sports
Sadid: The 6-year-old leggie who wowed Tendulkar
Even a few days ago, Asaduzzaman Sadid had no idea about Sachin Tendulkar. He is only six years old and a die-hard fan of Shakib Al Hasan. When Shakib got dismissed off the first ball he faced in the IPL final this Friday, Sadid started to cry!
Tendulkar, the most prolific batsman the game has seen, was one of the few right-naders from around the world who was able to dominate Shane Warne, the Australian legend widely regarded cricket's greatest exponent of the art of leg spin. So when Sachin ends up being impressed by a young leggie, you better pay attention.
Sadid is one of hundreds of thousands of other boys of Bangladesh who are madly in love with cricket, and their only dream is to become a national team hero so that they can wear the Red and Green jersey. It was not enough for Sadid to make it to the newspaper headline.
But he did because THE Sachin Tendulkar posted a video of Sadid turning the ball square - even the wrong 'un! - on Twitter. And thus, in a blink of an eye, Sadid became an international sensation for a day, and then some.
“We noticed Sadid’s love for cricket when he was only two or three,” Sirajul Islam Shuvo, uncle of Sadid, told UNB on Saturday. “His love for cricket increased earlier this year when Shakib won a player of the match award. Sadid asked me why Shakib is awarded player of the match when someone else scored the most runs. I told him that Shakib is an allrounder and he picked up more wickets in the match than anyone else. Right after that, Sadid started to bowl. He only was interested in batting before that.”
Sadid started to bowl all day. The prospect of becoming an allrounder encouraged him immensely to try his hand in bowling, as his uncle described it.
“I usually remain busy working till 11pm every day, and Sadid waits for me so that he gets some time with me and bowls a few overs at night! His only dream now is to become a cricketer, become an allrounder like Shakib. After Sachin shared his video on October 14, he is also in love with the greatest cricketer in history, though, he has never seen Sachin’s batting,” Shuvo added.
Read: Twenty20 Cricket World Cup: 5 players to watch
As seen in the video that Sachin shared on his Twitter profile, Sadid bowled eight deliveries to his friends who were not able to touch even a single delivery! Three of them were bowled being confused whether the delivery was a googly or a regular leg-break.
While talking to a media outlet, Bangladesh’s former captain Shahriar Nafees said he is astonished watching Sadid bowls like a pro.
“Nafees bhai was so happy to see Sadid bowls like this,” said Shuvu. “Nafees bhai saw Sadid’s bowling from one of his friends whom I gave a video. He told me to nurture Sadid well. Especially, he liked Sadid’s wrist position while delivering a googly. He said that it’s tough for the leg-spinners to bowl leg-spin and googly from the same wrist position. In that sense, Sadid has a special ability that can make him a great leg-spinner.”
Sadid’s mother Jummatun Nesa has also set a dream to make him a cricketer, according to Shuvo. “We are now planning to admit Sadid at BKSP whenever he comes to the age of getting admission there. At the same time, we might consider to enrol him with Shakib’s academy. But it will take some more time as he is only six now. Time will say what awaits him,” Shuvo added.
Club Cup Hockey: Mariner Youngs’ emerge champions beating Dhaka Abahani
Dhaka Mariner Youngs Club clinched the first-ever Club Cup Hockey title, the SIBL Club Cup Hockey Tournament’21, outplaying four times champions Dhaka Abahani Limited by 3-0 goals in the final at the Maulana Bhashani National Stadium here on Saturday.
Sohanur Rahman Sabuj struck twice in the 22nd and 58th minutes while Indian player Avishek scored the other goal in the 55th minute for the 2018 Club Cup runners up Mariner Youngs Clubm, shocking their formidable rivals and Dhanmondi outfit Abahani Ltd.
Avishek of the champion team was adjudged the best player of the tournament while Milan Hossain of the same team named as the highest scorer of the meet scoring six goals. Both the players got prize money of Tk 10,000 each from Khawja Rahmatullah Trust.
Read: Club Cup Hockey: Mariner crush Azad 9-0
President of Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) and Chief of Bangladesh Air Force Air Chief Marshall Sheikh Abdul Hannan witnessed the day’s final as the chief guest.
Managing Director of the meet’s sponsor Social Islami Bank Ltd Kazi Osman Ali was also present as special guest.
Read:Club Cup Hockey: Abahani, Mohammedan make flying start
The champions team received prize money of Tk 1,00,000 while the runners-up Dhaka Abahani Limited got Tk 50,000 as prize money.
JPC Table Tennis: Mahbub Reza earns double crown
Mahbub Reza earned double crown in the Jatiya Press Club Table Tennis competition by winning both the singles and doubles titles of the meet held at the Abdus Salam Hall of the club on Saturday.
Earlier, JPC President Farida Yesmin and General Secretary Elias Kham inaugurated the meet, organized on the occasion of the 67th founding anniversary of the club and sponsored by Walton.
JPC Joint Secretary Ashraf Ali, Treasurer Shahed Chowdhury, EC members Shahnaj Begum Poly, Rahman Mustafiz, Baktier Rana and other senior journalists were present at the function, conducted by JPC EC member and convener of Sports Sub Committee Shahnaj Siddiqui Soma.
Also read: JPC Chess:Shahzad Mahmud emerges champion, Rafiqul Islam runners-up
Mahbub Reza clinched the singles crown beating SK Enamul Haque while he shared the doubles title with AKM Shakhawat Hossain beating Tariqul Islam Masum and Anwaruddin pair in the final.
Anwaruddin became 3rd in the singles event while SK Enamul Haque and Golam Mustafa partner finished 3rd in the doubles.
Also read: Jatiya Press Club sports festival begins
Former General Secretary of Bangladesh Table Tennis Federation Rafiqul Islam Tipu conducted both the singles and doubles matches.
T20 World Cup 2021: Bangladesh vs. Scotland Match Preview
Bangladesh are going to be a formidable opponent for Scotland in their first T20 World Cup encounter. However, Scotland won both of its scheduled practice matches and are well prepared to face Bangladesh. The match will start at 8 p.m. (Bangladesh Standard Time) on October 17 (Sunday). The winner of this match will likely finish top in their group; therefore, this is an important fixture for both sides. The match preview of Bangladesh vs. Scotland in the T20 World Cup 2021 is discussed in this article.
Notable T20I Record between Bangladesh and Scotland
So far, Bangladesh have only played one T20 match against Scotland. The Scottish national team won the lone match by 34 runs back in 2012. Here are some of the highlights of that match.
Batted first, Scotland scored 162 in their allocated 20 overs. Bangladesh were bowled out for 128 runs in response.
Read Toppers List at the end of the IPL 2021
# Shakib Al Hasan scored the highest 31 runs for Bangladesh. On the other side, Richie Berrington scored a century (100) for Scotland.
# Mashrafe Mortaza and Abdur Razzak took two wickets each for Bangladesh. On the other hand, Joshua Davey and Rana Haq bagged three wickets each for Scotland.
# Mashrafe Mortaza had the best bowling figures (2/22) for Bangladesh, while Joshua Davey (3/23) had the best bowling figures for Scotland.
Read: Short format, long wait for pandemic-affected T20 World Cup
Bangladesh Team
Bangladesh openers failed in the warm-up matches, therefore finding the right opening combination is Bangladesh's most difficult challenge at the present. Reports suggest that the team management is now keen to open the innings with Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar. Depending on the nature of the pitch, Bangladesh may decide to include a couple of spinners in the playing XI.
Three impactful players of Bangladesh
Mahmudullah Riyad: T20I: 102 | Runs: 1,771 | HS: 64* | SR: 118.69 | Wkts: 33 | BBI: 3/18 | SR: 23.90
Shakib Al Hasan: T20I: 88 | Runs: 1,763 | HS: 84 | SR: 121.41 | Wkts: 106 | BBI: 5/20 | SR: 18.40
Mustafizur Rahman: T20I: 52 | Wkts: 76 | BBI: 5/22 | Econ: 7.48 | SR: 14.90
Read Dravid to be Team India's next head coach?
Predicted Playing XI: Mohammad Naim, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Afif Hossain, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Saifuddin, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed
Scotland Team
Scotland have some excellent T20 players in its roster and can shock any team in the world on any given day. Scotland are in good form and they may stick with the same lineup against Bangladesh that took part in the last practice match.
Three impactful players of Scotland
Calum MacLeod: T20I: 53 | Runs: 1,114 | HS: 74 | 50s: 7 | SR: 114.02
Richie Berrington: T20I: 66 | Runs: 1,517 | HS: 100 | SR: 128.12 | Wkts: 27 | BBI: 3/17 | SR: 18.50
read Chennai beats Kolkata in final to clinch 4th IPL title
Joshua Davey: T20I: 23 | Wkts: 25 | BBI: 4/34 | Econ: 8.21 | SR: 19.50
Predicted Playing XI:
George Munsey, Kyle Coetzer (Captain), Ollie Hairs, Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod ,Cross (Wicket-Keeper), Christopher Greaves, Joshua Davey, Christopher Sole, Alasdair Evans, Hamza Tahir
Read: T20 World Cup 2021: Bangladesh's Group Stage Fixtures
Verdict
Winning the first match would boost confidence among the players. Therefore, both sides would be ready to give it their best in this encounter. Bangladesh did not do well in the practice matches, but the results exposed the true weaknesses of the squad. Bangladesh team management must come up with a proper plan in the main event of the T20 World Cup 2021. Otherwise, they would not be able to showcase their true potential in the competition. On the other side, Scotland would be looking to maintain their perfect (T20 match) record against Bangladesh.
Read Youth ODI: Bangladesh lose series opener against Sri Lanka
Toppers List at the end of the IPL 2021
Chennai Super Kings were crowned IPL 2021 champions after defeating Kolkata Knight Riders in the final on Friday (October 15) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. A total of 60 matches were played in the Indian Premier League. We had seen some remarkable performances in the tournament's 14th season. Among the shining players, Chennai batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad ended top with 635 runs, while Bangalore medium pacer Harshal Patel took the most 32 wickets in only 15 innings and was named player of the series. Let's take a look at the toppers list of the IPL 14.
Here is the complete IPL 2021 Toppers List
Champion: Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings earned their first Indian Premier League trophy in three years after defeating Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs in the final. They came in second in the round-robin league stage points table.
Read Dravid to be Team India's next head coach?
Most Runs: Ruturaj Gaikwad
Ruturaj Gaikwad was the leading run-scorer in the tournament. He scored the most runs (635) in 16 innings with a century.
Top 3 Most Runs
Player
Innings
Runs
Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings)
16
635
Faf du Plessis (Chennai Super Kings)
16
633
KL Rahul (Punjab Kings)
13
626
Source: ESPNCricinfo
Read Chennai beats Kolkata in final to clinch 4th IPL title
Most Wickets: Harshal Patel
The pacer for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Harshal Patel was outstanding with the ball. The medium-pacer bagged 32 wickets in 15 innings with an incredible 10.5 strike rate.
Top 3 Most Wickets
Player
Innings
Wickets
Harshal Patel (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
15
32
Avesh Khan (Delhi Capitals)
16
24
Jasprit Bumrah (Mumbai Indians)
14
21
Source: ESPNCricinfo
Read Youth ODI: Bangladesh lose series opener against Sri Lanka
High Scores: Jos Buttler
Rajasthan Royals batsman Jos Buttler scored 124 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Not to mention, it was the best innings in the tournament.
Top 3 Highest Scores
Player
Runs
Oppositions
Jos Buttler (Rajasthan Royals)
124
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals
119
Punjab Kings
Devdutt Padikkal (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
101*
Rajasthan Royals
Source: ESPNCricinfo
Read Short format, long wait for pandemic-affected T20 World Cup
Best Bowling Figures (Innings): Andre Russell
Andre Russell of the Kolkata Knight Riders had the best bowling figures in the competition with 5/15 against the Mumbai Indians.
Top 3 Best Bowling Figures
Player
BBI
Oppositions
Andre Russell (Kolkata Knight Riders)
5/15
Mumbai Indians
Harshal Patel (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
5/27
Mumbai Indians
Arshdeep Singh (Punjab Kings)
5/32
Rajasthan Royals
Source: ESPNCricinfo
Read Twenty20 Cricket World Cup: 5 players to watch
Most Dismissals: MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni of the Chennai Super Kings had the most dismissals (13) in the tournament.
Top 3 Most Dismissals
Player
Innings
Dismissals
MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings)
16
13
Rishabh Pant (Delhi Capitals)
16
13
Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals)
14
11
Source: ESPNCricinfo
Read Big setback: Bangladesh suffer two defeats before WC
Most Catches: Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja of the Chennai Super Kings recorded the most catches (13) in the competition.
Top 3 Most Catches
Player
Innings
Catches
Ravindra Jadeja (Chennai Super Kings)
16
13
Faf du Plessis (Chennai Super Kings)
16
12
Steven Smith (Delhi Capitals)
8
9
Source: ESPNCricinfo
Read T20 World Cup 2021: Bangladesh’s Group Stage Fixtures
Highest Partnerships: Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal
Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal had the highest partnership (181*) of the tournament against Rajasthan Royals.
Top 3 Highest Partnerships
Partners
Runs
Oppositions
Virat Kohli & Devdutt Padikkal (RCB)
181*
Rajasthan Royals
Joss Butter & Sanju Samson (RR)
150
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Prithvi Shaw & Shikhar Dhawan (DC)
138
Chennai Super Kings
Source: ESPNCricinfo
Read IPL 2021 Final: Key Stats, Team News Ahead of CSK vs. KKR Championship Match
Most Sixes: KL Rahul
The captain of the Punjab Kings, KL Rahul struck the most sixes in the competition (30).
Top 3 Most Sixes
Players
Innings
Sixes
KL Rahul (Punjab Kings)
13
30
Faf du Plessis (Chennai Super Kings)
16
23
Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings)
16
23
Sources: ESPNCricinfo
Read Defeat in warm-up match not a big thing: Minhajul
Highest Match Aggregates
Top 3 Highest Match Aggregates
Matches
Runs
Rajasthan Royals vs. Punjab Kings
438
Mumbai Indians vs. Chennai Super Kings
437
Sunrisers Hyderabad vs. Mumbai Indians
428
Source: ESPNCricinfo
Read Tigers lose the plot while fielding to lose first warm-up against SL
Bottom Line
The franchise-based Indian Premier League completed its 14th season this year. As predicted, some fresh new players emerged in this year's IPL. Harshal Patel of Royal Challengers Bangalore was the most prominent one. Finishing the competition with impressive 32 wickets, this outstanding bowler kept both audiences and critics enthralled. Most players of the IPL 2021 champion Chennai Super Kings' had a successful season. Shardul Thakur and Ruturaj Gaikwad were the most consistent performers for Chennai. Winning the fourth Indian Premier League title, CSK captain MS Dhoni has added one more feature in his cap.
Read Mahmudullah out of Bangladesh’s first warm-up match
Dravid to be Team India's next head coach?
India's former skipper Rahul Dravid, once called 'The Wall', is likely to succeed Ravi Shastri as the head coach of the country's cricket team.
According to local media reports, 48-year-old Dravid has agreed to take over as the chief coach of India's national cricket team from Shastri after the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE and Oman.
Quoting unnamed sources, the reports said that India's all-powerful cricket board chief Sourav Ganguly spoke with Dravid "and the latter has agreed" to coach Indian players.
READ: Chennai beats Kolkata in final to clinch 4th IPL title
Shastri's tenure as India's head coach ends with the T20 World Cup, slated to take place in the two Gulf states from October 17 to November 14.
Dravid is currently the director of the national cricket academy of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He will have to step down from his position to take over as the national cricket coach.
Popularly known as "Mr Dependable", Dravid, alongside Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, were part of a formidable batting line-up that steered India to win many matches at home and abroad. All have retired from cricket.
Dravid made his Test debut against England in 1996 with a brilliant knock of 95 at Lord’s. In a career spanning 16 years, Dravid scored 13,288 runs in 164 Tests. He accumulated 10,889 runs in 344 one-day internationals.
Not only Shastri, India's charismatic skipper Virat Kohli will also step down as the country's T20 international captain after the T20 World Cup.
READ: Youth ODI: Bangladesh lose series opener against Sri Lanka
"I have decided to step down as the T20 captain after this T20 World Cup in Dubai in October," the 32-year-old said in a social media post last month.
Chennai beats Kolkata in final to clinch 4th IPL title
Ageing maestro Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings won their fourth Indian Premier League title, beating two-time champion Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs in the final on Friday.
Chennai, playing its ninth IPL final, made an imposing 192-3 after being put into bat by Kolkata skipper Eoin Morgan.
Kolkata, which had chased down 199 in the 2012 final against Chennai, crumbled to 125-8 before tailenders Shivam Mavi (20) and Lockie Ferguson (17 not out) dragged them to 165-9.
Openers Shubman Gill (51) and Venkatesh Iyer (50) put on a solid 91-run stand, then Kolkata lost its way completely, losing eight wickets for just 34 runs in a dramatic collapse.
Fast bowler Shardul Thakur, who has replaced Axar Patel in India's Twenty20 World Cup squad, picked up 3-38 while Josh Hazzlewood (2-29) and Ravindra Jadeja (2-37) ran through Kolkata's middle order.
All four top-order Chennai batsmen were amongst the runs, led by Faf du Plessis' 86 off 59 balls. But the South African had a lucky escape on 2 when Dinesh Karthik missed a regulation stumping.
Ferguson (0-56) had an off day and conceded the second most runs by a bowler in an IPL final.
The three cameos by Moeen Ali (37 not out), tournament top-scorer Ruturaj Gaikwad (32) and Robin Uthappa (31) helped Chennai to set a formidable total.
Youth ODI: Bangladesh lose series opener against Sri Lanka
Bangladesh U-19 cricket team suffered a 42-run defeat in the first of the five-match one-day series against Sri Lanka Friday in Dambulla.
The hosts batted first and scored 228 for nine in 50 overs. Pawan Pathiraja hit the highest 67 off 88 balls with five fours. In reply, Bangladesh were all out for 186 in 46.2 overs and lost by 42 runs.
Earlier, having won the toss, Sri Lanka batted first. Golam Kibria and Ripon Mondol took two quick wickets for Bangladesh. But Sri Lanka managed to survive the early damage.
For Bangladesh, Ripon bagged three wickets, and Ashikur Zaman scalped two.
Aich Mollah struck 86 off 93, but his effort went in vain as the other batters failed to accompany him well.
For Sri Lanka, Treveen Mathew took four wickets and Shevon Daniel two.
The remaining matches of the series will take place on October 18, 20, 23 and 25 at the same venue.
Short format, long wait for pandemic-affected T20 World Cup
It’s been a long wait for the marquee event in international cricket’s shortest, highest-tempo format.
The pandemic-affected Twenty20 World Cup will finally kick off on Sunday with no clear cut favorites for the title.
The tournament was pulled from the 2020 cricket calendar after Australia shut its international borders for the COVID-19 pandemic. India was then supposed to stage the event earlier this year, but it was delayed again after surge in the COVID-19 cases there. Cricket authorities finally decided it would be played in United Arab Emirates and Oman, with India remaining as official host.
For India’s leading players, the UAE has become like a second home in cricket terms and they’re familiar with the slow nature of pitches. The second half of the T20 Indian Premier League was played at Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, resuming last month after being suspended mid-year.
Based on that experience, Virat Kohli’s India squad has been loaded with four spin bowlers — Ravichandran Ashwin, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravindra Jadeja and Rahul Chahal — aiming to clamp down any power-hitters in the opposition ranks.
But it’s not only India which will benefit from the IPL being relocated to the gulf immediately before the T20 World Cup. Key players from around the world, including New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, Australian allrounder Glenn Maxwell and England veteran Eoin Morgan, have all had a taste of the conditions.
Then there’s Pakistan, which has used the UAE as a home-away-from-home for years.
That makes the opening Group 2 encounter between archrivals India and Pakistan all the more intriguing at the Dubai Cricket Stadium on Oct. 24. India has never lost a World Cup game to Pakistan in either the one-day or T20 formats. But Pakistan is unbeaten in six T20s at the stadium dating back to 2016.
“We know the conditions really well,” Pakistan captain Babar Azam told a pre-tournament news conference. “We know how the wicket will behave and the adjustments batters will have to make.
“On the day whoever plays the better cricket, wins the match. If you ask me, we will win.”
Pakistan went close to beating India in the inaugural T20 World Cup final in South Africa in 2007, but eventually Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s lineup went on to win the game when Misbah-ul-Haq’s was caught at short fine leg off an extravagant paddle shot.
“As a team, our confidence and morale are really high,” Azam said. “We’re not thinking of the past but the future. We are preparing for that.”
The T20 format tends to favor big-hitting batters and unorthodox stroke-makers, but the power-hitters could be overshadowed in this event by the bowlers because of the slow nature of wickets. Only the Mumbai Indians could cross the 200-run mark in the second half of the IPL’s round-robin stage, and totals of 170-180 were considered competitive.
Trends will emerge well before the leading title contenders get into action. The top eight teams have directly qualified for the Super 12 stage, which begins from Oct. 23. Four teams will join them by qualifying in Round 1, which kicks off Sunday with Oman taking on Papua New Guinea. Scotland and Bangladesh will continue the Group B action on Monday. Group A comprises 2009 finalist Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands and Namibia. The two top teams from each group will advance.
In the second stage, the defending champion West Indies and 50-over World Cup champion England are in Group 1 with Australia and South Africa. England, despite being without Ben Stokes, is aiming to avenge its heart-breaking loss in the 2016 final when Carlos Brathwaite’s stunning flurry of sixes saw the West Indies winning its second title.
Liam Livingstone had a below-par stint in the IPL, but England could will still be banking on him to challenge any bowling attack.
Brathwaite won’t be there this time around, but Chris Gayle, the self-described “Universe Boss,” and Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell are all still in the squad. So too is recalled 37-year-old fast bowler Ravi Rampaul, who was involved in the West Indies’ title win in 2012 but hasn’t played at international level in almost six years.
Neither South Africa nor Australia has won the World T20 title, but each squad features strong pace threats in Kagiso Rabada, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins.
Joining India and Pakistan in Group 2 will be New Zealand and Afghanistan.
New Zealand, which won the World Test Championship final against India earlier this year and took the 50-over World Cup final to an unprecedented Super Over after the game ended in a tie, is always a strong contender in an ICC event. Williamson is expected to recover from a hamstring niggle, and the Kiwis also have plenty of experience to draw on from Martin Guptill and Trent Boult.
Afghanistan has developed as one of the strongest emerging teams in the format, but the Taliban taking back control in Kabul has affected the national cricket team.
Also, high-profile spinner Rashid Khan stepped down as captain, leaving Mohammad Nabi — the top-ranked all-rounder in T20 cricket — to lead the squad.
Khan had a below-par IPL season for last-place Sunrisers Hyderabad, but his legspin is expected to cause trouble for any team in the group.
Afghanistan opens against one of the Round 1 qualifiers in Sharjah on Oct. 25 before taking on Pakistan on Oct. 30.
Twenty20 Cricket World Cup: 5 players to watch
Some players to watch at the Twenty20 World Cup starting on Sunday with an eight-team first round. Four teams from Round 1 will advance to join the top eight teams in the main Super 12 stage from Oct. 23:
JASPRIT BUMRAH (India)
The paceman with the unorthodox bowling action is back to spearhead India’s T20 attack for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak and is likely to become the country’s leading wicket-taker in the format during the World Cup. Five wickets would take him above Yuzvendra Chahal’s record of 63 for India. Bumrah, on the back of a strong test series in England, came out of the IPL as one of competition’s leading wicket takers with 21 for Mumbai Indians at an average of 19.52. He continues to be prolific in all formats with his express pace and consistency off a short run-up. Few pacemen are better at yorkers that could prove to be his best source of wickets on the UAE’s spin-friendly pitches.
DEVON CONWAY (New Zealand)
The left-handed batter has taken international cricket by storm in all formats, underlining not just his talent but his versatility and ability to thrive in different conditions. There was the double-hundred against England at Lord’s on his test debut in June, the 126 against Bangladesh in his third and most recent ODI in March, and then an unbeaten 99 off 59 balls against Australia in one of his 11 innings for New Zealand in Twenty20s. Conway averages 59.12 in T20s and stands out in a way because he is not the kind of explosive power-hitter typically synonymous with the shorter format, rather a thinker and a gap-finder with a clean shot-making ability either as an opener or in the middle order. Born and raised in South Africa, Conway moved to New Zealand in 2017 and — at the age of 30 — has had to be patient for his chance at international level. Having helped the Black Caps to become world test champions, Conway could be the player to lead the team to a first ICC white-ball world title.
LIAM LIVINGSTONE (England)
Livingstone’s two-year plan has paid off. In a bid to get into England’s squad for this World Cup, he decided in 2019 to do a global tour of the T20 franchises so he could experience a variety of conditions and broaden his experience. He is now a regular in England’s T20 team and one of the most thrilling batters in the world. He’s also one of the biggest hitters, as shown in smashing a 42-ball hundred against Pakistan in July — the quickest ever scored by an England player. He was also the top scorer in the inaugural season of The Hundred, the new English domestic competition, in which he hit more sixes than anyone. Livingstone has struggled for runs in the IPL for Rajasthan Royals over the past month, an indication he might not be suited to the slower wickets in the United Arab Emirates. But he is clearly a potential game-changer and match-winner and, in that way, an ideal replacement for the absent Ben Stokes in the England team.
DAVID WARNER (Australia)
Once the best all-format opener in the game, Warner comes into the World Cup with no form and is perhaps emblematic of Australia’s preparations for the competition. He was dropped as captain by Sunrisers Hyderabad before this year’s Indian Premier League was paused for coronavirus-related reasons in April, then dropped from the team entirely after a three-ball duck and a three-ball 2 upon the competition’s resumption last month. Warner also hasn’t played for Australia in the T20 format since September last year, missing recent series against the West Indies and Bangladesh so he could be fresh for the IPL and the World Cup. Australia captain Aaron Finch has said Warner, one of the world’s most explosive batters on his day, will start in the T20 World Cup but is under pressure as his country looks to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2012 and win it for the first time.
TABRAIZ SHAMSI (South Africa)
The spinner is the top-ranked bowler in T20 internationals, which may come as a surprise to some considering the Proteas’ long-established reliance on fast bowling to get the job done. But Shamsi, a left-arm wrist spinner with plenty of variation, is now crucial to the South Africa team and reflects a trend in the short format where slow bowlers are proving to be invaluable. While Shamsi’s wicket-taking ability has never been in doubt, he once struggled to limit the runs and was considered a risky selection. The 31-year-old Shamsi has made major improvements in that department, although his strength will always be as an attacking spinner. He wanted to be a magician before his cricket career took off and is still keenly interested in the art. And that’s fitting for a bowler renowned for having a good selection of tricks up his sleeve.