In The Hindu’s countdown to the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup which commences in the West Indies and USA on June 2, we take a look at the teams in Group D.

South Africa: A second-string South African side was swept 0-3 in the T20I series against West Indies a few days ago. The arrival of powerful reinforcements — Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Tabraiz Shamsi, and Tristan Stubbs, to name a few — gives the T20 World Cup squad far greater depth.

Quinton de Kock, who has retired from ODI and Test cricket, is a familiar face at the top of the order. The poor form of de Kock and lead pacer Anrich Nortje, however, is cause for concern.

Key player: Tristan Stubbs: With a strike rate of 190.90 and an average of 54 for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024, Stubbs excelled as a specialist finisher.

The squad:

Aiden Markram (Capt.), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, and Tristan Stubbs.

Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka has won all three of its T20I series held this year, albeit against weaker teams (Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Zimbabwe). The team is led by experienced all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga, who missed the IPL due to an injury. In Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana, the Lankans have two quality spinners primed to exploit slow pitches in the West Indies.

Sri Lanka will hope that death-over bowling specialist Matheesha Pathirana recovers quickly from a hamstring strain.

Key player: Kusal Mendis: The 29-year-old opener will be entrusted with giving SL a flying start. His role is especially crucial given that the batting line-up lacks big hitters.

The squad:

Wanindu Hasaranga (Capt.), Charith Asalanka, Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Dushmantha Chameera, Matheesha Pathirana, Nuwan Thushara, and Dilshan Madushanka.

Bangladesh: The Tigers had a major slip in the build up to the T20 World Cup, losing 1-2 to World No. 19 United States of America in a T20I series last week. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and coach Chandika Hathurusinghe rely on the same set of players to come good in this mega event.

The unit’s lack of power-hitters is out of sync with modern T20 best practices. A warm-up match against India on June 1 serves as the last chance to get the house in order.

Key player: Mustafizur Rahman: A career-best six for 10 against USA proved that the left-arm seamer remains a valuable T20 asset. Mustafizur’s ability to deliver yorkers is particularly useful in the death overs.

The squad:

Najmul Hossain Shanto (Capt.), Taskin Ahmed, Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Shakib Al Hasan, Tawhid Hridoy, Mahmud Ullah Riyad, Jaker Ali Anik, Tanvir Islam, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, and Tanzim Hasan Sakib.

Netherlands: Known to consistently punch above its weight, Netherlands earned its spot in this tournament by virtue of finishing in the top-eight of the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. That campaign included a 13-run win over South Africa in the Super 12 phase, which effectively knocked the Proteas out of the competition.

Netherlands will miss the services of former SA international Roelof van der Merwe and batter Colin Ackermann, both of whom have chosen English county commitments over National duty.

Key player: Max O’Dowd: The Auckland-born opener is the standout batter. In the recent Tri-Nation T20I series involving Ireland, Netherlands, and Scotland, O’Dowd finished as the highest run-scorer.

The squad:

Scott Edwards (Capt.), Aryan Dutt, Bas de Leede, Kyle Klein, Logan van Beek, Max O’Dowd, Michael Levitt, Paul van Meekeren, Saqib Zulfiqar, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Teja Nidamanuru, Tim Pringle, Vikramjit Singh, Viv Kingma, and Wesley Barresi.

Nepal: Nepal qualified for the 2024 T20 WC by entering the final of the ICC’s Asia region qualifiers in November last year. Nepal had previously appeared in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Apart from the recent five-match T20 leg against West Indies A, Nepal has not got the chance to test its mettle against quality oppositions.

Key player: Rohit Paudel: Facing a West Indies A attack which included Obed McCoy, Oshane Thomas, and Roston Chase, captain Paudel showed his class with scores of 112, 71 n.o. and 82.

The squad:

Rohit Paudel (Capt.), Aasif Sheikh, Anil Kumar Sah, Kushal Bhurtel, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Lalit Rajbanshi, K.C. Karan, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, G.C. Pratis, Sundeep Jora, Abinash Bohara, Sagar Dhakal, and Kamal Singh Airee.

Pakistan, known for its resilience, scripted a much-needed turnaround by thumping Bangladesh by seven wickets and recorded its third victory to stay in the World Cup semifinal race at the Eden Gardens here on Tuesday.

Electing to bat on a dry pitch, Bangladesh did not last the 50 overs for the fourth time in its last six innings as it stuttered to 204 with Shaheen Afridi capturing three crucial wickets. Openers Fakhar Zaman and Shafique Abdullah’s authoritative half-centuries enabled the former champion to easily achieve the modest target and end its four-match losing streak.

The left-right combination of Zaman and Shafique got used to the track before toying with the dispirited Bangladesh bowlers to erect a 128-run stand.

In the one-sided sub-continental duel, Zaman (81), who made an emphatic return after over three weeks by clobbering seven spectacular sixes, mostly on the onside, and one stunningly over third-man, and Shafique (68), who hammered Mustafizur Rahman for three fours in an over, entertained nearly 28,000 spectators with some T20 stuff.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz took all three Pakistan wickets but couldn’t prevent the inevitable.

Bangladesh’s PowerPlay woes continued as it lost three wickets for 23.

Leading Pakistan’s pace pack, Afridi displayed good control and extracted seam movement to provide early breakthroughs, giving away too little. He trapped opener Tanzid Hasan lbw in the first over to become the fastest Pakistani bowler to log 100 wickets and had Najmul Shanto caught by a diving Usama Mir at short mid-wicket in the third.

After being hit for three fours, Haris Rauf was relieved to have Mushfiqur Rahim caught behind.

A focused Litton (45) and a confident Mahmudullah (56) revived the innings. The duo’s sensible shot selection and rotation of strike forged The Tigers’ best partnership, 79 off 89 deliveries.

Mahmudullah dominated the off-side and pulled Usama for a massive six. Litton, who impressed by consecutively driving Rauf on either side of the stumps to the boundary, executed his cuts and drives well.

Iftikhar got rid of Litton to break the partnership resulting in Bangladesh’s decelerated run rate.

Afridi returned to bowl a beauty from round the wicket and remove Mahmudullah.

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan began watchfully before switching gears. A rising delivery ended his 76-ball 43 and gave Rauf a moment of joy. Mohammad Wasim cleaned up the Bangladesh tail.

Bangladesh’s sixth back-to-back defeat let down its emotional fans who had to endure the pain of their team’s formal exit.

Scoreboard

BANGLADESH INNINGS: Tanzid Hasan lbw b Afridi 0 (5b), Litton Das c Salman b Iftikhar 45 (64b, 6×4), Najmul Hossain Shanto c Usama b Afridi 4 (3b, 1×4), Mushfiqur Rahim c Rizwan b Rauf 5 (8b, 1×4), Mahmudullah b Afridi 56 (70b, 6×4, 1×6), Shakib Al Hasan c Salman b Rauf 43 (64b, 4×4), Towhid Hridoy c Iftikhar b Usama 7 (3b, 1×4), Mehidy Hasan Miraz b Wasim 25 (30b, 1×4, 1×6), Taskin Ahmed b Wasim 6 (13b), Mustafizur Rahman b Wasim 3 (7b), Shoriful Islam (not out) 1 (4b); Extras (lb-4, w-5): 9

Total (in 45.1 overs): 204.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Tanzid, 0.5 overs), 2-6 (Najmul, 2.4), 3-23 (Mushfiqur, 5.6), 4-102 (Litton, 20.5), 5-130 (Mahmudullah, 30.4), 6-140 (Hridoy, 31.3), 7-185 (Shakib, 39.3), 8-200 (Mehidy, 43.1), 9-201 (Taskin, 43.3).

PAKISTAN BOWLING: Afridi 9-1-23-3, Iftikhar 10-0-44-1, Rauf 8-0-36-2, Wasim 8.1-1-31-3, Usama 10-0-66-1.

PAKISTAN INNINGS: Abdullah Shafique lbw b Mehidy 68 (69b, 9×4, 2×6), Fakhar Zaman c Hridoy b Mehidy 81 (74b, 3×4, 7×6), Babar Azam c Mahmudullah b Mehidy 9 (16b, 1×4), Mohammad Rizwan (not out) 26 (21b, 4×4), Iftikhar Ahmed (not out) 17 (15b, 2×4); Extras (lb-2, w-2): 4

Total (for three wkts. in 32.3 overs): 205.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-128 (Shafique, 21.1), 2-160 (Babar, 25.4), 3-169 (Fakhar, 27.3).

BANGLADESH BOWLING: Taskin 6-1-36-0, Shoriful 4-1-25-0, Mehidy 9-0-60-3, Mustafizur 7-0-47-0, Shakib 5.3-0-30-0, Najmul 1-0-5-0.

Toss: Bangladesh.

PoM: Fakhar Zaman.

Pakistan won by seven wickets with 105 deliveries to spare.

Having already sealed a place in the final, India will be tempted to test their fringe players when they face an already knocked out Bangladesh in a Super Four match of the Asia Cup in Colombo on September 15.

The Rohit Sharma-led outfit will think deep whether to give as much game time as possible to its first-choice team or give an opportunity to some of the fringe players ahead of the World Cup at home next month.

The question of workload management is pertinent particularly in the case of bowlers.

Jasprit Bumrah has bowled just 12 overs so far in the Asia Cup — five against Pakistan and seven against Sri Lanka. He did not play against Nepal.

So, it could boil down to Bumrah’s choice whether he wants to have a crack at batsmen in one more match or take a step back and return for the summit clash on September 17.

On the other hand, Mohammed Siraj has bowled 19.2 overs and Hardik Pandya 18 overs in this tournament.

It might not appear heavy numbers but the humidity in Colombo has been energy-sapping, so the team management might just give a break to one of them.

In that context, it would not be a major surprise if Shami replaces Siraj against Bangladesh.

It will also help the senior pacer to register some valuable real-match time under his belt before the quadrennial big bash, starting October 5.

It is important because Shami has now been used as a back-up seamer behind Bumrah, Siraj and Pandya.

But the dwindling bowling graph of Axar Patel will concern the thinktank as he has been marked as a cover for Ravindra Jadeja.

The left-arm spinner has neither been able to take wickets and contain the run-flow, an area where Jadeja excels.

Axar has played seven ODIs this year, and managed to take only three wickets and his economy is hovering around six. He will need a significant lift in his game, and immediately too! KL Rahul’s return to full fitness has straightened a lot of creases for the team management. He has batted with fluency and kept wickets with agility here.

After the match against Sri Lanka, Rahul had spoken at length about the role clarity given to him by the team management, that he would be India’s premier wicket-keeper-cum-middle-order batsman.

So, it can be assumed that Rahul is all set to continue his duty against Bangladesh as well.

But Shreyas Iyer’s fitness will be keenly watched as he missed the Super 4 matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka with back spasm.

However, Shreyas batted and bowled at nets on Thursday without any visible discomfort, and that should come as a pleasing development for the team.

But if the management wants to give some extra time for the Mumbaikar to recuperate, they can weigh their options between Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav.

While has Kishan has been impressive in ODIs so far, Suryakumar’s numbers were quite disappointing in the format.

Despite that, Suyakumar has been viewed as an important cog in India’s white ball establishment, and the thinktank would want to give another chance for him to push his case.

When it comes to the Bangladesh camp, they will not have the services of wicketkeeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim for this match.

Rahim had flown back home after their Super 4 match against Sri Lanka, which they lost by 21 runs.

In the absence of Rahim, Litton Das is expected to keep wickets.

However, their captain Shakib al Hasan has rejoined the team after returning home to spend some time with his family.

Teams:

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumraj, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Anamul Haque Bijoy, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Naim Sheikh, Shamim Hossain, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Tanzim Hasan Sakib.

Match starts at 3 PM IST.