Nepal
Ashish Pant
2023 began with Nepal pulling off a miracle of 12 to qualify for the ODI World Cup qualifiers and ended with them qualifying for the T20 World Cup for the first time in a decade. In the group stage of the World Cup Asian qualifiers, they beat Singapore and Malaysia, and made it to the knockout stage despite losing to Oman. In the semi-finals, they faced arch rivals UAE, who entered the knockout stage unbeaten. In front of a packed home crowd, Nepal held UAE to 134 for 9, taking eight wickets and 17 balls to spare to advance to the final and also secure a place in the T20 World Cup. They lost to Oman in the super over in the final, but still secured their ticket to the World Cup.
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Rohit Paudel was Nepal’s leading run-scorer in T20Is last year, scoring 403 runs in 13 innings at an average of 50.37. The Nepal captain goes into the T20 World Cup in top form having scored 265 runs in four innings, including a hundred and two fifties, against a West Indies A team featuring some internationally renowned bowlers.
Dipendra Singh Irie is Nepal’s leading T20I run-getter with 1626 runs from 56 innings and has had an incredible 12 months. He broke the record for fastest T20 fifty in just nine balls against Mongolia last year and more recently smashed six runs in one over in a T20I against Qatar. Irie is also a skilled off-spinner, taking 37 wickets in T20Is and is a fine fielder as well.
Just 20 years old, Kushal Malla holds the record for the second-fastest century in T20Is with his century off 34 balls against Mongolia last year. He has had a brilliant 2023, scoring 402 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 193.26. Malla is also a left-arm spin bowler and has taken 19 wickets in T20Is at an economy of 6.18.
Nepal in major tournaments
This will be Nepal’s first appearance in the T20 World Cup since 2014. Last year, they made it into the 2023 ODI World Cup qualifiers but failed to qualify for the finals. In 2023, Nepal qualified for the Asia Cup for the first time in their history but failed to win in both attempts.
Form Guide*
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team
Rohit Paudel (captain), Aasif Sheikh, Anil Sir, Kushal Burtel, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Iley, Lalit Rajbanshi, Karan KC, Gursan Jha, Sonpal Kami, Pratish GC, Sandeep Jolla, Avinash Bohara, Sagar Dhakal, Kamal Iley.
Papua New Guinea
Ashish Pant
PNG went through the 2023 East Asia Pacific Qualifiers unbeaten and have qualified for the 2024 T20 World Cup with one game remaining.
This will be their second time competing in the T20 World Cup; 10 members of the current squad played in the 2021 tournament in the UAE and Oman. Asad Vala will continue to serve as captain, with all-rounder Charles Amini as vice-captain. The bowling unit will be led by medium-pacer Norman Vanua, PNG’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is.
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Tony Ullah is one of Papua New Guinea’s most experienced batsmen and comes into the World Cup having scored fifties against Hong Kong and Nepal in the three-match series in Hong Kong in March. He is Papua New Guinea’s leading run-scorer overall in T20Is and since the start of 2023, and was second on the run-scorer list in the EAP qualifiers.
Charles Amini’s all-round ability will be key for Papua New Guinea at the World Cup. He is third in PNG’s T20I run-scoring charts behind Ullah and Vala (994 in 48 innings) and second in the wickets charts behind Vanua (47 in 48 innings).
PNG in major tournaments
PNG were drawn in the only World Cup played in 2021 in the same group as Scotland, Bangladesh and Oman in the first round but failed to win any of their three matches.
Form Guide*
Wow
team
Asad Vala (captain), Charles Amini, Aley Nao, Chad Soper, Hila Vale, Hili Hili, Jack Gardner, John Carrico, Kabua Morea, Kiplin Doriga, Lega Siaka, Norman Vanua, Semo Kamea, Sese Bau, Tony Ura.
Uganda
Firdous Moonda
Uganda was once a British colony and has a significant South Asian immigrant population (both before and after the Idi Amin dictatorship, when Asians were expelled). Cricket has a history of external influence but is now home-grown. Most of the current national team were born in Uganda and grew up in the sport throughout their schooling, making them the country’s pioneering generation of cricketers. This will be the first time that Uganda’s senior team will play in a World Cup, a feat yet to be achieved by the national football team.
Uganda qualified for the African Championship last year after beating Zimbabwe by five wickets to finish second out of seven teams in points, their only loss coming to fellow qualifiers Namibia, who dominated all other opponents, including once-promising neighbours Kenya.
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Frank Nsubuga began his cricketing career 27 years ago (officially making his debut in 2004) and, at 43, will be the oldest player in this T20 World Cup. He is known as one of the team’s fittest players, runs 10km before training and is aiming to retire from international play after this tournament.
Born in Gilgit, Pakistan, Riazat Ali Shah is Uganda’s vice-captain and one of their most reliable run-scorers, being one of only three batsmen to have scored over 1000 runs in T20Is. Riazat moved to Uganda at the age of 16 but missed out on the next U-19 World Cup due to a lack of finalised eligibility procedures. He was just 20 when he made his debut for Uganda in 2018 and is now one of their top players.
Roger Mukasa and Simon Sesazi are the other two Ugandans to score over 1000 runs in T20Is while Sesazi’s brother Henry Senyondo is Uganda’s leading T20I wicket-taker and is six away from becoming the first Ugandan to reach 100 wickets in T20Is.
Uganda at major tournaments
Uganda have never played in a Cricket World Cup but have had some success in African multi-team tournaments, winning last year’s East Africa Cup in Rwanda after winning 11 of their 12 matches and reaching the semi-finals of this year’s African Games in Accra before losing to Namibia.
Form Guide*
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team
Brian Masaba (captain), Riazat Ali Shah, Kenneth Waiswa, Dinesh Nakrani, Frank Nsubuga, Ronak Patel, Roger Mukasa, Cosmas Chieuta, Bilal Hassan, Fred Achelam, Robinson Obuya, Simon Sesajji, Henry Senyondo, Alpesh Ramjani, Juma Miyagi.
united states of america
Hemant Brar
They have qualified for the tournament as co-hosts. This will be their first World Cup in any format. Wicketkeeper-opener Monak Patel will lead the team with Aaron Jones as his second-in-command.
The US hasn’t played much T20I cricket recently, with their last T20I coming in July 2022 before playing a five-match home series against Canada last month and winning 4-0.
The U.S. will face Canada again in its opening World Cup match in Dallas on June 1. The other three teams in the group are India, Pakistan and Ireland.
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Corey Anderson, who played one ODI World Cup and two T20 World Cups for New Zealand, will now represent the United States. He made his debut for the USA last month against Canada, scoring 28 and 55 in two matches. Anderson once held the record for the fastest hundred in ODIs and the US will be hoping to get him back to that form.
Ali Khan, one of the big names in American cricket, grew up in Pakistan wanting to bowl as fast as Shoaib Akhtar. He never got the chance, but he can bowl the York ball with impressive speed. He’s a regular in the CPL.
After the 2012 U-19 World Cup, Ian Chappell compared left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh, who represented India in that tournament, to Bishan Bedi and said the youngster was ready for international cricket. Harmeet made his T20I debut for the United States last month, scoring 34 not out off 17 balls against Canada and taking figures of 4 for 18.
USA in major tournaments
Although they have never played in a World Cup before, they did play in the Champions Trophy in 2004. They won the Americas Regional Qualifier the previous year and remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, coming close to qualifying for the T20 World Cup in 2022. However, in the global qualifiers where they competed for two spots, they lost to the Netherlands in the semi-finals.
Form Guide*
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team
Monank Patel (captain), Aaron Jones, Andries Gauss, Corey Anderson, Ali Khan, Harmeet Singh, Jesse Singh, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Nitish Kumar, Nostash Kendjige, Saurabh Netravalkar, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir.
*Last 5 games against 2024 World Cup teams
Also check out team previews for Canada, Namibia, Netherlands, Oman and Scotland.
