India vs Canada Highlights, T20 World Cup 2024: IND vs CAN abandoned due to wet outfield in Lauderhill

A status check on India afetr the group stage. The Men in Blue have been one of the most consistent sides in the group stages at an event where the likes of England and South Africa have struggled at times and the likes of New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have not even made it out of the group stages. It must be noted that their campaign started with a scare against arch-rivals Pakistan on a tricky pitch in New York. 

The only points they have dropped has been the washout in the game against Canada in their final group match.

What's worked for India?

Indian bowlers have been very good in the T20 World Cup, particularly Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh. Mohammed Siraj has been good as well. Hardik Pandya, meanwhile, has chipped in with breakthroughs in the middle overs whenever needed. In the spin department, Axar Patel has given a good account of himself.  In batting, Rishabh Pant has impressed. Skipper Rohit Sharma and Mr 360 Suryakumar Yadav also have fifties to their names.

What needs to work for India?

Virat Kohli has not been his dominant self so far. There are also questions over Shivam Dube, who seemed to answer his critics with his performance in the last match that India played in. 

"How we don’t have more covers to cover all the ground is beyond me .. all the money in the game yet we still get games called off for wet outfields !," Michael Vaughan tweeted

India’s final Group A match at the 2024 T20 World Cup on Saturday was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to wet outfield, with both the teams awarded a point each.

With incessant rains in Lauderhill, Florida, the fate of the game was hanging by a thread already and despite the weather being clear by the time of the toss, the outfield wasn’t cleared for a game by the match officials. (READMORE)

And it's official. The match has been abandoned without the toss. Bad news for everyone around.

According to various reports, the cut-off time for a 5-over game is 11.45 pm IST. So there's still plenty of time. But if the next inspection does not yield positive results, we may be looking at overs getting lost.

As matches at the ongoing T20 World Cup — co-hosted by USA and West Indies — take place at different times of the day, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) CEO Johnny Grave, in an interview with The Indian Express, admitted that given a ‘majority of the revenue from ICC event comes from one market’, the schedule has been made keeping the Indian time zone in mind. (READ MORE)

A day after India head coach Rahul Dravid confirmed that the ongoing T20 World Cup will be his last assignment with the national team, skipper Rohit Sharma conceded that he had attempted to convince Dravid to stay. (READ MORE)

In the end arrived the reminder that this was a T20 match after all; when Rishabh Pant reverse-scooped Barry McCarthy for a six over first slip’s head to wrap an emphatic eight-wicket win for India. Until the burst of impishness the half-packed stadium had waited for the whole day, the game had rolled along like the first morning of a Test match rather than a T20 game, its beats slow and wary. (READ MORE)

Unusual protagonists have entered a T20 narrative; pitch, uneven bounce, seam, swing, fast bowlers, rib cage. It is as though India and Pakistan are resuming their Test ties in New York this Sunday, when they meet in the showpiece game of the World Cup. Only that the arch rivals are locked in peculiar circumstances, something the T20 world has seldom come across. (READ MORE)

Nothing positive to report as the official update is that the next inspection will be at 9 PM IST. Exactly how the the day progressed on Friday for USA vs IRE.

Umpires Richard Kettleborough and Sharfuddoula are shown having an inspection and talking to the groundstaff. Nothing confirmed till now what happens next. The pitch and the square are still under the covers. The hairdryers continye their work unabated.

Live visuals don't paint a very bright picture as there are foot marks wherever they tread on the outfield. We still have time as the inspection is on.

Last year during the 50-over World Cup, former England captain and cricket correspondent for The Times newspaper, Michael Atherton bumped into Rishabh Pant in a Bengaluru hotel gym. He would mention in his tour diary how the Indian superstar, all alone doing his endless repetitions, reminded him of the long, lonely hours athletes are forced to spend during rehabilitation. (READ MORE)

Live visuals show the Indian players in the middle, laughing and joking with their Canadian counterparts. There's  no sign of the players getting ready for the warmups so we might still have to wait a bit.

Live visuals show Mike Haysman on the ground checking out the conditions. He is of the opinion that if there's rain, it will spell trouble for the match. Currently, there are four dryers in action to fix the outfield. 'There's a breeze that might dry the top of the surface, but it will take more time to dry,' he reckons.

Virat Kohli is yet to play a single game in Pakistan. The only time he played there was in 2006 with India’s U-19 side. India stopped its cricketing ties with Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai attacks and Kohli has featured in just a handful of internationals against them — 16 ODIs and 10 T20Is. Despite that, Virat Kohli has a massive fan following in Pakistan. (READ MORE)

There's presently no rain at the venue. The only problem is the wet outfield. Just like the match on Friday. Hopefully we get a positive update soon. But till then, we wait.

Sreesanth opinies that it'll be good for India and especially Virat Kohli for the match to take placce tonight. He said that while India are already through to the Super 8s, this match might be the one where Kohli can break the shackles and return to form to the low pressure situation.

This is exactly how USA vs IRE's match went yesterday with the offiocials waiting for the wet outfield to be taken care of. Then the rain came down and the match was abandoned. Which meant Pakistan were knocked out from the tournament.

Meanwhile, Toss has been delayed due to wet outfield, as shared by the BCCI handle. The next inspection will be at 10.30 AM Local Time (8 PM IST). 

? UPDATE from Florida ?

Toss delayed due to wet outfield.

Next inspection at 10.30 AM Local Time (8 PM IST).

Stay Tuned for more updates. ??#T20WorldCup | #TeamIndia | #CANvIND

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 15, 2024

When it comes to the batters though, just one India player has made his way into the Top 10 and that's Rishabh Pant. The DC captain has 96 runs from 3 matches and is placed in the 10th position.

Indian bowlers have had a decent tournament so far but their best players Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya are still a bit far away from the highest wicket-takers charts with 7 wickets apiece. Arshdeep is in the 7th spot while Hardik is 8th.

Five years ago while watching Jasprit Bumrah wreak havoc in the Caribbean, the West Indian pace legend Curtly Ambrose was moved enough to purr on the most admirable facet of the Indian’s craft. “The way he out-thinks the batsmen, outclasses them,” before adding, “he could have been one of us, he’s so complete a bowler that he could have played in any era.”

Five years later, after thrusting the knife into the Pakistanis and turning a T20 World game in a New York minute, Bumrah would echo that singular bowling character trait of his: “I try to solve the problem that is there in front of me. I know its cliched answer but I was trying to focus on what is the best options over here on a wicket like this … I am not looking at whether I am bowling at the best of my ability.”

There no updates on weather playing spoilsport from various reports but it's still about an hr away from the match and the Florida weather can change any time. Fingers crossed we get a full match tonight.

If India wish to play their best spinner in the squad in Kuldeep Yadav at some stage in the T20 world cup, they will have to make a difficult choice of dropping Ravindra Jadeja. Axar Patel’s stocks are flying high, as evidenced by his promotion to No.4 against Pakistan and his bowling figures are better than Jadeja’s in T20. There is no doubt that Kuldeep is the better strike bowler than Jadeja. (READ MORE)

Desperate situations call for desperate measures, even if it means breaking up one of the most prolific opening partnerships for a team. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have been almost a constant at the top of the order for Pakistan in their recent T20I history – not to great effect of late – but after two demoralising defeats to start their T20 World Cup campaign and the wave of criticism coming in their direction, the skipper made the radical decision to drop himself down the order.

With net run rate also in the picture, conventional logic would suggest that the former champions would have try to get the 107-run target as quickly as possible, but the lack of confidence and vagaries of the unpredictable Nassau County pitch meant that even against a limited opposition like Canada, they seemed content in strolling over the finish line. That the seven-wicket win was achieved with only 15 balls remaining told a tale in itself. Pakistan had to seal victory inside 14 overs to get ahead of the United States’ net run rate, but managed just 28/1 in the Powerplay.

In recent history, India have played 3 T20Is in Floriida, winning three and losing one. Their most recent match result here was a loss against the West Indies. 

USA’s Saurabh Netravalkar was the key man behind the United States win over Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024. The left-arm seamer not only bowled a composed super over defending just 18 runs but also picked up crucial wickets during the game of Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed.

Ahead of the United States clash against India The 32-year-old recalled his playing days for Mumbai State side and revealed Suryakumar Yadav and him were close friends. “Suryakumar has been a close friend, actually. I’ve seen him since our under-15 days; we kind of grew up playing for Mumbai together. He was always special, scoring double hundreds and stuff in under-15 and under-17 matches,” Netravalkar said speaking on Star Sports.

In a match that lasted 99 deliveries – one short of a complete innings in England’s The Hundred – Jos Buttler’s men pulled off a ruthless win over a hapless Oman. England won with 101 balls remaining, in what was a ‘Net Run Rate 101’ masterclass.

When Buttler won the toss and opted to bowl first, a few eyebrows were raised. Conventional wisdom suggests that a team looking for a NRR boost would opt to bat first, pile on as many runs as possible and then, with the scoreboard pressure on, restrict the opposition to a low total. Oman could have scraped through a total close to 100 and England would have struggled to win by a margin big enough for a serious advantage.

Group A: Pakistan, Ireland, Canada
Group B: Namibia, Oman
Group C: Uganda, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand
Group D: Sri Lanka, Nepal

In the early matches on Saturday, Nepal almost upset South Africa but ultimately went down by 1 run while New Zealand, who are already eliminated, picked up a routine 9-wicket win against Uganda

Suryakumar Yadav’s gritty half century and his partnership with Shivam Dube guided India to a hard-fought 7-wicket win against the USA as stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma flopped again, scoring 0 and 3 respectively. USA got penalized 5 runs due to slow over rate which made things a little easier for India who waltzed to the Super 8s wit this win.

Arshdeep Singh starred with 4 wickets as India restricted Canada to 110/8 in their T20 World Cup encounter. Nitish Kumar top-scored for the USA with 27 while Hardik Pandya chipped in with 2 scalps.

June 20, 2024: Afghanistan vs India – Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – 08:00 PM IST (10:30 AM local)
June 22, 2024: India vs D2 – Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua – 8:00 PM IST (10:30 AM local)
June 24, 2024: Australia vs India – Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia – 08:00 PM IST (10:30 AM local)

When I left Chennai for good in 2011, I never thought my love affair with cricket would continue of all places in the United States of America. Once I quit playing the game professionally in Chennai, I came to Dallas in Texas in 2011 as my wife was already working here.

Remember in the USA match, the co-hosts had to concede 5 penalty runs which made it easier for India to chase down the target in an unpredictable pitch. Here's why and what the new rules state.

According to 41.9.4 in men’s T20I playing conditions, the fielding side is required to be ready to start each over within 60 seconds of the previous over being completed. An electronic clock is on display at the ground that counts down seconds from 60 to zero, as the broadcast showed us an over later. The rule further states that when the clock reaches zero, if the fielding side is not ready to start the next over:

– On the first such occasion in an innings, the bowler’s end umpire shall issue a warning to the captain of the fielding side and inform the batters and the other umpire of what has occurred.

– On the second occasion in an innings, the above sequence is repeated, but with the reminder that this is a final warning.

– On the third and any subsequent occasion in an innings, the bowler’s end umpire shall award 5 Penalty runs to the batting side, informing the captain of the fielding side, the batters and the other umpire.

For a brief while, the US team made up of Indian, Pakistan and Caribbean expats, lit up hopes of pulling off the unthinkable. Only a week ago, USA had shocked Pakistan.

On Wednesday, with the Indian diaspora filling the stands at Nassau County Stadium, and torn between their allegiances, the hosts had India in a spot of bother on more than three occasions. The noise levels when Rishabh Pant fell with India still 66 runs away showed how badly they wished their fellow expats to win the tie. But Suryakumar Yadav’s composure — after being handed a life by Saurabh Netravalkar, who works in California as a technical staff in Oracle after failing to nail a spot in Mumbai Ranji team – meant India remained unbeaten.

A few days ago, 34-year-old Umar Akmal posted his shirtless photo, showing off his six-pack abs as a sign of his fitness. “Attention please. This is for those who think i am not fit,” captioned Umar.

And now his elder brother and former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Kamran Akmal has claimed that Umar has got a better stats than Virat Kohli in the T20 World Cups.

The Nassau County stadium which hosted the India vs Pakistan match on June 9 is all set to be demolished after the New York leg of the T20 World Cup ended with India’s win over USA on Wednesday.

The stadium which was built in under 100 days has been the criticized for the nature of its drop in pitches due to its penchant for unpredictability.

Rohit Sharma is the most successful Indian player in the Florida matches, notching up two half centuries. Bad news for Virat Kohli's fans though. The King has managed just 63 runs in the three innings he has played here with the highest score being 28. 

Lauderhill is not an unfamiliar ground for India with the Men In Blue having a stellar record in the ground with 5 wins and two losses while one match was without result.

June 26, 2024: Semifinal 1 – Winner Group 1 vs Runner-up Group 2 – Brian Lara Stadium, Trinidad – 06:00 AM IST (Jun 27) 08:30 PM local
June 27, 2024: Semifinal 2 – Winner Group 2 vs Runner-up Group 1 – Providence Stadium, Guyana – 08:00 PM IST (10:30 AM local)
June 29, 2024: Final – Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – 8.00 PM IST (Jun 22) (10:00 AM local)

T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 Group 2 schedule

June 19, 2024: United States vs South Africa – Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua – 8:00 PM IST (10:30 AM local)
June 19, 2024: B1 vs West Indies – Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia – 06:00 AM IST (Jun 20) (08:30 PM local)

June 21, 2024: B1 vs South Africa – Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia – 8:00 PM IST (10:30 AM local)
June 21, 2024: United States vs West Indies – Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – 06:00 AM IST (Jun 22) (08:30 PM local)

June 23, 2024: United States vs B1 – Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – 8:00 PM IST (10:30 AM local)
June 23, 2024: West Indies vs South Africa – Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua – 06:00 AM IST (Jun 24) (08:30 PM local)

T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 Group 1 schedule

June 20, 2024: Afghanistan vs India – Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – 08:00 PM IST (10:30 AM local)
June 20, 2024: Australia vs D2 – Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound – 06:00 AM IST (June 21) (8:30 PM local)

June 22, 2024: India vs D2 – Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua – 8:00 PM IST (10:30 AM local)
June 22, 2024: Afghanistan vs Australia – Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St Vincent – 6:00 AM IST (June 23) (08:30 PM local)

June 24, 2024: Australia vs India – Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia – 08:00 PM IST (10:30 AM local)
June 24, 2024: Afghanistan vs D2 – Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St Vincent – 6:00 AM IST (June 25) (08:30 PM local)

The doors of Barbados cricket slammed on Aaron Jones because, as the story goes, he batted too slow and didn’t fit the new-age white-ball hitter mould. Half a decade later, turning up for the USA, he helms the six-hitting charts of the World Cup, with 13 blows over the ropes, in three games. The fellow residents of the top-five six-hitters club are identical to him—none belong to the elite six-hitting league; all are distant from the T20 batting cream, all are mavericks with wildly fluctuating form. But one uniform and often devalued gift unites them all—the ability to generate muscle-bursting power into the shots, and clear the ropes.

On lethargic, sluggish surfaces of the West Indies and America, muscle has outmuscled touch. Batsmen resorting predominantly on timing rather than brawn—most batsmen rely on both components, only the degrees varies—have found that sixes, the money shot in the modern game, are not rolling off the bat as frequently as they used to. The programmable six-hitting machine of this era, Rohit Sharma has struck one in every 13.75 balls; Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson have yet to open the six-hitting registry; Mitchell Marsh (per 18.3 balls) and Babar Azam (per 29) have mustered just three apiece; Suryakumar Yadav only two in the 61 balls.

Ace commentator Ian Bishop best summed up the batting’ pandemonium in the T20 World Cup.

“People were talking about, ‘make bigger grounds,’ ‘put something on the ball for it to swing.’ Put something in the pitch, and you’ll see a different side of batters. That is my point,” Bishop said during New Zealand’s capitulation against the West Indies on Thursday.

The ongoing World Cup, the ninth edition of the tournament, is by far the poorest for the batters in the Powerplay, with the bowlers savouring an economy just a shade over 6. (READ MORE)

Indiia have played 3 matches and won all three while Canada have played 3 and won just 1, a shock win against Ireland.

India: vs Ireland (won by 8 wiickets), vs Pakistan (won by 6 runs), vs USA (won by 7 wickets)

Canada: vs USA (lost by 7 wickets), vs Ireland (won by 12 runs), vs Pakistan (lost by 7 wickets) 

The toss might turn into an inportant factor if the maych does get underway with the captain winning the coin flip opting for a bowl in these conditions. In normnal conditions though, teams usually opt to bat first in this ground.

An hour ago, former Indian player and current ICC commentator Dinesh Karthik provided an update about the weather in Lauderhill. "Weather looking good for the moment Let's just hope it stays this way," Karthik tweeted.

Suddenly, even as he was expressing his anger-tinged disappointment at how Pakistani batsmen imploded on his YouTube channel, Inzamam-ul-Haq turned to his avuncular persona again as he began to talk about Indian bowlers. He made a very pithy statement about Hardik Pandya: “The way he got the wickets. His usage of short balls. He knew where to bowl.” Awareness. Skill. Execution.

It’s Inzy’s Pandya version that India would hope turns up in Super 8s if India are to beat the tougher teams. For a team that’s still hesitant to use their best spinner in Kuldeep Yadav, they would need Pandya, the intelligent seamer to come through time and again.

He was once the unverified Virat Kohli of Pakistan cricket. Now Ahmed Shehzad, 32, is an angsty, bitter television expert. He has a stage presence and his tone is theatrical. A film critic would add that he is prone to hamming too. Pakistan’s T20 World Cup defeats to USA and India brings out the ‘over-actor’ in him.

Referring to a chit with numbers, he is having a go at the much-maligned captain Babar Azam. “In big tournaments he has an average of 27, strike rate of 112. He is third in the world when it comes to runs scored in defeats. He has 1400 runs,” he says, raising his voice. Then in disdain, he chucks in air the piece of paper that has Babar’s dire numbers.

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Canada: Aaron Johnson, Navneet Dhaliwal, Pargat Singh, Dilpreet Bajwa, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva(w), Dillon Heyliger, Saad Bin Zafar(c), Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Jeremy Gordon, Nikhil Dutta, Rishiv Ragav Joshi, Rayyan Pathan, Ravinderpal Singh

Heyliger has picked up a couple of wickets against Pakistan and looked a class apart. He also played a key part in Canada’s win over Ireland. He possesses the ability to bowl hard lengths consistently and extract bounce off the surface which seems to have troubled the batters and Indian batting unit might need to watch out for him.

The Super Eight of the tournament will be held in West Indies and India might consider bringing in Kuldeep Yadav into the attack. Ravindra Jadeja has looked a shadow of himself and has been unable to contribute with both bat and ball hence he is the most vulnerable to getting axed if the team wants to get a wrist spinner in therefore he needs a solid performance on Saturday to keep his spot.

Super 8 Group 1

Qualified Teams: India, Australia, Afghanistan, D2 (TBD).

Super 8 Group 2

Qualified Teams: West Indies, South Africa, United States, B1.

June 15: Match 34: Namibia v England, Antigua – 10:30 PM IST (01:00 PM Local)
June 15: Match 35: Australia v Scotland, St Lucia – 06:00 AM IST (June 16 in India) (08:30 PM Local)
June 16: Match 36: Pakistan v Ireland, Florida – 08:00 PM IST (10:30 AM Local)
June 16: Match 37: Bangladesh v Nepal, St Vincent; 05:00 AM IST (June 17 in India) (07:30 PM local)
June 16: Match 38: Sri Lanka v Netherlands, St Lucia; 06:00 AM IST (June 17 in India) (08:30 PM local)
June 17: Match 39: New Zealand v Papua New Guinea, Trinidad; 08:00 PM IST (10:30 AM local)
June 17: Match 40: West Indies v Afghanistan, St Lucia; 06:00 AM IST (08:30 PM local)

In the Super 8, the teams will again split into two groups in a single-round robin league from which the top two teams in either group advance into the semi-finals. The teams will be separated according to their pre-determined seedings for the top-eight T20I sides.

The Pre-determined seedings for the Super 8s were:
Group 1: India (A1); Australia (B2); New Zealand (C1); Sri Lanka (D2)
Group 2: Pakistan (A2); England (B1); West Indies (C2); South Africa (D1)

However, Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka were eliminated from the Super 8 race in their respective groups while and England will need other results in their group to favour their cause to qualify.