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Get to know the 2024 World Cup teams: Nepal, PNG, Uganda and USA

27-May-2024Nepalby Ashish Pant
The year 2023 started with Nepal conjuring 12 miracles to make it to 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 Asia Qualifier, they beat Singapore and Malaysia and made it to the knockouts despite losing to Oman. In the semi-final, they met old foes UAE, who were entering the knockouts unbeaten. In front of a packed home crowd, Nepal restricted UAE to 134 for 9 and made it to the final with eight wickets and 17 balls to spare, which also confirmed their qualification for the T20 World Cup. They lost to Oman in the final in the Super Over, but their World Cup ticket was secured.Key players
Rohit Paudel was Nepal’s leading run-scorer in T20Is last year, with 403 runs in 13 innings at an average of 50.37. The Nepal captain is also going into the T20 World Cup in prime form having scored 265 runs in four innings, which included a century and two fifties against a West Indies A side that had bowlers of international repute.Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal’s highest run-getter in T20Is with 1626 runs in 56 innings, has had a stunning 12 months. Last year against Mongolia he broke the T20 record for the fastest fifty, getting there in just nine balls. More recently, he smashed six sixes in an over in a T20I against Qatar. Airee is also a handy offspinner. with 37 T20I wickets, and is an electric fielder to boot.Kushal Malla, just 20 years old, holds the record for the second-fastest century in T20Is, getting there in 34 balls, against Mongolia last year. He had an excellent 2023 where he scored 402 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 193.26. Malla also bowls left-arm spin and has 19 wickets at an economy of 6.18 in T20Is.Nepal in major tournaments
This is Nepal’s first T20 World Cup appearance since 2014. They made it to the 2023 ODI World Cup qualifiers last year, but couldn’t make it to the main event. In 2023, Nepal also qualified for the Asia Cup for the first time in history but failed to register a win in two attempts.Form guide*
LWLWWSquad
Rohit Paudel (capt), Aasif Sheikh, Anil Sah, Kushal Bhurtel, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Lalit Rajbanshi, Karan KC, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami, Pratis GC, Sundeep Jora, Abinash Bohara, Sagar Dhakal, Kamal AireeOpener Tony Ura scored two half-centuries and got his 125 runs at a strike rate of 164.47 in the T20I tri-series in Hong Kong in March•Peter Della PennaPapua New Guineaby Ashish Pant
PNG booked their place in the 2024 T20 World Cup after going unbeaten through the 2023 East-Asia-Pacific Qualifier, sealing their berth with a game to go.This will be their second appearance at the T20 World Cup. Ten members of the current squad played in the 2021 edition held in the UAE and Oman. Assad Vala remains captain and allrounder Charles Amini is his deputy. The bowling unit will be led by medium-pacer Norman Vanua, PNG’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is.Key players
Tony Ura is one of PNG’s most experienced batters and is coming into the World Cup on the back of fifties against Hong Kong and Nepal in a tri-series in Hong Kong in March. He is PNG’s highest run-getter in T20Is overall and since the start of 2023, and was second on the run-scorers’ list in the EAP Qualifier.Charles Amini’s all-round abilities will hold the key for PNG at the World Cup. He is third on PNG’s run-getters’ list (994 in 48 innings) in T20Is, behind Ura and Vala, and second on the wickets charts (47 in 48 innings), behind Vanua.PNG in major tournaments
In their only previous World Cup, in 2021, PNG were placed in a group with Scotland, Bangladesh and Oman in the first round but failed to win any of their three games.Form guide*
WLLWLSquad
Assad Vala (capt), Charles Amini, Alei Nao, Chad Soper, Hila Vare, Hiri Hiri, Jack Gardner, John Kariko, Kabua Morea, Kiplin Doriga, Lega Siaka, Norman Vanua, Semo Kamea, Sese Bau, Tony UraUganda beat every team they came up against in the Africa Region Qualifier, bar Namibia, in November last year•International Cricket CouncilUgandaby Firdose Moonda
A former British colony with a substantial South Asian diaspora population (both before and after the Idi Amin dictatorship, during which Asians were expelled from the country), Uganda has a cricket history that comes from outside influence, but its present is home-grown. The majority of the current squad are Ugandan-born, developed in the sport through the schooling system and are now a pioneering generation of cricketers for their country. This is the first time a senior Uganda side will play at a World Cup, a feat that has not yet been achieved by the national football team.Uganda qualified ahead of Zimbabwe via the Africa Qualifier tournament last year, where they beat Zimbabwe by five wickets and finished second on the seven-team points table. The only side they lost to were fellow qualifiers Namibia; they convincingly beat all other opposition, including their once-up-and-coming neighbours, Kenya.Key players
Frank Nsubuga began his cricket career 27 years ago (although official records have his first cap recorded in 2004), and at 43 he will be the oldest player at this T20 World Cup. He is heralded as one of the fittest members of the squad, who runs 10km before training and aims to sign off from the international game after this event.Riazat Ali Shah, born in Gilgit, Pakistan, is Uganda’s vice-captain, one of three batters in the side with over 1000 T20I runs, and one of their most reliable run-scorers. Riazat moved to Uganda when he was 16 years old but missed out on the next Under-19 World Cup because the logistics around his eligibility were not finalised. He was 20 when he debuted for Uganda in 2018, and is now one of their top performers.Roger Mukasa and Simon Ssesazi are the other two Ugandans with more than 1000 T20I runs, and Ssesazi’s brother, Henry Ssenyondo, is the country’s leading T20I wicket-taker and six away from becoming the first Ugandan to 100 T20I wickets.Uganda in major tournaments
Uganda have never played at a cricket World Cup but have competed in several multi-team tournaments in Africa with a fair amount of success. They won last year’s East Africa Cup in Rwanda with victories in 11 out of 12 games, and reached the semi-final of this year’s African Games in Accra, where they lost to Namibia.Form guide*
LLLLLSquad
Brian Masaba (capt), Riazat Ali Shah, Kenneth Waiswa, Dinesh Nakrani, Frank Nsubuga, Ronak Patel, Roger Mukasa, Cosmas Kyewuta, Bilal Hassan, Fred Achelam, Robinson Obuya, Simon Ssesazi, Henry Ssenyondo, Alpesh Ramjani, Juma MiyagiThis will be USA’s first World Cup, in either format•ICC via Getty ImagesUSAby Hemant Brar
They have qualified for the tournament by virtue of being co-hosts. This will be their first World Cup in any format. Wicketkeeper-opener Monank Patel will lead the side; Aaron Jones will be his deputy.USA come into this World Cup having beaten Bangladesh 2-1 in a three-match T20I series at home. Before that, they trounced Canada 4-0 in a five-match T20I series, also at home.USA will face Canada once again in the World Cup opener in Dallas on June 1. India, Pakistan and Ireland are the other three teams in their group.Key players
Corey Anderson, who played one ODI World Cup and two T20 ones for New Zealand, will turn out for USA this time. He made his USA debut against Canada last month and scored 28 and 55 in two outings. Anderson held the record for the fastest ODI hundred at one time, and USA will want him to roll the clock back to the form of that period.Ali Khan, one of the biggest names in USA cricket, wanted to bowl as fast as Shoaib Akhtar when growing up in Pakistan. While that did not come to pass, he can land his yorkers at a decent pace. He has also been a regular in the CPL.After the 2012 Under-19 World Cup, Ian Chappell compared left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh, who represented India in that event, to Bishan Bedi, saying the youngster was ready for international cricket. Harmeet made his T20I debut for USA last month, scoring 34 not out off 17 balls and taking 4 for 18 against Canada.USA in major tournaments
They have never been part of a World Cup previously, though they did make it to the Champions Trophy in 2004. They came close for the 2022 T20 World Cup, when they won the Americas regional Qualifier the previous year, staying unbeaten throughout the tournament. But in the global Qualifier, with two spots to grab, they lost to Netherlands in the semi-final.Form guide*
LWWWWSquad
Monank Patel (capt), Aaron Jones, Andries Gous, Corey Anderson, Ali Khan, Harmeet Singh, Jesdeep Singh, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Nitish Kumar, Nosthush Kenjige, Saurabh Netravalkar, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir*in last five games against teams featuring in the 2024 World CupAlso read the team previews of Canada, Namibia, Netherlands, Oman and Scotland

It wasn’t the visceral roar of an Anglo-Australian crowd fuelled by alcohol; this was joyous, unbridled passion for the teams and the game

Alex Malcolm23-Oct-2022The MCG is a magical place. The roars here are special. But of all the great sporting events this grand stadium has hosted, of all the roars this grand stadium has produced, Sunday evening’s might have been the most extraordinary.When R Ashwin struck the winning run, the noise that the 90,293 people inside the MCG made was heard in the suburbs more than two kilometres away.Related

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The late Shane Warne, who now has the great southern stand named after him at the MCG, had said he had never heard a roar louder than when he took his 700th Test wicket in front of 89,155 adoring fans on Boxing Day in 2006. This was louder.It was louder than when Mitchell Starc rattled Brendon McCullum’s stumps in the opening over of the 2015 ODI World Cup final.It was louder than any of the recent AFL grand finals that were played in front of more than 100,000 people.And it wasn’t just one roar. It was every roar. Dozens of them, in a pulsating match that ebbed and flowed across a riveting, nail-biting 40 overs between India and Pakistan.Even the sights and sounds before the game had a different feel. Hours away from the first ball, there were fans decked in blue and green teeming towards the MCG from all corners of Melbourne. It is rare to see crowds of such size so far out from the start of an event at this venue.When the winning run was scored, the noise was heard in the suburbs more than two kilometres away•Getty ImagesThey were ten deep at the nets outside the Ponsford Stand; they were chanting and singing in droves outside the members’. Inside the ground, as the players warmed up, there were cheers.India and Pakistan had played one another at the MCG before. It was in 1985. They had met twice in ODIs in the Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket then.Ravi Shastri was Player of the Tournament – called Champion of Champions – then, and made 63 not out in India’s win over Pakistan in the final. Now he was presiding over the toss as a commentator and received an almighty roar when he introduced Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam to the crowd. The noise was so loud that Rohit’s decision to bowl first could not be heard over the loudspeaker.The roar went up a notch when Babar’s name was announced on the big screen as the line-ups were confirmed. It was twice as loud when Virat Kohli’s name appeared.Then came the anthems. The Indian and Pakistani national anthems have been sung in stadiums all around the world, but even those that had heard them many times over had never heard them quite like this. It rivalled when 95,446 sang Liverpool’s in unison before the Reds played A-League side Melbourne Victory in a friendly at the MCG in 2013.As India’s anthem ended and the roar rang around the ‘G, Rohit threw his head back, closed his eyes, and exhaled. The emotion of the occasion was writ large all over his face.

In the Shane Warne stand, there was no animosity, no hint of the political situation that threatens to derail the next Asia Cup in Pakistan and the next World Cup in India. The fans were there to soak in the rarest of occasions, as were the players.

Then the noise reached a crescendo. When Arshdeep Singh swerved one back into Babar’s pads and Marais Erasmus’ finger went up, the MCG heard a roar unlike any other. It made the hair on the back of your neck stand up and left goosebumps on your arms.It wasn’t the guttural, visceral roar of an Anglo-Australian crowd fuelled by alcohol and a thirst for blood. This was joyous, unbridled passion for a team and the game.It seemed as though the India fans were in the overwhelming majority as Pakistan slumped to 15 for 2 and could barely lay bat to ball in the powerplay. But the green shirts and Pakistan flags proved otherwise. And Iftikhar Ahmed helped them find their voice with three mammoth sixes to have both sets of fans rocking.In the Shane Warne stand, there was no animosity, no hint of the political situation that threatens to derail the next Asia Cup in Pakistan and the next World Cup in India. The fans were there to soak in the rarest of occasions, as were the players.”It was a very good experience,” Arshdeep said after the match. “A once-in-a-lifetime experience I would say, playing in [front of] such a big crowd and a crowd loving both the teams.”The game seesawed, with the crowd barely able to draw breath. There was an attempt to start a Mexican Wave but there wasn’t a long enough lull.4:14

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Pakistan’s fans took control again as India stumbled in the chase. Haris Rauf, who had earlier heard the MCG roar for his hat-trick in the BBL, caused an even greater eruption when he dismissed Suryakumar Yadav with extreme pace.But then Kohli produced his masterpiece. Every sweet six from his blade nearly raised the roof. The last eight balls were absolute bedlam. Nearly every fan in the stadium was on their feet. Wickets, sixes, no-balls, free hits, byes and wides were met with a cacophony that reverberated around the stadium and into the surrounding areas.There was joy for India, and heartbreak for Pakistan at the end. But those who witnessed it and heard it, no matter which side of the result they were on, felt privileged to be part of it.”It was my first taste of a World Cup game, of a Pakistan-India game, and I couldn’t ask or be grateful for a better event than this,” Shan Masood, who took Pakistan to a strong score in collaboration with Iftikhar, said after the match. “Ninety-thousand people at the MCG. That shows how important Pakistan-India games are to cricket.”If we want to take this game forward, I personally feel that these are games that should happen more regularly and around the world. So it’s important for the development of the game that we see games like these, fiercely contested games that go down to the last ball.”Who knows when we will have another one. But savour this one. Savour the sights. Savour the sounds. There has never been anything like it.

He has rattled off four successive fifties and is only four runs short of being the top scorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy

Deivarayan Muthu28-Jan-2021Before the start of this Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, N Jagadeesan had opened only in five out of 22 T20 innings, and largely floated in the middle order. In the absence of a number of senior Tamil Nadu players, Jagadeesan has enjoyed an extended run at a top, rattling off four successive half-centuries. Only four runs separate Jagadeesan (322) from this season’s top-scorer Punjab’s Prabhsimran Singh (326).Jagadeesan’s reunion at the top with his childhood friend C Hari Nishanth – they had played junior cricket together in Coimbatore and have also opened together for Dindigul Dragons in the TNPL – has been central to Tamil Nadu’s unbeaten run in the tournament. The pair has struck up three fifty-plus opening partnerships, including an unbroken 128 against Assam.”Me and Hari have batted a lot together, right from Under-13 cricket,” Jagadeesan told ESPNcricinfo ahead of Tamil Nadu’s semi-final against Rajasthan on Friday. “The understanding between me and Hari is slightly higher than any other player because we’ve been playing together since childhood. It’s been a great run, we’re very hopeful and we wish to continue the same.”In the match against Bengal at the Eden Gardens, Jagadeesan had gotten off to a sketchy start, with Ishan Porel threatening both his edges under lights, but he managed to ride that spell out. He then pressed on to hasten Tamil Nadu’s victory by hitting Porel himself over the top in the company of his captain Dinesh Karthik.”He’s [Porel’s] a bowler with experience and also other bowlers were also pretty quick,” Jagadeesan recalled. “So, I think when they were bowling good lengths, it was important for us to give them some respect and we also knew there was something on the wicket – it was seaming a bit and swinging. So, as an opener, I just thought of going through that phase somehow without losing my wicket. Obviously, when the ball is not going to do much and once you get to know about the bowler more, it’s going to get much more easier for you towards the end, especially when you’re settled.”Jagadeesan isn’t quite a power-hitter, but he has thrived by lofting and chipping the ball over the infield against the pacers in the powerplay. He reckoned that the time he had spent with Chennai Super Kings batting coach Mike Hussey in the IPL has helped him grow as a batsman.”We’re not someone who’re totally dependent on power; we’re players who look more for timing and the gaps you get in the field,” Jagadeesan said, “Personally, it has been a great experience to have good conversations with Hussey and he’s helped me a lot. Moreover, you don’t get a lot of time to work on your technique during the [IPL] season. It’s more about the mental ability to handle the bowlers; the kind of ideas and clear thoughts you can get while playing. These are simple mental thoughts that he gives me and coming from a player from his stature, it has been good for me.”‘It has been a great experience to have good conversations with Hussey and he’s helped me a lot’ – N Jagadeesan•BCCIAfter warming the bench in IPL 2018 and then 2019, Jagadeesan was handed his IPL debut in the UAE last season. He was an uncertain starter, though.”I was looking forward to my debut because I’ve been warming the bench for a few years before that,” he said. “Just two weeks before we were going to Dubai, I was playing basketball and the post fell on my head and so I had to do a surgery on my forehead. I wasn’t completely fit [to start] to be honest, but thanks to the quality of physios, the recovery was much better. I was totally fit once the matches started and I was eager to make my debut.”He eventually made his IPL debut against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dubai, with captain MS Dhoni handing him his maiden IPL cap and easing him into the CSK XI.”He [Dhoni] did tell me since it’s an IPL match, ‘I don’t think you should be nervous right now and I think you should recall your first-ever game – how you enjoyed and you just wanted to play and express yourself’. Yes, it did help a great deal for me.”Obviously, very special feeling because everybody idolises him [Dhoni], but not everybody gets to share the dressing room with him. So, extremely privileged and whenever I go and ask for any doubts, he’s always there to help and the door is always open. It’s not just about wicketkeeping, I also talk to him about batting as well. The way he’s off the field – jovial – it makes your life much easier.”In a chase of 170, Jagadeesan made 33 off 28 balls, with his reverse-swept four off Yuzvendra Chahal being the highlight of his IPL debut. Jagadeesan has unveiled a variety of sweeps to unsettle the spinners in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament as well.”Before your debut, you ask questions to yourself : ‘do you belong here or can I score runs here?’ After the first innings, my confidence grew and it’s about carrying through. Sweep is also something I’ve been playing for a long time. Even in TNPL and first-class cricket, I’ve score a lot of runs with the sweep. So, it is something which comes naturally to me, I guess, so I don’t give a lot of thought about it. I just pick the right ball to be swept.”

A sneak peek into our Tamil Nadu team's workout sessions @TNCACricket#MannequinChallenge pic.twitter.com/FPAYaF8GdO

— DK (@DineshKarthik) January 25, 2021