Sanju Samson in action during the ICC Twenty20 World Cup super 8 match against West Indies in Kolkata on March 1, 2026
| Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak

Marsh’s potential return will be a big boost for Australia.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

A final call regarding Bangladesh’s participation in the ICC T20 World Cup co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka and particularly the team travelling to India, would be taken on January 21. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Shubhman Gill has scored 291 runs in 15 innings since his return to the T20I set-up. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on July 22 formed a three-member committee to “review the delivery” of the T20 World Cup which was co-hosted by the USA and the West Indies last month.

The committee features former New Zealand batter Roger Twose and two other directors Lawson Naidoo and Imran Khwaja, who is the deputy chair of the ICC.

“The ICC Board confirmed that there will be a review into the delivery of the ICC T20 World Cup. This will be overseen by three directors, Roger Twose, Lawson Naidoo and Imran Khwaja who will report back to the Board later in the year,” an ICC release stated.

It is understood that ICC incurred losses in excess of $20 million for conducting matches in New York, Florida and Dallas.

It is learnt that the allocated budget for the U.S. leg of the tournament was around $150 million and it was found that the budget had overshot by a fair distance which was red-flagged by certain influential board members of the global body.

Poor quality of drop-in pitches, ticketing system and the logistical issues added to the ICC’s woes. A close look at how various tenders were handed out also raised concerns.

It is understood that the role of some top ICC executives will also be thoroughly looked into by the committee.

Already, head of events Chris Tetley has tendered his resignation although the official reason given was that an ICC flagship event every year (men and women) was taking its toll.

USA, Chile put on notice and given 1 year for compliance

The governing body for cricket in the United States, popularly known as USAC, has been formally put on notice and given 12 months to comply with ICC’s Associate Membership criteria.

As per ICC’s Associate Membership Criteria, USAC has fault on two counts 2.2 b (i) governance 2.2b (ii) administrative and executive structure.

It is learnt that USAC has not complied with the norms of the USA Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), which is mandatory to get recognition as National Governing Body (NGB) to be a part of Los Angeles Games in 2028 where cricket is one of the medal events.

In case, USAC, in its current form, fails to comply with USOPC guidelines, the LA Games organisers would be forced to de-recognise the former and form a new NGB.

The second reason is believed to be non-appointment of CEO, which is a must for any cricket board.

“USA Cricket and Cricket Chile have been formally put on notice and have 12 months to rectify their current non-compliance with the ICC Membership Criteria,” the release stated.

“Neither Member is considered to have in place a fit for purpose detailed governance and administrative structure and systems.” “The Board agreed that a Normalisation Committee comprising of Board and Management representatives will be set up to oversee and monitor USA Cricket’s compliance roadmap and the ICC Board will reserve its right to suspend or expel the Member for continued non-compliance.”

Cricketing Decisions

The Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) confirmed the allocation of the eight regional qualifying spots for the 2026 T20 World Cup. This would see two teams qualify from Africa and Europe, one from the Americas and three from a combined Asia and EAP regional final.

The ICC, with its long-term strategic commitment to equity across the men’s and women’s game, also confirmed the expansion of the women’s T20 World Cup in 2030 from 12 to 16 teams.

The cut-off date for qualification for the 2026 women’s T20 World Cup qualifier was confirmed as October 31, 2024.

The CEC approved the appointment of Paul Reiffel to the Cricket Committee as the Elite Panel representative.

Captain Rohit Sharma poses for a picture with the trophy after Team India won the ICC Twenty20 World Cup against South Africa, at Kensington Oval in Barbados.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Rohit Sharma held the T20 World Cup trophy like a new-born baby as he walked towards the beach here for the triumphant captain’s post-tournament photo shoot, a serene smile refusing to leave his face and the feeling of being a world champion yet to fully sink in.

He couldn’t be faulted for being a bit dazed. After all, a jinx that lasted over a decade had been broken.

“It’s surreal. It feels like a dream. It feels like it hasn’t happened. Although it has happened but it feels like it hasn’t happened,” Rohit laughed trying to process his thoughts after 24 hours while talking to BCCI.TV.

The coastal city of Bridgetown is battling a hurricane. The same could also be said about the Indian captain, only that his is a battle to control a gamut of emotions threatening to overwhelm him like a huge sea wave every now and then.

“Last night we had a good time, we had a blast with the teammates till the early morning,” he couldn’t stop grinning before becoming a touch emotional. I would say I didn’t sleep properly but that’s absolutely fine by me. There is a lot of time for me to go back and sleep.

“I want to live this moment, each minute, each second that is passing by and will try to make the most of it,” he said describing how it felt to lead an Indian team to its first ICC title in 11 years.

“It’s been a great moment right from the time the game got over to till now. That’s the emotions and feelings you have,” said the skipper.

His marauding run at the top, especially in the knockouts, fetched Rohit a place in the team of the tournament but all he can think about for now is a sense of joyous relief.

“We have dreamt about this for such a long period of time, we worked hard as a unit for such a long period of time and to see this (the trophy) with us, it feels quite relieved as well.

“When you have worked hard for something and eventually at the end you get it, feels really, really nice,” the skipper reiterated.

People were amazed and amused to see Rohit walk to the 22-yard strip at Kensington Oval and put a tiny speck of soil in his mouth, just like Novak Djokovic does after winning the Wimbledon.

The 37-year-old said it was a spur of the moment act.

“Nothing was scripted. It was all coming instinctively. I was feeling the moment,” Rohit said about his ode to the turf that gave him the best moment of his life.

“When I went to the pitch, that pitch gave us this trophy. I will remember that ground forever in my life and that pitch as well. I wanted to have a piece of it with me.

“Those moments are very special, the place where all our dreams came true and I wanted something of it,” he concluded.

India captain Rohit Sharma poses for a picture with the ICC Mens T20 World Cup 2024 trophy at a beach, in Barbados on July 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The first T20 World Cup featuring 20 Teams will go down in history for several reasons. The tournament ended with Team India ending their ICC trophy drought, securing a seven-run win over first-time finalists South Africa in an edge-of-the-seat thriller at Barbados.

Here is a closer look at some amazing feats and records broken in the West Indies and the USA.

With two unbeaten sides meeting in the final, it was clear that the champion would set a new record for most wins in a tournament. In fact, India and South Africa both finished with eight match wins — with India missing out on a possible victory due to one of their matches (against Canada in the group stage) being a washout.

India’s 176/7 in the final, however, was the highest by any team in the final of a Men’s T20 World Cup — edging past Australia’s 173/2 against New Zealand in 2021.

At the age of 37 years and 60 days, Rohit Sharma became the oldest man to captain a side to T20 World Cup glory, as per ICC. It was a tournament that was great for the bowlers, and both Fazalhaq Farooqi of semifinalists Afghanistan and Arshdeep Singh of champions India took 17 wickets, the most in a single edition, one more than previous record-holder Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka.

The sensational Jasprit Bumrah of India finished with the best bowling average in an edition, with 8.3 – ahead of Anrich Nortje’s figures of 8.5 in 2022. Bumrah, who also went at an economy of 4.17, was a unanimous decision for the ‘Player of the Tournament’ award.

And it was England’s Chris Jordan who has the record for the best bowling strike rate in a tournament, with 8.3 — ahead of Fazalhaq Farooqi (8.9) and Tabraiz Shamsi (9.2) this year, as well as previous record-holder Jacques Kallis (9.4) from 2012.Jordan claimed four wickets in an unseen quadruple-wicket maiden over against the USA. Curtis Campher, who claimed four wickets in four balls against The Netherlands in 2021, conceded two in his over.

New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson also created history as the first man to bowl four maiden overs in a T20 World Cup spell. He finished with figures of 3/0 (4) against Papua New Guinea in the Kiwis’ last group-stage match at the tournament.

There was plenty of big hitting as well — and 2024 recorded the most boundaries in an edition of the T20 World Cup thus far, with 1,478, eclipsing 2021’s 1,349. Unsurprisingly, within that, 2024 also had the most sixes — 515, more than 100 more than 2021’s 405.And West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran hit the most sixes in a T20 World Cup — his 17 beating the record of 16 set by his legendary compatriot Chris Gayle.

Afghanistan’s captain Rashid Khan with teammates acknowledges fans after Afghanistan won the ICC Twenty20 World Cup cricket match against Bangladesh, at Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, on June 24, 2024.

West Indian batting great Brian Lara had predicted Afghanistan would reach the T20 World Cup semifinals nearly a month before the tournament began and now that the giant-slayers have made it, skipper Rashid Khan said he is immensely proud to have proved the legend right.

Afghanistan continued their brilliant run at the T20 World Cup as they marched to their first-ever World Cup semifinal with an eight-run win over Bangladesh in the last Super 8 clash here.

“The only guy who put us in the semifinals was Brian Lara and we proved him right. When we met him at a welcome party, I told him we won’t let you down,” Rashid said at the post-match presentation.

“I think when you get the kind of great, great statements from a legend, as a team, I think it gives you lots of energy as well. We are capable,” he added.

Lara, in an interaction with PTI editors at its headquarters last month, had predicted that Afghanistan would be among the semifinalists in the mega-event.

“Afghanistan, they are capable of getting into the (last) four,” Lara had said, while picking his tournament favourites.

Rashid said the conviction that they could advance to the semifinals was ignited by their triumph over heavyweights New Zealand in the group stage.

“It’s a dream for us to be in the semifinals. The way we started the tournament, the belief came when we beat New Zealand. It’s unbelievable,” he recalled.

Afghanistan also picked up a historic win over Australia before beating Bangladesh in the final Super 8 fixture to set up semifinal date with South Africa on June 27.

Against Bangladesh, Afghanistan were restricted to 115/5 but the bowlers led by Naveen Ul Haq and Rashid propelled them to a thrilling eight-run win.

“We thought 130-135 was a good score but we fell 15 runs short. We knew they would come hard at us and we knew that is what we could take advantage of. We didn’t need to do anything extra, just be clear in our plans.

Pacers Naveen and Fazalhaq Farooqi have excelled with the new ball all through the campaign and Rashid couldn’t be happier.

“In T20s if you get a good start, it helps us in the middle overs. They have given great starts to us in the whole competition. It makes it easier for us to go harder at the batsmen.

“They have delivered, they were very clear in their minds,” Rashid said.

On the several rain interruptions that eventually led the match to be truncated, Rashid said they were mentally ready to pick all 10 wickets.

“Rain is something not in our hands but mentally we knew we have to play 20 overs and take 10 wickets.

“That’s the only way we could win. But Gulbadin, he had some cramps. But his wicket was invaluable to us,” he said.

The skipper reckoned there will be huge celebration back home.

“It’s a big achievement for us as well. We have done that at U-19 level but at this World Cup, I don’t have any words to describe the feeling back home. We have to go into the semis with a very clear mind and make sure we enjoy the occasion,” he said.

Shanto blames batters

Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto conceded the team was once again let down by its batters.

“We bowled really well. As a bowling unit we did a lot of good things. But as a batting unit we made some poor decisions especially in the middle overs,” he admitted.

“Whole tournament, we bowled really well, especially Rishad the new guy came and bowled really well, I am really happy for him. As a batting unit we really need to improve a lot.”

Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan celebrates a wicket during the ICC Twenty20 World Cup match against Bangladesh in Kingstown on June 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Afghanistan spinner and skipper Rashid Khan registered a remarkable record as he became the player with the most four-wicket hauls in the Twenty20 internationals.

Rashid achieved the milestone during Afghanistan’s eight-run win over Bangladesh in the Super Eights match of the T20 World Cup 2024 at the Arnos Vale Ground. Currently, the 25-year-old has nine four-wicket hauls in the T20Is.

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan stands in second place on the chart with eight four-wicket hauls.

Uganda’s Henry Ssenyondo holds the third place with seven four-wicket hauls in the 20-over format cricket.

In the game against Bangladesh, the Afghanistan spinner picked up four wickets and gave 23 runs in his four-over spell at an economy rate of 5.80. He removed Soumya Sarkar, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, and Rishad Hossain from the crease in the second innings.

In the super 8 match against Bangladesh, Naveen-ul-Haq and Rashid Khan picked up four wickets each in their respective spells. Fazalhaq Farooqi and Gulbadin Naib also bagged one wicket each in their respective spells and helped the Afghan side win the match by eight runs.

After the defeat, Mitchell Marsh-led Australia are also out of the tournament. The Aussies ended up in third place in the Group 1 table of the Super Eights with just two points.

Former T20 World Cup champions Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and regular contender New Zealand failed to advance to the Super 8, rather shockingly, in the ongoing edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Pakistan, along with India, was expected to progress from Group-A, but a shock Super Over loss to USA to USA and a failed run chase against its neighbour ruined its chances.

The Lankans and Kiwis were in tougher groups. While the former was in Group-D with Bangladesh and South Africa, Kane Williamson’s men were drawn with two-time champion West Indies and Afghanistan.

Both teams would have hoped to advance, but sub-par performances meant that they were on the flight back home before the Super 8 stage.

All three sides will rue the missed chances. The precarious nature of the pitches in the United States will definitely be a point of discussion for the teams that played their group stage games in New York.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka were rattled by the inconsistent surface at the Nassau County Stadium and would believe that different circumstances might have yielded different results. Not only the wickets, the weather gods also intervened in a few matches.

Some tactical blunders, like dropping Tim Southee — the all-time top wicket-taker in T20Is — in the crucial encounter against Afghanistan and a poor performance in the death overs against Rovman Powell’s men, sealed the Kiwis’ fate as they suffered reverses in their first two fixtures.

It was almost a similar script for Wanindu Hasaranga’s men who, after two losses and a No Result against Nepal, finished third in their group with three points.

Even as the heavyweights faltered, the lesser-fancied teams punched above their weight. No one would have backed USA to qualify at the start of the tournament, but a spirited show saw the co-host defy expectations and beat the 2009 champion Pakistan while making it to the Super 8.