Austalia, India, England... or someone else? Who’s going to win the 2024 T20 World Cup?

Per the BBC 16 of the 55 2024 T20 World Cup games will be played in America, making it the first time a major cricket tournament will be played on US soil. The conditions are so far unknown making this a hard tournament to predict, but let's give it a go anyway!

There will be nine venues used during the tournament, three in America, Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium, Florida, Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York, and Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas. These will be bolstered by six in the Caribbean, with Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago hosting games.

There are four groups of five teams, making this the biggest T20 World Cup yet, per the BBC. The top two teams from each group will progress to a Super 8 phase, essentially a second group stage, where each team will play each with a chance to progress to the semi-finals.

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Group A features favourites India, Canada, Pakistan, Ireland, and co-hosts Ireland. The big matchup in Group A is between bitter rivals India and Pakistan, with tickets for their group game in New York going for $20,000 (£15,000) a ticket, per the Times of India!

The two previous T20 World Cup winners Australia and England meet in Group B, where they are joined by Namibia, Oman, and Scotland. Beyond Scotland, there are very few teams who pose even a slight threat to the big names, first place will come down to the England v Australia matchup on 8th June.

Afghanistan are joined by New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, and West Indies in Group C. Arguably the most intriguing group in the early group stages, co-host West Indies and New Zealand are favourites, but the Afghan team is dripping with T20 talent and nouse.

Group D features Bangladesh, Nepal, Netherlands, South Africa, and Sri Lanka in what could be another group full of surprises. South Africa and Sri Lanka should be favourites to progress, but all three smaller teams have recent scalps at major tournaments.

We will be using OLBG’s consensus odds checks to look at the favourites. India are out in front, closely followed by Australia and England. Behind them, South Africa, New Zealand, the West Indies, and Pakistan round out the top seven favourites. Afghanistan and Sri Lanka are tied for the all-important eighth spot.

India are, once again, loaded with talent. Coming off a humbling loss in the 2023 50 over World Cup, Rohit Sharma et al. will be looking for revenge. Per the International Cricket Council rankings, India sit atop the T20 world rankings and boast the number-one batter in Suryakumar Yadav. There are few weaknesses in this squad, with Jasprit Bumrah and a battery of spinners making run-scoring look near impossible.

Australia are sticking with tried and tested names such as David Warner, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, and Mitchell Starc as they look to unify the major ICC tournaments. Travis Head will be key to getting them off to quick starts and is coming off an IPL in which he averaged 44.42 at a strike rate of 199.63, per the IPL website.

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England are the T20 World Cup reigning champs after triumphing in Australia two years ago and should be looking to repeat with the batting talent at their disposal. A probably top three of Jos Buttler, Phil Salt (ICC’s number two T20 batter in the world), and Will Jacks is as explosive as it comes and should be the ICC’s number one ranked bowler, Adil Rashid’s job much easier.

Will South Africa’s tournament hoodoo come to an end in 2024? Possibly given the ludicrous players at their disposal. Nasser Hussain has claimed it will be a South Africa v England final, which would be a powerful matchup. Caribbean pitches could prompt teams to play an extra spin option, which should only encourage the Proteas who boast Heinrich Klassen, the best hitter of spin in the world in their middle order.

There is no shortage of T20 talent in the Black Caps side, and they may have the best kit of the tournament too, but we feel they may be being overrated by the bookies. Arguably the most consistent tournament side in cricket, they will surely be there or thereabouts, but we can’t see them winning it.

We wouldn’t be shocked if the West Indies end up as champions. In home conditions, they are as dangerous as anyone, given their ability to demolish slow bowling. Their recent home series victory against England showcased just how good they can be, even if their bowling could be targeted by the best teams.

Pakistan’s squad is yet to be announced, per the ICC website, but their recent series against New Zealand suggests some of the same old issues remain. No one is denying the talent of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, but their T20 strike rates both sit below 130, per ESPN Cricinfo, which for the two main batters in a side, is far too slow.

In potentially spin-friendly conditions, we can’t look past India, but we also think this may be Australia’s best T20 World Cup squad ever, and given the Aussie’s innate ability to win major tournaments, we think they’re going to take home yet another trophy.

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