Stuart's 20/20 World Cup Series 25: Super Eight Round Preview

The Super Eight stage of the competition gets underway today.

What does that mean? Who are the teams still playing? And what are they playing to achieve?

In Round One there were four groups, each with five teams. The top two from each group have progressed and are now in two groups of four.

In each group the teams will play each other, so there are 12 games in this round. At the end of that the top two teams from each group will play the Semi-Final, which is a straight knock-out game, the winners of each Semi-Final will play the Final.

Let's look at the groups:

There's two matches per day, starting with USA v South Africa today, and ending with Afghanistan v Bangladesh on June 25th. All the matches are being played in the Carribbean.

Group One
While all four teams have done well, India and Australia are the strongest teams.

Bangladesh have beaten India once in thirteen T20's. Their four wins in ten against Australia is better, but they all came on home soil.

Afghanistan have played India in eight T20's. Their best result is a tie, in which they lost the Super Over. Against Australia they have lost the one game they played.

India and Australia have played each other thirty-one times in T20. India have the upper hand with nineteen wins to Australia's eleven, and a wash out in the remaining match. The result of their match on June 24th is likely to decide who tops the table and who is second. Both teams have won the competition once, India in 2007 and Australia in 2021.

Group Two
This is a harder group to make predictions for. Pakistan can attest to USA having the werewithal to dispatch a Test team who have formerly won the competition.

Still, England and West Indies have won the competition twice each - half of the eght times it's been played - with Enland being the current holders.

There's good argument for all four of the teams, both for and against progression.

The USA have already proven they can cause an upset, but don't have the experience or depth of team to withstand back-to-back games against some of the strongest T20 teams. They also lose any benefit from playing on home soil.

South Africa have twice been semi-finalists in the competition and topped their group. That being said the last semi-final appearance was 2014, and the final over win against Nepal was more down to Nepal losing than South Africa winning. They have a reputation of being a nearly, not quite, team.

England have the team with the experience to get to the Semi-Finals again, though they are yet to be convincing in a challenging match. Sweeping aside minnows is one thing, but there were questions which remained unanswered by the wash out against Scotland, and the run chase against Australia fizzled away.

West Indies are relishing this home tournament and will be confident home advantage can bring an extra boost to their games. A cautions start against Papua New Guinea was followed by three convincing wins.

So, on to my predicitons.

Of these I'm pretty happy with Group One, but think Group Two could be any combination of the three Test teams. Of course, any delays or abandonment for rain could throw a spanner in the works, and it is rainy season in the Caribbean.

Finally, in non-world cup related T20 news, Estonia are on a tour of Cyprus at present. One of the Estonian players is Sahil Chauhan who emigrated to the country to manage a chain of restaurants. Sahil was a weekend player at home in Northern India, and was possibly surprised at the option to continue as such in his new home on the Baltic.

After qualifying on residency grounds Sahil was selected to play for the Estonian national team in 2023. His first two games were uneventful, bit part, appearances against Gibraltar - although he was not out in each match. In the first game of this tour he was out for a Golden Duck.

This means no one was expecting him to club 144 runs from 41 balls, including 24 boundaries, eighteen of those being 6's. It is the highest T20 total for a player coming in fourth; the highest number of individual sixes in a T20; and finaly it is the fastest T20 century.

It took Sahil just 27 balls to reach three figures. The previous record had stood since 2013 and was 30 balls, by West Indian Chris Gayle.

So, congratulations to Sahil, and let's see if anyone in the Caribbean lets fly in such a manner.

Check back tomorrow for the review of USA v South Africa & updated boundary totals.

text by stuartcturnbull. graphic by Mir Rammez Raja & edited by stuartcturnbull via postermywall