‘Superb Festival’ beckons in unique T20 World Cup

The world will take notice as the 2024 T20 World Cup, set to be played in USA and the West Indies, gets to the red carpet in what would be the very first cricket World Cup in the USA.

The USA will be playing their first World Cup in any format, and even though the tournament will only be in the USA for a short time with the majority of the action taking place in the West Indies, the challenges will be numerous for the newest co-hosts. However, there will also be opportunities for associates to showcase what they possess. USA's historic T20I series victory over Bangladesh just ahead of the tournament would help get the sparks flying.

 As with any World Cup, there will be something unique to look forward to, and experts from Bangladesh believe that this event will have something to offer in terms of greater cultural diversity, team competitiveness, host teams' performance, and cricket's exposure to the USA market.

 Modern T20 is a game of batters and runs. Speaking to former national selector Habibul Bashar, now head of operation of Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) women's cricket, he focused on wickets having a great impact.

"This world cup is a bit unique since it's being hosted by a non-Test playing country and a Test-playing country. It's being played in conditions in USA that are unknown to everyone. How the tournament will go will depend on the conditions and the wickets," Bashar said.

The game of T20 has found exposure in different parts of the world and the associate nations are coming up fast in this fast-paced format. Cricket analyst Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, a mentor to many of Bangladesh national team stars along with Bashar, feels that the tournament's associate sides have something unique to offer.

"What's great about this World Cup is that it's a 20-team tournament, and the fact it is logical has been proven by the associate nations since they are not lagging behind," Fahim said, highlighting that "Ireland, Netherlands and Canada are coming  at us fast".

The competitiveness is something greatly triggered by the format itself. The Netherlands, for instance, delivered a blow in a warm-up fixture against Sri Lanka.

Bashar believed that T20 cricket has availed opportunities to players from associate nations to upskill and challenge more established counterparts, adding Bangladesh's challenge too would be great in the Group D they were placed in.

"Our group is very open. Netherlands beat South Africa and Bangladesh in the ODI World Cup last year and their players regularly perform well in county cricket. They are experienced than many in the World Cup. They are always playing, same in the case with Ireland players who are not bad in T20s as they play in Vitality Blast and been playing power cricket," Bashar highlighted.

With teams like South Africa and Sri Lanka in Group D, alongside Bangladesh, Nepal and Netherlands, it could make for the most exciting group phase in the entire World Cup.

Cricket's flavour finding a place in USA would help expose the game to a wider audience and the new co-hosts' performance is critical.

"It's a superb festival and people from all around the world would come to watch. It would have an influence on world peace and harmony," Fahim added.

Both Bashar and Fahim pointed out that USA's performance have a crucial part to play in cricket's exposure in the country.

"If their [USA's] performance is above average even if they do not make the second round, it will keep cricket alive. If they make second round, that kind of performance would be very required for getting funding, popularising the sport.

"There is a lot of depth in sports that have major foothold in USA. It will be a really difficult thing for cricket to make a space of their own. Cricket is a comparatively complicated game. There is no local interest as such. It will be difficult," Fahim adds.

For Bangladesh too, it would be a unique opportunity to find themselves in a format where the associates challenge for further identity in cricket's latest World Cup that is certainly to add new flavours to the palette.