2024 T20 World Cup: Predicting 3 players who could pick up the most wickets in today’s India vs Australia match
It's almost inevitable that the match between India and Australia at the 2024 men's T20 World Cup will be decided by which team bowls better. Batting has become a bit of a lottery in these conditions (not that we are complaining) and all teams have needed their bowling lineups to make the least mistakes and bail them out.
And you don't see clashes better than this. You have two of the best all-format fast-bowlers, two of the best T20I wrist spinners in the world, two of the best left-arm seamers in the world, and two of the best fast-medium-bowling all-rounders in the world going head-to-head in a game that has a lot riding on it for both teams.
Below, we have predicted three bowlers who can take the most wickets in the match and make it more special for themselves and their teams.
#3 Kuldeep Yadav
It was only a matter of time before Kuldeep Yadav returned to the Indian set-up for the tournament. And he showed just why it was so hard to keep a bowler of his quality out: five wickets in two matches, including a 3/19, at 10.20 so far.
The Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium has offered enough help for spinners to enjoy the conditions here. Moreover, Kuldeep will enjoy the contest against the Aussies like always: he has six wickets in five T20Is against them at 21.33.
Glenn Maxwell has struggled against him in white-ball cricket before while most other batters in that lineup haven't played a lot against him since his return from injury where he has made his variations and stock deliveries even more potent.
Australia's struggles lie in their batting looking a bit disjointed and dependent on a couple of names and Kuldeep could be the best man to exploit it.
#2 Pat Cummins
Even if you want to check the conditions and match-ups to make such predictions, in Pat Cummins' case they become useless. The right-arm quick is coming off back-to-back hat-tricks in the T20 World Cup and looks in the form of his life in death-overs. Although India would be the toughest opponent he'll face in a while in the format, you can expect him to try the hardest to have maximum impact.
Every Indian batter except Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja has gotten out to him at least once in the format and even those two haven't done too well.
Cummins recently had an excellent IPL where the ton of experience of facing Indian big hitters would help him in this game. Finally, he has often turned up for Australia when the stakes are the highest and you can expect the same from him in what could be his team's last game in the tournament.
#1 Jasprit Bumrah
Those two words are enough. You don't even need to force more words to explain why Jasprit Bumrah could be the highest wicket-taker in this game. But let's try.
Two of Australia's best batters this T20 World Cup, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis have gotten out to him three and four times in the format. Bumrah hasn't let the others score freely against him either. He's in stunning form, having picked up 10 wickets in five matches, and has gone wicketless only once so far.
He has 16 wickets in 13 T20Is against Australia already. For a team that struggled to manage Gulbadin Naib's smart middle-overs bowling at 120-135 clicks on Sunday, Bumrah's pace and peak accuracy might prove to be too hot to handle.