The T20 World Cup group phase has yielded the eight teams who will advance with shocks both minor and major taking place.
Hollywoodbets’ James Richardson takes a look at the five players who have had the biggest impact on the group phase of the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Anrich Nortje of South Africa during the 2023 KFC T20 International Series (Pic – Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix)
Here’s a look at the five players who have made the biggest impact on this phase of the competition:
- Marcus Stoinis
Marcus Stoinis shows the value of having a world-class all-rounder in your squad who can turn matches on their head whether batting or bowling.
Stoinis has been a key member of the Australian bowling attack as well as their batting line-up and has led the way as one of a handful of all-rounders in the Aussie group.
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Runs have been harder to come by in this tournament than organisers would probably have liked but it has made for a fascinating change of pace. However, Afghanistan’s 22-year-old wicketkeeper batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz has shown great aptitude for these kinds of matches and produced match-winning efforts with the bat.
Gurbaz is the form batter of the tournament right now and leads the run-scoring at the end of the group stage despite being dismissed for a duck in their final group game against the West Indies.
- Tanzim Hasan Sakib
Tanzim Hasan Sakib has been one of the surprise packages of the tournament, given that he is a seamer playing in a team where spin normally dominates.
The seam-friendly conditions have helped his cause, but he has done better than most in taking the big wickets and doing it quite often. His standout performances came against South Africa (3/18) and Nepal (4/7) as he helped Bangladesh progress to the Super 8s.
- Fazalhaq Farooqi
Fazalhaq Farooqi leads the wicket-takers in the tournament as his Afghanistan side look ahead to the Super Eights despite a heavy defeat against the Windies in their final pool game.
Farooqi has done for Afghanistan what Nortje has pulled off for South Africa, but he has arguably done it better with 12 scalps in just four matches. He is currently the favourite to end as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker.
- Anrich Nortje
The Proteas star came into the T20 World Cup out of sorts, but he hit the ground running in New York, with bullying efforts that demonstrate what South Africa will be missing in the Test arena if he cannot be persuaded to play the ultimate format.
Nortje took nine wickets in four group stage matches but his impact goes beyond the raw number as he was often the player to make the breakthrough for his team which brought more wickets.
