Shadab and chacha at 5 and 6 was a failure against a D string NZ. Their a horrible option to have.

Bro you can choose any playing 11, don't be restricted to kakul camp.

For me my playing 11 is

1) Haris
2) Fakhar
3) Babar/ Abdullah Shafiq
4) Tayyab Tahir
5) Imad Wasim
6) Salman Ali Agha (Make shift with tayyab at 4 if wickets fall early)
7) Shadab (His high sr gives him no 7)
8-11) Shaheen, Abrar, Amir, Abass/Wasim Jnr (On current form naseem doesn't make it in my 11)

Saud is backup opener with usman khan being backup keeper.

Azam Khan can be tried at 7 as well.

Tayyab Tahir is not international material, specially in T20 cricket. His strike-rate is much of the same, and the guy doesn't even get a proper gig in PSL. How on earth does he randomly make your T20 team I have no idea.

Abdullah Shafique has not had a good T20 career so far, and to be honest he will also be around the same strike-rate as Babar, with a much inferior skill-set.

Agha Salman at number 6 based on what exactly? He batted in the top order in the PSL.

Shadab and Imad can be inter-changed based on their form, and according to the match situation.
 
Tayyab Tahir is not international material, specially in T20 cricket. His strike-rate is much of the same, and the guy doesn't even get a proper gig in PSL. How on earth does he randomly make your T20 team I have no idea.

Abdullah Shafique has not had a good T20 career so far, and to be honest he will also be around the same strike-rate as Babar, with a much inferior skill-set.

Agha Salman at number 6 based on what exactly? He batted in the top order in the PSL.

Shadab and Imad can be inter-changed based on their form, and according to the match situation.
He had 42 avg and 152 sr in psl, on top of that he in emerging acc cup had the best performances despite that team including saim, Omair, Haris, shabzada farhan etc.

His sr was > Babar’s in psl and miles > Rizzu, in fact he hit 2 sixes in the first PP in one game while under Babar we never hit one in over 60 games.

Agha salman as Makeshift, he comes in at 4 if wickets fall early otherwise he sjpuldnt bat until 6/7.

Also if tayyab isn't international material, What qualifies chacha to be? Or heck what qualifies our current test captain to be?
 
He had 42 avg and 152 sr in psl, on top of that he in emerging acc cup had the best performances despite that team including saim, Omair, Haris, shabzada farhan etc.

His sr was > Babar’s in psl and miles > Rizzu, in fact he hit 2 sixes in the first PP in one game while under Babar we never hit one in over 60 games.

Agha salman as Makeshift, he comes in at 4 if wickets fall early otherwise he sjpuldnt bat until 6/7.

Also if tayyab isn't international material, What qualifies chacha to be? Or heck what qualifies our current test captain to be?
Chris Jordan had an average of 45 and a SR of 225, I'm sure you get my drift. If not, this point will not work out for you the way you want it to.

Babar's SR was only 9 points lower over 11 innings and a difference of 484 runs.
 
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Australia, South Africa, England and India.

India has the best spinners in the world, there is no way they are not going to make to the semis. I would be very surprised if they don’t make it to the finals.
 
Australia's T20WC hinges entirely on the kind of pitches that will be on offer. On flat tracks, no one will be able to out-muscle them, but on pitches with some help they might get stuck with a one-dimensional batting line-up. Warner is extremely important for them, so is Mitch Marsh.

England and India look to be the second best, where I might give India an advantage because of a versatile bowling attack. Four spinners is good thinking in conditions where the ball will definitely spin or atleast grip. Bumrah is in great rhythm, and he alone can make a massive difference in the pace bowling department. Arshdeep, Siraj and Pandya are definite weak links which teams can target.

England have a powerhouse batting line-up, but as the 2023WC proved, they are susceptible to pressure and their bowling attack is not good enough to absorb the pressure that the batters might face.

South Africa on paper looks really good, but they have issues with temperament. Their capitulation against India in the semi-final really did not fit the bill for a side competing for the top spot. They have disintegrated under pressure before aswell, with the recent T20WC 2022 being the best example for a weak temperament.

New Zealand are steady yet too boring to really comment. They will be in contention as always.

Pakistan has glaring issues with their batting, which will definitely catch up to them in this tournament. Just like Australia, they are highly dependent on the kind of pitches that will be produced, as they come back into the game if the pitches offer just a bit of help to the bowlers. On flat wickets, Pakistan will be decimated and frankly will not even be in contention in this tournament.

West Indies are the dark horse as usual. They have a very good team, players who understand T20 cricket and played quite alright in Australia recently. Home team will always have a better understanding of the conditions, but remains to be seen how well West Indies utilize that knowledge. Can't really expect much, they are too volatile to predict.

Semi-finalists for me would be:

India
England
New Zealand
Australia/Pakistan (conditions dependent)
Great preview.

On WI - a good tournament is Super 8 qualification. Their group is tough with New Zealand and Afghanistan, and wouldn't rule out an upset from Papua New Guinea or Uganda given the unpredictability of T20 and WI's own inability to qualify for the main stage in 2022. Their main weaknesses:

1) Facing quality spin. They consume too many dots and play high risk release shots. Their guys don't really sweep or reverse sweep like other teams. Luckily, they play Afghanistan on the fastest and bounciest wicket in the Caribbean at St Lucia otherwise Afghanistan would be the favourites especially at a spin friendly ground like Guyana.

2) Death bowling. An example is their A team, which's close to full strength, who are touring Nepal currently (people can watch on YouTube). In the first match, a Nepalese batter called Rohit Paudel smashed them all over chasing 204. They were bowling length and on the pads with no plan whatsoever.

3) Inconsistent pacers. There's no middle ground with their pacers. Alzarri Joseph, Andre Russell, Matthew Forde, Oshane Thomas etc are either lethal or leak runs like sieves. Obed McCoy is returning from injury. They rely heavily on spinners Gudakesh Motie and Akeal Hosein to control RR.

The home team has also never won a T20 World Cup. It's the reverse of ODI World Cups where generally there's greater home domination. Obviously I'd love to be proven wrong (like I was for Brisbane) and they go all the way.
 
I'm sure about India and Australia. The other two spots are a bit tricky, I'll probably go with Pakistan and South Africa.
 
Great preview.

On WI - a good tournament is Super 8 qualification. Their group is tough with New Zealand and Afghanistan, and wouldn't rule out an upset from Papua New Guinea or Uganda given the unpredictability of T20 and WI's own inability to qualify for the main stage in 2022. Their main weaknesses:

1) Facing quality spin. They consume too many dots and play high risk release shots. Their guys don't really sweep or reverse sweep like other teams. Luckily, they play Afghanistan on the fastest and bounciest wicket in the Caribbean at St Lucia otherwise Afghanistan would be the favourites especially at a spin friendly ground like Guyana.

2) Death bowling. An example is their A team, which's close to full strength, who are touring Nepal currently (people can watch on YouTube). In the first match, a Nepalese batter called Rohit Paudel smashed them all over chasing 204. They were bowling length and on the pads with no plan whatsoever.

3) Inconsistent pacers. There's no middle ground with their pacers. Alzarri Joseph, Andre Russell, Matthew Forde, Oshane Thomas etc are either lethal or leak runs like sieves. Obed McCoy is returning from injury. They rely heavily on spinners Gudakesh Motie and Akeal Hosein to control RR.

The home team has also never won a T20 World Cup. It's the reverse of ODI World Cups where generally there's greater home domination. Obviously I'd love to be proven wrong (like I was for Brisbane) and they go all the way.
Didn't home domination in odi wcs only start from 2011
 
Pakistan will definitely make the semi finals with this 11
Rizwan
Usman
Babar
Fakhar
Iftikhar
Shadab
Imad
Abbas
Shaheen
Naseem
Abrar
 
Didn't home domination in odi wcs only start from 2011
Yep, more a recent trend. However in T20 the home team has only made the final once - Sri Lanka in 2012 (which they lost).

The other question is whether their fans will turn out in sufficient numbers. Crowds in WI have declined for 20 years so will there be much of a home crowd advantage ?
 
Yep, more a recent trend. However in T20 the home team has only made the final once - Sri Lanka in 2012 (which they lost).

The other question is whether their fans will turn out in sufficient numbers. Crowds in WI have declined for 20 years so will there be much of a home crowd advantage ?

I'm sure for the T20 WC they will turn out. They came out in large numbers for the CPL if I recall.
 
Pakistan will definitely make the semi finals with this 11
Rizwan
Usman
Babar
Fakhar
Iftikhar
Shadab
Imad
Abbas
Shaheen
Naseem
Abrar
So you are not going to play Amir? I guess he will be there and he should be if he is in the World Cup squad. Usman and riz opening is not going to work IMO.
 
Eng, Aus, Ind, SAf

NZ could be a dark horse but Williamson hobbles them.

Pakistan has little chance of making it to top 4. Full of mediocre statpadders and bowlers who have regressed.
 
So you are not going to play Amir? I guess he will be there and he should be if he is in the World Cup squad. Usman and riz opening is not going to work IMO.
Amir is finished he's clearly struggling to pick wickets and economy is much higher too.
Swing has disappeared. Now just runs in bowls fast off cutters.
 
Pakistan are ranked 7th and Afghans are ranked 10th , brother. Too much gap between the teams.
As if Pakistan adheres to the rankings lol. They were ranked 1st 4 years ago, what happened from their on?
 
lol West Indian legend Brian Lara excludes Pakistan and Australia from his top 4 for the T20 World Cup.

how can u drop Australia from ur list? they are the hot favourites to win the World Cup!

Wryg6g4.png
 
Only want Pakistan to be there and be the one winning it. Don't care who the others are.
2017 happened due to psl superstars, inform fakhar and a captain who had a history of pulling suprise upsets a decade prior.

2024 is a captain who's never won anything, is the only captain to lose to 3 minnows, and has trouble understanding the idea of selecting 4 pacers vs 2 spinners on a pitch that supports spin.

What do you think will happen when the captain can't even win his local PSL's or local domestic leagues?
 
West Indies is a safe shout

Afghanistan don’t have the batsmen to complement their spinners
Also bro I haven't been following wi, didn't they get booted by Nedtherlands? Why all the new hype for them atm? Did they improve?
 
Also bro I haven't been following wi, didn't they get booted by Nedtherlands? Why all the new hype for them atm? Did they improve?
They are at home so they are expected to do well.

Even if the wickets are slow, they have the firepower to blast teams out.

Michael Clarke made this point during IPL commentary. He feels the teams with the extra firepower in batting will do well on these wickets
 
They are at home so they are expected to do well.

Even if the wickets are slow, they have the firepower to blast teams out.

Michael Clarke made this point during IPL commentary. He feels the teams with the extra firepower in batting will do well on these wickets
Ouch, tough love for any batter who doesn't go from ball 1
 
This is why Pakistan have done the right thing with Azam Khan in the side. He’s honestly their best shot. Pakistan will realise it. Him and Fakhar are really important
Yeah I'm now finally understanding your perspective and honestly I agree. I change my mind about azam batting in these conditions.
 
They are at home so they are expected to do well.

Even if the wickets are slow, they have the firepower to blast teams out.

Michael Clarke made this point during IPL commentary. He feels the teams with the extra firepower in batting will do well on these wickets
This is why Ifti is essential. He has the power to muscle it over the boundary that very few in Pakistan have.
 
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Pakistan

This is why Ifti is essential. He has the power to muscle it over the boundary that very few in Pakistan have.
Yeah but Ifti can’t read wrist spinners

He’s an ok player. Doesn’t have the experience of playing on these kinds of wickets. Pakistan were better suited to take Shoaib Malik
 
2017 happened due to psl superstars, inform fakhar and a captain who had a history of pulling suprise upsets a decade prior.

2024 is a captain who's never won anything, is the only captain to lose to 3 minnows, and has trouble understanding the idea of selecting 4 pacers vs 2 spinners on a pitch that supports spin.

What do you think will happen when the captain can't even win his local PSL's or local domestic leagues?
Doesn't matter. Reached semis and finals under the same captain in the 2 previous wt20 editions. Hoping against hope for a pak title victory regardless of who captains or who stars with bat and ball.
 
Doesn't matter. Reached semis and finals under the same captain in the 2 previous wt20 editions. Hoping against hope for a pak title victory regardless of who captains or who stars with bat and ball.
Due to covid era, format was different, no super 8's and alot of players being Injured, sick, unavailable and just not into it during these 2 times.
 
Yeah but Ifti can’t read wrist spinners

He’s an ok player. Doesn’t have the experience of playing on these kinds of wickets. Pakistan were better suited to take Shoaib Malik
Thats the downside .....he is very weak against wrist spin. He has smashed Ashwin once in a pressure game so I hope deep down he can play some sort of spin.

But against pace on the Windies wickets he can come good. He will hopefully have the time to see the ball, and his strength should help him get it over the boundary.

We need to shift him up and down the order depending on the game situation.

Malik at this stage of his career would be good at nudging it around. I don't think he has the power to hit big.
 
Eng
Pak
SL
WI


Aus wont make it, SA as usual chokers, Ind are nowhere near as their best.
 
Australia
england
Pakistan
South africa/west indies.

I said west indies because they always bring their A-game in ICC events and when it is t20, you just cannot leave them out. Pakistan is names because they were nowhere near to reach the semis before the tournament started but they did the unthinkable, so why cannot they do it once again.
 
I expect to see
Australia
South Africa
New Zealand
Pakistan.

I don't know who can stop Australia. Doesn't matter what team they field. Cummins always seems to win the BIG cups.
 
Australia won't make it? But Sri Lanka and Pakistan will? Ridiculous
Yes, SL have a very balanced team and have a very good chance for shorter format. Bang for sure are going out i am not sure if they will even qualify for the s8.

Wi are playing at home and as usual in T20 always dangerous. And Pak will do well in T20 Wc's as always.
 
Yes, SL have a very balanced team and have a very good chance for shorter format. Bang for sure are going out i am not sure if they will even qualify for the s8.

Wi are playing at home and as usual in T20 always dangerous. And Pak will do well in T20 Wc's as always.
You're in a for a brutal reality check
 
I expect to see
Australia
South Africa
New Zealand
Pakistan.

I don't know who can stop Australia. Doesn't matter what team they field. Cummins always seems to win the BIG cups.
Everyone is conveniently forgetting that Australia were the biggest flops of the 2022 World Cup under Cummins even though they were playing at home.

Australia is nothing special in this format. They have been consistently poor and they got really lucky with the toss in 2021.
 
Everyone is conveniently forgetting that Australia were the biggest flops of the 2022 World Cup under Cummins even though they were playing at home.

Australia is nothing special in this format. They have been consistently poor and they got really lucky with the toss in 2021.
In 2023 people were saying their trash, in 2021 people were saying their trash etc etc, same old story, same old woes.

These top sides like England and Australia will have occasionally bad tournaments like England did in 2023 wc and Australia in 2022, they don't keep f ing up.

These 2 sides will be world class this series. Bobby will be booted into oblivion now that covid era is over and super 8 stages exist not favouring Pakistan at all.
 
In 2023 people were saying their trash, in 2021 people were saying their trash etc etc, same old story, same old woes.

These top sides like England and Australia will have occasionally bad tournaments like England did in 2023 wc and Australia in 2022, they don't keep f ing up.

These 2 sides will be world class this series. Bobby will be booted into oblivion now that covid era is over and super 8 stages exist not favouring Pakistan at all.
I don’t remember anyone saying that Australia will be trash in 2023. They are a really good ODI team. The same cannot be said about them in this format.

What happened to them in 2022 would probably never happen to them in an ODI World Cup especially in Australia.
 
I don’t remember anyone saying that Australia will be trash in 2023. They are a really good ODI team. The same cannot be said about them in this format.

What happened to them in 2022 would probably never happen to them in an ODI World Cup especially in Australia.
They'll do well this time, trust bro.
 
with imad and amir in the side we are not winning even a single group game

without amir and imad we will be the finalist and hopefully will be lifting the cup
 
Everyone is conveniently forgetting that Australia were the biggest flops of the 2022 World Cup under Cummins even though they were playing at home.

Australia is nothing special in this format. They have been consistently poor and they got really lucky with the toss in 2021.

Why hold that against them. Even PAK, ENG , NZ also won the matches only when they won the toss in Dubai.
 
with imad and amir in the side we are not winning even a single group game

without amir and imad we will be the finalist and hopefully will be lifting the cup
It's just ego drama.

No 2 tournaments are the same, people were doing bhramga on England smacking every team in 2023 and they were the 2nd worst top side in the tournament with Pakistan sharing the honor of 1st. Actually I'd argue they were the worst side since I don't consider pak a top side.

Imad is a million times superior to Nawaz, Chacha, Azam, Usama mir and Shadab, its not a competition and any one who actually argues this stat and that stat, Don't make me pull up the imad is the greatest allrounder of all time argument again. I can endlessly troll too.

As for Amir, Imo, Ali and Mir Hamza should be in the squad, Amir isn't great.

But the thing is, Naseem and hasan Ali and rauf are horrible, Amir is miles better then these 3. And mir Hamza is untested and scratchy t20 doesn't suit him.

Shaheen and Ali warrant a place 100%, after that you have the option of Amir/ Hasan ali / Naseem / wasim jnr / Rauf / Abass afridi

Abass is a run machine, Rauf haha, Hasan ali double Haha, naseem has been beyond poor since return.

So wasim jnr 3rd and Amir 4th?

It's as simple as that. People need to empty their ego's and let go of pride.
 
Why hold that against them. Even PAK, ENG , NZ also won the matches only when they won the toss in Dubai.
Not holding it against them, just saying that they won because of the sequence of events not because they were the best team amongst the lot.

They just found themselves on the right side of the coin when it mattered. That was a very strange tournament where 90% of the matches were decided at the toss.
 
Not holding it against them, just saying that they won because of the sequence of events not because they were the best team amongst the lot.

They just found themselves on the right side of the coin when it mattered. That was a very strange tournament where 90% of the matches were decided at the toss.

But that's just the nature of T20. It's not like the ODI World Cup where the best teams make the semis and eventually win the whole thing.
 
But that's just the nature of T20. It's not like the ODI World Cup where the best teams make the semis and eventually win the whole thing.
Not really. Other T20 World Cups weren’t so heavily geared towards teams winning tosses.

Australia don’t have an excuse for what happened in 2022.
 
Pakistan went on to play semis and final in the last 2 world cups without any substantial performance from the team especially in batting, so why can't they reach the knockout again if they do something better than the last 2 stints??
 
But that's just the nature of T20. It's not like the ODI World Cup where the best teams make the semis and eventually win the whole thing.
Just like India has a chance of making the semis this year, despite not being a favorites for this World Cup.

All sub-continent teams look rubbish this year comparatively.
 
I thought rankings didn't matter? Or do they only matter when India is on top?
Which is why I added "for whatever it's worth"

India are not favourites and haven't been so in this format for a very long time.

Which is why they aren't exactly chokers for losing in the KO's. They're just not good enough
 
Which is why I added "for whatever it's worth"

India are not favourites and haven't been so in this format for a very long time.

Which is why they aren't exactly chokers for losing in the KO's. They're just not good enough
They are much more balanced than Pakistan for sure.

Even now, if they can add Riyan Parag and Abishek Sharma in the squad they will become quite competitive.
 
Pakistan went on to play semis and final in the last 2 world cups without any substantial performance from the team especially in batting, so why can't they reach the knockout again if they do something better than the last 2 stints??
Because the previous tournaments didn't have super 8's. It was s covid era where everyone got injured and got sick.

2021 India was a burnt corpse and 2022 was basically their b string. Australia was also unfit etc etc

Pakistan to qualify only had to come top 2 on their groups which considering their group was India, SA, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Nedtherlands it shouldn't have been hard and Pakistan should not have felt the need to have Nedtherlands help them out..

Logically if this team wasn't such a disappointment the main focus should have been to win 1 out if 2 games from India and sa as the other teams should have been a breeze, sa especially if you can win the toss choose to bat first and 90% chance you'll win.

But this cockadoodle team still found a way to fumble Zimbabwe and drs played a massive role for them against sa. Lastly SA got super unlucky with Zimbabwe. They had crushed Zimbabwe easily but rain didn't let them win and the equal points was unjust.

If this team was capable, we'd have easily gotten into semi's. Not relied on kudrat ki nizam on 2 occasions.

After that semi final and final is just play your best and see what happens.

This time it's different. Super 8 Stages means Pakistan are in for a massive doozy, and considering our group has tighter requirements and India is a guarantee loss, Pakistan is already under pressure as they cannot under any circumstances fumble against USA, Ireland or Canada and have to win 3 out of 3.
 
During an interview with local Indian media outlet, Jay Shah named his four semi-finalists, including the Men in Blue and favourites India:

“India, Australia, New Zealand and the hosts, West Indies, because they are good in T20.”
 
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