T20 World Cup 2024: The competition for top bowler and batsman is limited between the players of two countries, two Indians are competing with Fazal and Gurbaz

New Delhi. The ICC T20 World Cup 2024 is at a decisive stage. In the second semi-final of the tournament, Team India defeated England by 68 runs and booked a ticket to play the final against South Africa. Earlier, South Africa defeated ‘Giant Killer’ Afghanistan by 9 wickets to make it to the final. The title match to be held in Bridgetown on June 29 will decide which team will be crowned as the champion? Apart from the winning team, there is also speculation among the fans about the top bowler and batsman in the tournament. Currently, Afghanistan players are dominating this race.

Although the Afghan team could not reach the final of the World Cup, its players have dominated in individual performance. Afghan players are at the top in the race for the best batsman and bowler of the tournament. There is more than one Afghan player in the top 5 of both these sections. Fazalhaq Farooqi (17 wickets in 8 matches) of the Afghan team is at the top in the race for bowlers and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (281 runs in 8 matches) is at the top in the race for batsmen. As far as the top bowler is concerned, it is almost certain that a bowler from Afghanistan or India will get the credit for taking the most wickets. The reason for this is that at present there are three players from Afghanistan and two from India in the top 5 bowlers of the tournament, while the teams of the other bowlers included in it have been eliminated. More or less the same situation is with the batsmen. There are two players from Afghanistan in the top 5 batsmen, while the teams of three other players are ‘out’. After the semi-final against England, Team India captain Rohit Sharma has jumped to the third position.

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Competition between Afghanistan’s Fazal Haq and Arshdeep

After Fazalhaq Farooqi, India’s Arshdeep Singh is at the second place among the bowlers who have taken the most wickets in the tournament, who has taken 15 wickets in 7 matches. Arshdeep has played one match less than Fazalhaq as the India-Canada group match was washed out due to rain. Arshdeep could not take any wicket in the semi-final against England. Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan and Bangladesh’s Rishad Hossain are jointly third in this list with 14-14 wickets, while India’s Jasprit Bumrah, Afghanistan’s Naveen Ul Haq, South Africa’s Enrique Norkia, West Indies’ Alzari Joseph and Australia’s Adam Zampa are jointly fourth with 13-13 wickets.

Out of these, Naveen, Joseph and Jampa’s teams (Afghanistan, West Indies and Australia) have been eliminated from the tournament. In such a situation, the competition is between Fazal Haq, Arshdeep, Bumrah and Norkia. However, Arshdeep has the best chances of equalling or surpassing Fazal Haq. Bumrah and Norkia have a lead of 4 wickets over top-ranked Fazal Haq, which is not impossible to compensate but is definitely difficult. Another South African bowler Kagiso Rabada has also taken 12 wickets.

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Arshdeep or Fazal, will we have to wait?
It is highly likely that either Fazal Haq or Arshdeep will jointly become the highest wicket taker in the tournament. Whether this credit goes to an Afghan bowler or an Indian bowler, history is bound to be made. If Fazal Haq remains number one, then this will be the second time for an Afghan player to take the most wickets in a T20 World Cup. In the 2016 T20 World Cup, Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi became the top bowler with 12 wickets while Rashid got the second position with 11 wickets. All these three bowlers have surpassed Nabi’s record of 12 wickets. Fazal has also surpassed Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga’s (16 wickets) record of taking the most wickets in a single edition of the T20 World Cup. Arshdeep can also do the same by taking two or more wickets in the final. If Arshdeep becomes the highest wicket-taker, this will be the first time that an Indian player has taken the most wickets in a T20 World Cup. However, fans will have to wait till the final to know who gets the credit for taking the most wickets.

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Gurbaj and ‘Hitman’ in the race for top batsman

In the race of highest run scoring batsman, the main competition is between Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz and India’s Rohit Sharma. Gurbaz has scored the highest 281 runs in 8 matches. Australia’s Travis Head is second by scoring 255 runs in 7 matches and India’s Rohit Sharma is third by scoring 248 runs in 7 matches. To leave Gurbaz behind and become the highest run scoring batsman of the tournament, Rohit will have to score at least 34 runs in the final.

Ibrahim Zadran of the same country as Gurbaz is at the fourth position with 231 runs in 8 matches. Nicholas Pooran of West Indies with 228 and Andreas Gaus of America with 219 runs are at the fifth and sixth positions respectively. The interesting thing is that except Rohit Sharma, the teams of all the batsmen in the top 6 have been eliminated from the tournament. Quinton de Kock of the South African team that reached the final has 204 runs in 8 matches but to equal or surpass Zadran, he will have to score big in the final.

Tags: Arshdeep Singh, Hitman Rohit Sharma, ICC T20 world cup, ind vs sa, india vs south africa, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rohit Sharma, T20 World Cup