2024 T20 World Cup: 3 records that can be broken in today’s India vs Afghanistan match
If the group stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup can be summarised in one statement it would be - don't trust anybody's prediction. In this tournament, every team is as unpredictable as Pakistan. After all, when was the last time Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka had not made it to the second round of a World Cup?
If you take out Afghanistan's performance against the West Indies in the dead rubber, the way they beat New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Uganda, India would know that they would take them lightly only at their own peril. The Afghans do have issues with their batting but so do India, though they are yet to be exposed.
As you observe all this + some sub-plots of IPL rivals playing each other for the first time or continuing their rivalries, we'd like to add some records to watch out for in the mix as well to make things more interesting. Check the top three here:
#3 Fazalhaq Farooqi could be the fastest Afghan pacer to 50 T20I wickets
The first bowler India would have to be extremely careful about would not be Rashid Khan but left-arm quick Fazalhaq Farooqi. The speedster gets the new ball to swing, nails his yorkers and has improved immensely over his consistency. He has had a couple of defining performances in the group stage and is in good form.
If he picks just one wicket against India, he'll become the fastest Afghan pacer to 50 scalps in T20 internationals. It would be his 39th game, beating Naveen ul Haq's record of 40. Rashid, obviously, leads the overall record, having picked up his 50th T20I wicket as early as in his 31st game.
#2 Suryakumar Yadav can beat Suresh Raina's record
Experience of playing in the West Indies is going to be key as the World Cup shifts to the Caribbean. In the batting department, India's best bet is Suryakumar Yadav. The top-ranked ICC T20I batter has scored 216 runs at an average of 36 and a strike rate of 161.19 in the West Indies, the second-best for India.
Now, he's only five runs behind Suresh Raina's record of 221. Six more runs against Afghanistan would make Surykumar India's best in T20Is in the West Indies. After a match-winning half-century against the US recently in the group stage, he would back himself to continue the good form in more favorable conditions.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma isn't too far behind the record, though, with 185 runs in six innings to his name. Thirty-seven runs against Afghanistan will earn him the distinction.
#1 Arshdeep Singh is chasing Ashish Nehra's record
Like Suryakumar is after a record from one of India's T20I batting greats, Arshdeep Singh is doing the same for a bowling master - Ashish Nehra.
The former left-arm quick and now Gujarat Titans coach picked up 10 wickets in the 2010 edition of the T20 World Cup in the West Indies, which has seen him remain as the highest-wicket taker in the country.
After two bilateral tours here, Arshdeep has seven scalps at an average of 25.85. Although taking four wickets seems like a long shot, he showed he can do just that against the US and has all the tools -- swing, bounce, variations -- to be successful in the Caribbean.