West Indies Cricket Team Still The Favourites To Win T20 World Cup 2024?

In the ongoing exciting edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024, we are currently witnessing Super 8 stage being hosted entirely in the West Indies as 8 teams battle it out to get their hands of the presitigious trophy. The likes of Australia, India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are placed in the Group 1 of the Super 8s while co-hosts West Indies, United States of America (USA), England and South Africa are occupying the Group 2. The West Indies cricket team did not had the best of starts in this Super 8 stage of the mega event as they suffered a thrashing 8-wicket loss at the hands of defending champions England hosted at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, St Lucia. 

West Indies Cricket Team still the favourites to Win T20 World Cup 2024?

Under the captaincy of Rovman Powell, West Indies came into this edition of the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup as the dark horse especially because of their power-hitting cricketers like Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell and many more. Moreover, the major part of this T20I tournament had to be played entirely in their home conditions. West Indies remained unbeaten in the opening round of this competition after having registered four brilliant back-to-back wins over Papua New Guinea (PNG), Uganda, New Zealand and Afghanistan. 

While talking about the West Indies cricket team in this edition of the T20 World Cup 2024, they have a really explosive pair of openers in Johnson Charles and Brandon King. Charles has already contributed really well in this tournament so far. On the other hand, West Indies depend a lot on the batting prowess of Nicholas Pooran especially after his staggering innings of 98 runs off just 53 balls that consisted of 8 sixes and 6 fours against Afghanistan. The swashbuckling left-hander is a vital clog in this West Indies batting line-up and thus, he will have to continue his fantastic form in the remainder of the competition to help his team win their third T20 World Cup title after 2012 and 2016. 

The West Indies team management will also want the likes of skipper Rovman Powell, Shai Hope and Andre Russell to come good in the middle-order batting department. In the bowling department, they have two really good left-arm spinners, Akeal Hosein and Gudakesh Motie who are already picking wickets at regular intervals as seen in the opening round of this T20I tournament. 

During the loss against England in the Super 8, it was the West Indies' batting department that came under the scanner as they were only able to 180 for 4 in 20 overs on a very good batting surface. Many of their batters got some useful starts like Johnson Charles (38 runs), Nicholas Pooran (36 runs), Rovman Powell (36 runs) and Sherfane Rutherford (28 runs), but all of them failed to convert them into a big innings. However, the two-time World Cup winners will be hoping to take some confidence from their fighting victory over New Zealand earlier in this competition. In the game against the Kiwis, West Indies collapsed to 30 for 5 after which Sherfane Rutherford played a blistering unbeaten knock of 68 runs off only 39 deliveries to help his team reach a fighting score of 149 for 9. 

While talking about West Indies schedule in the remainder of this T20 World Cup 2024, the co-hosts will be facing United States of America at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on 22 June, 2024. On the other hand, West Indies will then be locking horns in an important Super 8 clash against South Africa scheduled to be hosted at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua on 24 June, 2024. A total of two teams will qualify for the semi-finals from this Group 2 and both England and South Africa have already won a game each. 

Both the semi-finals are scheduled to be played on the same day (27 June, 2024) with the first semi-final taking place at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad while the second semi-final will be hosted at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. The big-ticket and all-important 2024 T20 World Cup final will begin on 29 June, 2024 at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. 

Group 2 matches