T20 World Cup 2024 Preview Based On The ICC T20 Team Rankings

Amisdst the exciting Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) fever, things are also slowly building-up towards the start of the all-important upcoming edition of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 scheduled to be played in the West Indies and United States. Majority of the international teams have also started with their preparations for the T20I mega event starting from 1 June, 2024 wherein hosts United States will be locking horns with Canada in the tournament opener at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. As many as 20 teams will be taking part in the group stage of the T20I competition. In this blog piece, chech out the T20 World Cup 2024 preview based on the current ICC T20 Team Rankings. 

ICC T20 World Cup 2024 Preview based on the ICC T20 Team Rankings

While talking about the current ICC T20 Team Rankings, the Indian team are placed at the top position with a total of 12,410 points and 264 Rating on the table. The Mitchell Marsh-led Australian team are occupying the second slot in the list with 257 Rating and as many as 8,471 points. However, both India and Australia find themselves in different groups during the first round of the 2024 T20 World Cup. The Group A of the 2024 T20 World Cup schedule comprises of Pakistan, India, Ireland, Canada and USA while the Group B includes Ashes rivals, England, Australia, Namibia, Oman and Scotland. On the other hand, the Group C consists of New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda and PNG. The Group D includes the likes of South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands and Nepal. 

Defending champions England find themselves at the third spot in the current list of the ICC T20 Team rankings with 252 rating and 7569 points. South Africa are slotted at the fourth position with a total of 5749 points while New Zealand and hosts West Indies are occupying the fifth and sixth spots respectively in the table. Surprisingly, 2009 T20 World Cup winners, Pakistan, are placed at the seventh position and Sri Lanka are at the eighth slot. In the current rankings table, Afghanistan and Ireland are slotted at the ninth and tenth positions respectively. 

It is quite a big fact that teams like England, Australia, India and New Zealand are the biggest contenders to win the upcoming edition of the 2024 T20 World Cup start date scheduled on 1 June wherein a total of 20 teams will be taking part in the opening round. Team India won the inaugural edition of the World T20 2007 where they defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the final. India will depend a lot this year on the current form of Jasprit Bumrah, who is also regarded as the best bowler in the world at this moment while the senior duo of skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are also part of the side. 

On the other hand, co-hosts West Indies (2012 and 2016) and England (2010 and 2022) are the only two teams in the cricketing history who have twice won the T20 World Cup. South Africa will once again be the dark horse to take home their maiden ICC trophy. Sri Lanka also managed to win the 2014 edition of the T20 World Cup where they defeated India in the final. The current ODI World Cup and World Test Championship winners, Australia, won their first T20 World Cup title in 2021 hosted in the UAE after having defeated New Zealand in the final. New Zealand, South Africa and Bangladesh are the major international teams who are yet to win a single edition of the ICC T20 World Cup tournament. 

Just before the start of the main T20 World Cup 2024, majority of the teams will also be taking part in ICC World Cup warm up matches in order to prepare well for the mega event.