India crowned ICC T20 WC Champions | ICC World Cup 2026 Review | Part 2

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Now let's move on, Gihanna, talk about Pakistan.

Yep, and where do we start with Pakistan really? Yet again inconsistent. I suppose

they should have lost the first game against the Netherlands, to be honest. If it wasn't for that

drop-catch of Max O'Dow, it could have been a lot different. But then after that, they

did what they needed to do. They qualified the game against India, always one-sided,

not a surprise. The super-rates that were pretty poor really, probably their best game was

probably the last game, against Sri Lanka. New Zealand, the game was abandoned, so we don't

know what will happen there, but probably they maybe could have lost that game of that when

ahead, potentially given how New Zealand were playing. England, yeah, another ordinary performance

from Pakistan. And obviously they sort of lost the plot in the game against Sri Lanka. Once they

knew they couldn't qualify, they couldn't keep Sri Lanka under 147, 148 for the net run rate.

They sort of lost the plot after that with their bowling really, and just said,

we can't qualify what's the point. And also, after this tournament, they find all the players.

So Pakistan got up with weird things to try and incentivize the players to get better.

And never a dull moment in Pakistan, crickety happens. It's always something, isn't it?

But I suppose some positives, Farhan. What a tournament he had. Most runs ever at a T20 World Cup,

passing Virak Curley's record. That's a good record to have. And some very good results there

from him in terms of scoring hundreds and all that stuff. But really another disappointing

tournament for Pakistan, G-Han. So your thoughts on Pakistan, G-Han, if you had to give them a pass

or a file, what would it be from this tournament? Yeah, borderline fail probably.

Yeah, fail. I think given how well they played in that warm-up series against Australia,

I thought they would do a lot better than they ended up doing. That game against Netherlands,

yeah, I mean, they should have lost that really there on their way to losing it.

And then a couple of their hits has done the little order, got them over the line and that was

after a drop catch. England, sorry, I'm not even sorry, India, I suppose fairly predictable,

that's the kind of loss they've been having to India for years now in these tournaments.

Fairly convincing one from India. No, I don't think it ever looked like Pakistan were challenging

them at all throughout that game. You know, beating Namibia, they should really be beating Namibia.

England, they probably should have got more runs against England, so I thought that batting was

not as good as it should be to have been successful in this tournament.

And Shaheen Shoa would have freed the ball well in that game. He was the one

baller that was keeping it in the game, I think he took four wickets.

But yeah, I suppose the success that all the different spinners had against Australia

and the warm-up series just didn't come to fruition in the tournament, so England handled them

pretty well. And then, yeah, as you say, that game against Sri Lanka, where they were still in

the tournament, get off to an absolute flyer with their opening partnership. And you know, generally,

you don't really see that that much with Pakistan D in the T20 cricket. It's more

when they play well, it's more about the bowling, maybe some lower order hitting.

But to get off to such a great start, and then completely collapse in the heap, I mean, they

similarly, they did what Australia did against Sri Lanka when they were batting, so

slightly higher score because the start was even more, it was even more powerful start.

But I mean, what they get, two hundred and ten or something, or two twenty maybe?

Well, two ten, I think it was. But yeah, I mean, what were they, 160 or 170 for my wicket?

Yes, yes, I think it worked. Yeah, so I mean, they, you know, they should have been getting

two forty, two fifty, and then they got 112 in the end, two hundred and twelve for eight.

Yeah, yeah, so they should have been getting two thirty, forty, two, maybe even two,

yeah, kind of why at the end there, but you're still pretty good score.

Yeah, and the thing is, if they got that kind of score, they could have really put

Sri Lanka on the pressure and got that net rom rate win that they needed to get through, but

yeah, it just wasn't, wasn't to be, was it? No, not really. You expect nothing more from

Pakistan, really? These inconsistent performances, really. And yeah, I suppose everyone are looking at

what, what happened after this tournament in terms of the players getting fined. That doesn't,

yeah, basically what they need to do is just basically build consistency and try and build success

and understand that it takes time to build success and build a great team.

They got Mike Hesson there as coach, you know, give him time to work with these players.

And obviously don't chop and change or sack the coach or whatever because you're not going to

build success by doing that. And that's been their problem is that they keep changing things

because the results are not going their way. You need to take a bit of time with whoever you got

in charge at the helm to try and get these players ready to go. So I think that's their problem.

But, you know, what's the old saying Gehan and Saturdays doing the same thing over and over again?

And that's what they're probably doing Pakistan. They're doing the same things over and over again,

and it's not working. So maybe they need a different approach and be a bit more patient and try and

do different things rather than fine in players and all that stuff. You don't see other teams doing

that. They talk about it and they look back and review. Okay, we're not going to fine you because

you didn't play well. Okay, maybe that could work to an extent, but maybe it probably won't make

any difference anyway. They just need to try and be consistent, which is a hard thing for Pakistan

cricket to do, but well, I mean, they're only lost two games. One of them was by two wickets.

Yeah, so yeah, I mean, does that justify finding one of those?

No, I suppose you know, you made it to the super eights and you qualified for that. That's a pass.

And, you know, some good individual performances, you know, Farhan, does he deserve to be fined?

He scored 383 runs. He scored four runs. He scored a couple of hundreds, I think, in this tournament.

He had a pretty good tournament. I think you should be giving him a bonus,

rather than docking his pay. Well, I mean, they weren't terrible. That's why I said borderline

fine. Yeah, they weren't bad bad like Pakistan are in the past. For example, they weren't that bad.

They were just just weren't able to win key moments. That's cool. And we're able to seize

those opportunities. And that's why they didn't qualify for the semis. Whenever you're in that net

run rate sort of situation, it's always hard to achieve the exact thing that you need to do.

But if they did better early on, then they would have qualified. But obviously the game against

New Zealand was washed out. So that really put the pressure to win against England and Shalanker

and hope other results go their way. That becomes a bit tricky. But nonetheless, they did okay.

They just need to learn and reflect and look to get better for the next tournament.

But if they keep dropping and changing and keep doing these things that Pakistan

cricket do, that's not really going to build success in the long term. So they really need to

try a different approach. Maybe that would work for Pakistan going forward. We shall see,

but nonetheless, an okay tournament from Pakistan, but could have been better.

Now then, Jihar, we'll talk about the West Indies. And they had a pretty good tournament.

Really, they played pretty well in the group stage. They're undefeated.

They did well in the super rates. The first game against St. Barboy, you know,

whopping score of 250 odd. But after that, they were really outclassed by South Africa and India.

And really the quality against those teams really showed in their performances.

Game against South Africa, they were poor. We really just got annihilated, really.

And the game against India was a close game. They were able to push India in that

by sending a reasonable target for them, but it wasn't enough in Indian gardens.

And obviously, their bowling attack looked pretty poor as it did against South Africa.

So obviously, Jihar, you were pretty confident about the West Indies and hoping them

can go on and do good things, like they did in 2016, where they won the T20 World Cup in India.

But they weren't able to get the job done. But your thoughts on the West Indies, Jihar,

and how did you see their tournament?

Well, no, I wasn't confident about how they were going to do actually.

No, but you were hopeful. You were hoping that they could do a good job.

I thought they'd get through to the super-rates, but then I thought they'd just come on Don and

super-rates. And yeah, I suppose that's what happened in the end, isn't it? But I think they did

a lot better than most people were expecting. I think in the end, as you say, that they just got

outclassed by South Africa and India in that super-rate stage. But they won every other game.

So I mean, they even be England, so fairly convincing, win against England.

Yeah, I think with the West Indies, the strength is in the power and the batting and the six hitting,

but there's no subtlety to the batting. It's all sixes or dots.

Yeah, there's nothing in between, really.

There's no rotation of strike. I suppose Hitmash showed that at times. He had a pretty good

tournament, the batting side of things. He showed a bit of pro-activity in terms of rotating strike

in that. But the other's not. Yeah, the basics there.

He's a better player of spin. I mean, they generally tend to struggle against spin in the

middle overs. I mean, even that game, again, when they were batting, it was just the six hitting

that got in the score. I know that sounds, but obviously that's what T20 Crickets all about.

In between all of the six hitting, it was very static. Lots of dot balls and

wickets every now and then. They never felt completely on top of the England bowling until they

just started hitting sixes very randomly, which was able to get them that score. It wasn't a huge

score, but it was enough runs on the board. Then they managed to struggle England with their

bowling. But I think their bowling got shown up towards the end. The game against South Africa,

they just weren't able to contain them until the batting. In that game, it was also poor.

We just kept losing wickets initially. It was just a final partnership. They managed to get

them a decent score, which, you know, you'd think they should, a good side should be, like,

a really good side should be able to defend that, but the bowling. It was just a different,

you know, like that bowling against South African batting. It was just, it was South African batting,

it was just too good for it, and they can contain them at all. Against India, they were better.

They only lost wickets in that innings. Again, they got a good score, but India being the

professional T20 side that they are, they just chased it down in the 20th over. It was a bit of a

challenge. They didn't push them. It was a bit of a challenge. You know, Sanjay Sampson had to

play a bit of a blinder to get them across the line, but, yeah, I mean, you wouldn't say that that

was surprising or something that was like a rarity or anything like that. You sort of expected

India to win, but they just got slightly pushed in that game. But, yeah, I think overall for

for West Indies, I think that's a really good tournament for them. I mean, particularly given

how poor they've been in the last years, I think they outperformed what most people thought they

would be able to, the way they'd be able to play. But yeah, but I think overall the problem

with them is that I think they do lack some quality in the bowling and the batting is too reliant

on six hitting. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I would agree with that. But yeah, not about tournament

from the West Indies as, you know, everyone wants to see them do well. And they perform pretty well

in this tournament up until the superades where they sort of fell away in South Africa and India,

but nonetheless, a pretty good tournament from the West Indies and some encouraging signs going

forward. If they can work on a few areas of their game, they could be better in the long term.

But not about T20 World Cup from them. I think obviously the one at home two years ago, they

did okay in that tournament. They were in the superades in that tournament as well. So some

consistency there for the West Indies and good signs going forward, potentially for them under

their coach Darren Sammy. So let's hope we can see the West Indies improve in the next tournament

in 2028, hopefully, but not about T20 World Cup from the West Indies, but they'll be disappointed not

to go on and qualify for the semi-finals and potentially the final. Let's talk about Afghanistan,

Jihun. And you have to say pretty disappointing tournament for Afghanistan. After what they did

two years ago in the semi-finals when they played South Africa there two years ago, it was a really

disappointing T20 World Cup for them. Two and two in the group stage. Obviously the games against

New Zealand South Africa with pivotal in group D in terms of that three-way battle between those

teams, but unfortunately they didn't eventually. New Zealand South Africa qualified. Afghanistan,

pretty standard wins against the UAE in Canada. They should have won the game against South Africa

if they kept their heads in the super-over. I think it was Noor Ahmed batting at the time. I don't

remember who he was batting with. I think it's Faroukia or something like that. And that's what

happens when you have two-tull-enders batting together. If a specialist batter was still out there,

would have had a calm head. It would have fought it out. Then Noor Ahmed did. They wanted to go for

glory and get the two runs off one ball, but unfortunately they could have won that game outright,

but they didn't. They lost by two super-overs to South Africa. But you've got to say they did well

to push South Africa in that game and take it to two super-overs as a good effort nonetheless.

But outside of that, pretty disappointing tournament for them. So your thoughts on Afghanistan,

how would you assess the tournament? I think it was disappointing for them in the sense that they

weren't able to get through, but I still think they were a pretty dangerous team in this tournament.

Obviously the game against South Africa, which with a little bit more now, so they should have

really won that and maybe not have even let it go to a super-over. But even the game against New Zealand,

they push New Zealand. In the ROM chase, they are various points in that ROM chase, New Zealand

were really struggling. But just a little bit of big head seeing towards the end. I think there

was a drop-caption up in that game as well, but it cost Afghanistan. I think they had to play

two of the best teams in the tournament to begin with as well. So I don't think it was too

bad a tournament for them. I thought they were pretty good. Yeah, and how they did okay in terms of

those games against the UE in Canada. You expected them to win those games, obviously, but

against New Zealand and South Africa, they would have disappointed not to win at least one of those

games to give them a chance to qualify and potentially. But South Africa game, they would look back

on that and say, we should have won it outright. But if there was a lot more karma thinking and

clarity of thought, they would have got potentially that win if they thought it out a bit clearer

than they did. But the pressure, the situation, that all plays its part at the time. So

pressure does weird things to people. But they will learn from that. And obviously,

I think it's the last tournament for Jonathan Trotter's coach as well of Afghanistan. I think he's

moving on to different pastures. But he's really coached this team really well. So

obviously, there's still a force to be reckoned with Afghanistan in tournaments. We saw that

two years ago when they qualified for the semis. But they'll be disappointed not to qualify for

the Super 8 and potentially maybe semi-finals in this tournament. But you know, they keep on

improving and they keep showing that they can be competitive. And we've seen that for the last

few tournaments from Afghanistan as well. So not the tournament that they would have wanted,

but hopefully some improvements going forward potentially in two years time in the

2028 edition of the T20 World Cup. So that's pretty much how Afghanistan performed in this

T20 World Cup. We'll talk about Simba by now, Jihan. And probably you have to say, they were the

surprise package in this tournament, really. No one really expected them to qualify in the

Super 8s, but they did. Probably their best performance was against Australia. The Super 8s,

it's very difficult when you're playing probably the top sides of the tournament. That's how the

seeding worked and the preceding with the West Indies India and South Africa. They lost all of those

games by big margins, especially to the West Indies and South Africa. Sorry, West Indies in India,

when they put on the runs of 200 plus. But besides from that, they did pretty well in terms of

qualifying. It's the first T20 World Cup for them since 2022. And it's good to see them come back

in a positive way. Brian Bennett was pretty good with the bat. I think he got out once in this

tournament, I think. He was pretty consistent. And Lucia Rabani was good with the ball as well.

And Anusa, their captain, Sikinder Asa was good at times as well with both bat and ball. So

I think they should be proud, Simbabwe, of their efforts. Even though they didn't quite work out

in the Super 8s, I think it's a good learning experience and good character building, I suppose,

Jihad, as they say. But how would you rate their performance in this tournament, Simbabwe?

Yeah, I thought it was very good. They got a very good team now. It's pretty decent in all facets.

The Foulding was sensational, which was a feature of Simbabwe in teams in the 90s when

they were often coming. So the Foulding was excellent. The bowling was great.

Blessing Mizzarabani. What is he like, six-foot turn or something like that?

It's quite big. The giant of Jack and the Beanstalk.

Yeah, with some pace. So it's not exactly easy to face. And then some of the spin

bowling was pretty good in the middle. And that game against Australia, they only lost two

wickets and they just thought, we'll just put a score on the board here. Because this pitch is

pretty slow and probably going to grip a little bit and that's all they needed. So I mean, they were

very sensible in the sense that they don't go chasing after a huge score there. And only having

lost two wickets, they just decided we're going to put this, was it 170 or something like that?

169 in the end. Yeah, it's a middling score, really.

Middling score. So yeah, exactly. So I mean, they were happy with that. They didn't want to

fall away trying to, you know, trying to get a bigger score. And then they've just

able to, through their bowling, just exert pressure on the Australian batting. So that was a,

and along with some great catches and great fielding in that inning. So that was a great performance.

And then the clutch run chase against Sri Lanka. Again, excellent.

You're chasing a fairly, fairly high school there. And again, they just kept wickets in hand.

They kept wickets in hand. They're well behind the run rate going into the 12th, 13th over. And then

Sikander Raza just came in and teed off. And in the end, they did it fairly comfortably. So

again, that's just sensible, sensible play. Thinking about the game and how they're going to be

able to win it. So yeah, two sensational wins there. They beat the other, well, I mean, they beat

Oman as well, obviously. How many against West Indies, comfortably beaten against South Africa?

Lost by 72 runs against India, but that's actually, they made a better fist of it than

New Zealand in the final. So yeah, so really good tournament for them. And they continue to improve.

And yeah, hopefully they'll, they'll start to challenge the top eight sides more consistently now.

Yeah, hopefully, that's, that's definitely the aspirations for Simba Bay. I think they should be

proud of their efforts in this tournament. And they've really shown what they can do. And they

have been very good in T20s for a long period of time. So they're starting to reap those rewards.

But a pretty good tournament, definitely the best result at a T20 World Cup ever. And that's

one of the, since 2007. So they've done, they've done pretty well. Yeah, definitely the best

result at a T20 World Cup. And hopefully they can replicate that in two years time. But,

yeah, a pretty good tournament for Simba Bay that they should be happy with their efforts

in this T20 World Cup. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out in the Super Rates, but the experience,

they'll definitely learn from that going forward. So not a bad tournament for Simba Bay.

Definitely the surprise package of this T20 World Cup.

Let's talk about Ireland, G-Han, and talk about their T20 World Cup, pretty disappointing

when you look back for Ireland. Really, they had a good win against Simbaan, but the other games

didn't do well. They lost to Shalank, they lost to Australia. The game against Simba Bay was

abandoned, that pretty much sealed Simba Bay's qualification for the Super Rates and knocked out

Australia when that game was washed out, unfortunately. But, yeah, pretty disappointing from Ireland,

just didn't really get any consistency going in this tournament. They should have won against

Shalank, they blew some opportunities in that game. So they would look back and say, yeah,

that was an opportunity missed, but the game against Simbaan was deathly their best performance,

they believed by 96 runs. So your thoughts on Ireland, G-Han, how did you see their tournament?

Yeah, not the best tournament for them. I thought they bowed pretty well against Australia,

they seemed to, particularly in the middle overs, they were able to contain Australia and really

make them work hard for their runs. We're in the run chase, I think it was in the first

over or second over when Paul Sterling walked off with a, I think it was a hamstring or a hip

issue or something like that. I kind of thought, yeah, that's probably going to be that tournament now.

And it turned out to be that way. Yeah, but, you know, it's T20 cricket,

that probably not as highly ranked as some of the other associate nations,

well, they were formerly a member nation, but the non-top eight nations, should we say.

But, yeah, again, I mean, hopefully they continue to improve. I think, you know, if they're

improving in their ODI cricket as well, that can only help the development in T20, also.

Yeah, now that's, that's right. It was pretty disappointing tournament really from Ireland,

you know, we expect them to do better really. They've been in every T20 World Cup since 2009

until now. So that's pretty good in terms of being in every tournament since then. They didn't

play in 2007, obviously. They didn't qualify for that. So, yeah, there will be bitterly

disappointed with their performance, no doubt about that. Expecting to do that, so that really

in a group with Australia's environment, Sri Lanka, it was always going to be challenging, except

for the game against Amman. They were clearly the better team in that game. And Oman was pretty much

outplayed in this whole entire tournament. So, they'll be disappointed Ireland, hopefully looking

to learn from this and get better going forward. So, not the tournament that Ireland would have

wanted in this T20 World Cup. Let's talk about the United States of America, Jihane, the USA,

the good old USA. Let's talk about them. They had a reasonable tournament, you would say.

Some very good individual performances, obviously, then Charles Wick, excuse my pronunciation,

he was pretty much the leading wicket-taker until the latter parts of this T20 World Cup, he

bowed really well. They pushed India in the first game, obviously lost to Pakistan, but then they

won against the Netherlands and Namibia, which were very good wins to finish off their tournament.

Had a chance of qualifying, but Pakistan were able to go through to the super-rates when they

won against Namibia. So, a reasonable tournament for the USA and not a bad sort of performance,

really, following the home tournament two years ago in the USA and the West Indies,

they've done pretty well. They'll be disappointed not to qualify for the super-rates after what

they did two years ago, but I suppose a reasonable World Cup from them in India and Sri Lanka.

Your thoughts on the USA, G-Hum? How did you think they went in this tournament?

Yeah, I mean, they won the games against the Netherlands and Namibia, and

fairly convincingly, and then lost the games against the four member nations in India and Pakistan.

The India game, they did actually push them in that first inning, so

took a number of wickets, really put in India under pressure, and Skygo in India are

out a bit of a holder. So, yeah, I think overall, pretty good from a team that's

as young and experienced as the USA. I think going forward, if they can continue

with getting a lot of experience in their, what's it called, the MLC tournament.

If that continues to blow up, I'm sure that they're going to continue to improve

your year-on-year, and probably cause a few upsets in the years to come.

Yes, hopefully, and it's definitely developing their T20 cricket, that's for sure,

and we're seeing that in the T20 World Cups that played in 2024 and in 2026. So, hopefully,

that can continue going forward, and hopefully we do see them back in 2028.

That's if they qualify in the qualifiers, which are to come for that tournament and due course.

But, yeah, they had a reasonable tournament. I think they should be pleased with their

performances, and obviously, the experience of playing India and Pakistan, and

and obviously, they played a lot against the Netherlands and the Libya over the years,

obviously, in the associate world, but to play India and Pakistan's good experience for them going

forward. So, plenty of positives for the USA going forward in T20 cricket, but a reasonable

T20 World Cup for the United States of America.

The Netherlands, Giharm, let's talk about the Netherlands, and they were pretty

disappointing. It had to be said below expectations, because we've seen some good things from the

Netherlands in 50 over World Cups and T20 World Cups of the past. They weren't able to get going in

this T20 World Cup at all. The only game they won in the group stage was really against the

Libya. They lost to the US. They lost to India. They should have won against Pakistan.

If that drop catch was taken, it could have been a different result if Max O'Dowell took that

catch, but unfortunately, he didn't, and they lost by three rounds. So, pretty underwhelming

tournament for the Dutch. How would you assess their performance, Giharm? How do you think the

Netherlands went in this T20 World Cup? Yeah, I suppose it started off pretty well for them,

up until they probably bottled it a little bit against Pakistan there. They had the game won

really, and then a couple of Pakistan's lower order players managed to get a few big hits away,

and there was a drop catch towards the end, and Pakistan were able to scrape over the line.

I'm thinking of the wrong game, aren't I? Today, Pakistan won by three rounds.

Yeah, that's my mistake. I must have mistyped it there. They won by three

wickets. I think they went by a few wickets or something like that.

Yeah, I was pretty sure the Netherlands, the Pakistan were chasing that, and they were almost

they were on their way to losing. Yeah, I'm just in my path, Giharm, mistyped it.

That's all right, you sort of confused me there, but anyway, so it started off well,

but ended up throwing away that game, beating maybe, and then losing to the USA, losing to India,

so yeah, I think that's a fairly not-tier, unexpected performance of the Netherlands.

In this tournament, they pushed a full-membonation that still ended up losing, and they won

against one of the other, you know, sides. So yeah, not a great tournament, it started off well,

but then fell away. Yeah, I tend to agree with that. Yeah, pretty

disappointing result for the Netherlands in this T20 World Cup. As you said, Giharm started

pretty well, even though they should have won the first game against Pakistan, but after that,

they were pretty poor. I suppose the win against Namibia was the only positive, so

disappointing for the Netherlands, but they'll be hoping to do better if they do qualify in two

years' time, but yeah, pretty underwhelming, disappointing tournament in 2026 for the Netherlands.

Let's talk about Namibia Giharm, as we get through these teams in this T20 World Cup in Namibia.

Pretty disappointing tournament, really. They lost all their games. Below expectations, we

expect better things from Namibia. We've seen that in the past from them in T20 World Cups.

Unfortunately, probably struggled in these conditions in India and Sri Lanka, obviously not

playing a lot in these conditions. They probably struggled with that, but also the quality of the teams

in the group, especially against all of the teams in group A. They were basically

weren't able to get any victories, but your thoughts on Namibia Giharm, how would you assess their

tournament? Yeah, pretty poor, isn't it? Four games lost all four, or by reasonable margins.

Yeah, I think leading into the tournament, they've had the odds decent win. I think they may have

been South Africa at one point, but yeah, probably a long way to go for them to stay

in that step or to be in that step. Yeah, that's right. They've played in four T20 World Cups,

21, 22 and 24 and 26. They've been able to qualify for these T20 World Cups. I suppose the experience

and dealing with different conditions in the subcontinent, playing against India and Pakistan,

in particular, they would have played a lot against the Netherlands and the US over the time

in associate cricket. I suppose experiencing gaining experience as well is the important thing,

which you want to see from the associate countries, and certainly the case for Namibia.

A disappointing result, but hoping to do better if they do qualify in two years time in

2028, but a very underwhelming T20 World Cup from Namibia. Umar Jihan, let's talk about them.

Basically underwhelming for Umar, it was pretty poor. They lost all the games. It was a tough

group that were in with Australia, Sri Lanka and some Barbue in Ireland. Their batting and

bowling was, it wasn't up to scratch. They were outclassed and skilled in all the games in

Group B, and that really showed really in terms of the margins of defeat when you look at it

across the board. So your thoughts on Umar Jihan and how did you think they went in this sort of

list? Yeah, I mean the worst team in the tournament probably. Lost all their games

by big margins fairly convincingly. I think they're probably just not to the uh not to that

standard yet compared to some of the other lesser teams. Yeah, so I think that just,

they just got uh, they've got showing up in this tournament. Yeah, and uh, it's funny,

Pat Cummins was interrogated a little bit about the research he's done on the on the on the

on team prior to the tournament and who their great players were and what sort of thing. So yeah, I

think he, yeah, honestly probably didn't have a clue about the team, but um, but he didn't end up

playing anyway. So yeah, I think uh, probably the weakest team in the tournament and one of the

weaker team, one of the weaker in no sides. Yeah, they were definitely disappointing out of all the

associates probably up there with Namibia and obviously um, you know, in in terms of not winning

games. Obviously, there were other teams that didn't win again. Canada was another team as well.

That didn't win again. We're probably disappointing probably in that group of associate nations.

Whereas the other associate nations, at least they were competitive and we're able to push

the full member nations as some of them did in this tournament, but yeah, Omar and just simply

our class really. In terms of their cricket development at this stage, there's still got a lot of

work to do, but it will take time as it often does in associate countries to build that up. But the

experience will do them well. I think experiencing this obviously playing in different conditions,

your playing against Saraboy, Sri Lanka, Ireland and Australia, um, the experience will serve them

well going forward. And hopefully that can inspire them to improve and get better.

And hopefully they can put in some better results going forward if they do qualify in 2028 for

the next T20 World Cup. But yeah, pretty disappointing T20 World Cup for a man. They'll be hoping to

do better and have better results. Let's talk about Italy, Gehan. And you got to say it was a pretty

good first T20 World Cup for Italy, obviously their first ever T20 World Cup. And they did pretty

well. They won a game against Nepal, which was their probably their best victory in the tournament,

they won by 10 wickets. But they were able to push sides like England, for example, nearly

chased down 200. The game against the West Indies, yeah, they struggled a bit there, but they showed

competitiveness at least. Game against Scotland, first game of their T20 World Cup, well,

pretty much journey. Maybe nerves, maybe a bit, you know, a bit tense with the occasion and all

that stuff. But besides from that, they did put in some good performances here and there as a

team, but also some individuals as well. So your thoughts on Italy, Gehan, how do they go in there?

First ever T20 World Cup from your perspective. Yeah, I mean, they were pretty good, weren't they?

Beat Nepal, Nepal came, you know, within touching distance of beating England. And they pushed

England as well. I think that's a Ben Menenti's 50, I think he scored off about 20 balls. That was

kind of exhilarating. Reminded me a little bit of when Kevin O'Brien went off against England back

in 2011, the ODI World Cup. But yeah, I think for a team that's not really that well known,

I think that was really a very good performance in their first World Cup.

Yeah, definitely. They definitely showed a lot of promise and a lot of, you know,

you know, improvement as the tournament went on, obviously. So, you know, they made a lot of

different players around the world. But that's the beauty of associate cricket, you know, you always

have that. Players who want to play at an actual cricket and want to do their best. And that's what

we saw from the Italy team. They were able to, you know, perform at their level, but they were

able to push England and, you know, in that game. And I also had a good win against the Paul. And

obviously the game against Scotland and the West Indies were a bit of a challenge. But none

the less good experience. Hopefully we do see them back again in 2008. And hopefully we do see them

back here again in the World Cup. But yeah, not a bad performance from Italy in their first T20

World Cup. Not too many expectations, but I think they'll be determined and even more willing

to see what they can do in future tournaments if they do qualify and get the chance. So not a

bad tournament from Italy. A lot of lessons that they've learned and a good experience going

forward as a T20 side for Italy going forward. Let's talk about Scotland, Gehan. Let's talk about

how they went about things. They were a late addition to this T20 World Cup because of

Bangladesh pulling out. And I thought they did an okay job at the last minute. Obviously not

much preparation came in late. They probably should have won the game against Nepal. They lost

that game, but they had a good win against Italy. And that was probably their best performance.

They should have won against Nepal, as I mentioned, but they let that opportunity slip. The game

against England, they sort of pushed England in that game. The game against the West Indies that

did well to try and chase down that target in the first game of the tournament, but they weren't

able to get over the line in the end. So not a bad tournament from Scotland despite being caught up

at the last minute. Your thoughts on how Scotland went about things in this tournament, Gehan?

Yeah, I think for the fact that they were caught up at the last minute and wouldn't have really

had that much preparation. Before the tournament, I think it's a reasonably good performance.

Even against West Indies, they were basically taken apart by a Shenmue at Moher,

which can happen. And even then, they only came within 35 runs of the huge mammoth total

of the West Indies got. So decent batting performance there. Be Italy. And then a couple of losses

to England and Nepal maybe did reasonably well against England. But I think overall for the

amount of preparation and just that not knowing, you know, only knowing they were going to play

in the tournament a couple of weeks or two before, maybe even a week before, I think. I think that's

that's a reasonable performance and they didn't embarrass themselves in any way.

Now I tend to agree with that. They did well the last minute and obviously

you know, had the opportunity to play in this T20 World Cup because of Bangladesh's

absence and pulling out. But I suppose they did okay the last minute and you know, as you said,

they didn't embarrass themselves in any way. The game against Italy was their best performance

other than that. They did well to be competitive at least. So not a bad tournament from Scotland

being called up at the last minute. But they'll be hoping for better results when they look back.

But despite the circumstances, I think they'll be pretty satisfied and okay with how they performed

in the tournament. So let's hope we see Scotland back in 2028. But not a bad T20 World Cup at the

last minute for Scotland. Let's talk about Nepal G-Han. They nearly caused one of the upsets

of the tournament, didn't they? Nearly defeating England in the first game. They only went down by

four runs. They had a good win against Scotland in the last game, which they deserved.

I suppose that's something. But I suppose after the game against England, probably the energy

and the euphoria of that probably got to them in a way. They had a heavy defeat to Italy

and obviously the West Indies were too strong. But nonetheless, Nepal, they're one of the emerging

cricket powerhouses and associate cricket. They love cricket in Nepal. It's a national sport.

They really love it. But they can be a bit up and down and a bit inconsistent, but put in some

good performances. But your thoughts on Nepal G-Han, how did you assess Nepal's tournament from your

perspective? Well, yeah. I mean, it was an excellent game against England. And to be honest,

England just about got out of that game in the last over. And they should have really wanted

a more experienced team would have seen it through. But they just about got a little bit stuck

in that last over. But what was impressive from them was how they were able to go after

a drop for Archer and Adil Rashid, which even other teams have struggled with against England.

So yeah, I think they could have easily won that game with a little bit more experience in the bank.

Good win against Scotland and comprehensive losses against Italy and West Indies. So I'm up

coming side with the amount of exposure they get. They're probably going to continue to improve quite

quickly. And they're bordering Bangladesh and India. So they can have a lot of influence from those

countries. Yeah. So now so they won a T20 series against the West Indies before this T20 World Cup

as well. Yeah. They're definitely emerging as the next sort of next Afghanistan really in a way,

really in terms of how they rose up the ranks. The pool is similar to that. So hopefully a few

more years, they've got still law as coach former Australian test cricket. I only played one

test for Australia and a few early eyes. They got him at the helm as coach, which is a good choice

for them. And he's had a positive impact on how they have played. So just hearing him throughout

the T20 World Cup in those media sort of packages, montages, as you have in the coverage.

So he's pretty optimistic about what they can do as a team going forward. So definitely a lot of

positives for Nepal. They would have expected to do better, but plenty of learnings, plenty of

positives. And hopefully we see them back in the tournament in 2028 because they are a team on

the rise. And hopefully they can put in a better performance if they do qualify in the 2028

T20 World Cup. But nonetheless, they'll be satisfied with their results in this T20 World Cup in the

pool. Jihan, let's talk about the UAE. Let's talk about them quickly. They won one game against

Canada, which you expected them to win. The other games against New Zealand, Afghanistan,

South Africa, they struggled. The UAE, but nonetheless, they did have some good performances here

and there with that at times. The game against New Zealand, they did pretty well. There was a good

opening partnership in that game. I think they made 170 odd in that game against New Zealand,

bashing first. Let's have a look. Yes, 173 for six. So they did pretty well to post that score against

New Zealand. It wasn't quite enough because New Zealand won that game by 10 wickets. It was a good

opening partnership between Bid Allen and Tim Cypher. But besides from that, they had a bit of an

up and down T20 World Cup. But you fought some of the UAE, Jihan, and how did you think they

performed in this tournament? Yeah, I think probably has to be expected one win against another

minnow nation, but then comprehensive losses against the full member nations. Yeah, I mean,

they've been around for a while, haven't they? But just I suppose tend to stay at a pretty

steady level in terms of ability. So I think they're just one of those teams that will be there,

or they're about in amongst the minnows, and maybe you might see them improving, but I think it's

going to take a while. Yeah, definitely. You know, a different stage of the

cricket development for the UAE. The last T20 World Cup they played before this one was in 2022

in Australia. And then obviously before that was in Bangladesh in 2014. So they played three T20

World Cups. So yeah, just like with the other associate nations looking to build on their foundation

in terms of their cricket side of things and their skill set, it's going to take time.

But obviously playing against New Zealand and Afghanistan and South Africa, they would have played

a lot of games against Canada or obviously in the associate fixtures. But playing against those

other countries will definitely help their experience and learn from playing the top sides in the

world. So that's the positive there. Yeah, they would have expected to do much better than they did,

but given where they're at in terms of the rankings in T20 cricket, their skill set and level,

they'll be hoping to improve on that going forward. So they'll be looking to get better the UAE

going forward. And hopefully we do see them in the 2000N 28 T20 World Cup if they do qualify. But

there's plenty of learnings to take out from this tournament for the UAE in terms of their T20

cricket. Well, Jihad's a bit of a marathon, but last but not least, Canada,

oh Canada, let's talk about Canada to wrap it up. Yeah, a pretty poor tournament for Canada,

they lost all their games in Group D, you know, pretty much South Africa, New Zealand,

Afghanistan. You expected them to lose those games there. The game against US, the UAE could have

gone either way, but it didn't go in their favour. But I suppose a positive was the U-Range

Samira, Samara, sorry, scoring that 100 against New Zealand. He was 19 years old. I think he was

the youngest to score 100 at T20 World Cup. That was a positive for Canada there against New Zealand

when he scored that 100 outside of that, not much to speak of, but for Canada, it's only their

second T20 World Cup. There's a lot of learnings to take out of this tournament, but you fought

some Canada, Jihad, to wrap up the preview of all the 20 teams in this T20 World Cup.

Yeah, poor tournament for them, for losses, for convincing losses,

probably tying with Oman, as to who was the worst team in the tournament.

Canada, they've got potential in terms of the interest in the country and the number of people

there from expert nations. Similar, I think, to the US. And in modern history, they've been

around a lot longer than the US cricket has just in terms of our cups and international cricket.

So, yeah, I mean, again, they've got potential, but a long way to go for them.

Yeah, definitely. I couldn't agree more. There's obviously a lot of interest in Canada with cricket,

obviously, Commonwealth Nation as well. And obviously played the first ever international

game of cricket with the USA as well, many years ago, back in the 1800s. So there's some interest

there with cricket in Canada. Obviously, they would have liked to have done better in this tournament,

but plenty of positives, obviously, with Samara scoring that 100 and other things as well.

But obviously, the experience of playing South Africa New Zealand, Afghanistan would put them in

good stead, obviously, they've played a lot of games against the UAE over the years and associated

with cricket. By playing as other nations in group D, it would help their development as a T20

nation and team going forward. But they would have expected to win at least one game,

potentially against the UAE, but they didn't quite happen. But obviously, a lot of learnings and a lot

of lessons to be taken out of this tournament for Canada. But they'll be looking to improve

going forward and learn from this, going forward in their development as an associate nation,

but as it was a T20 team as well. So that's pretty much how Canada went about their business in this

T20 World Cup for 2006. Now then, some final thoughts to end a long marathon of this

T20 World Cup review for 2006. Some final thoughts to end.

Jehan, what are your final thoughts from this tournament? When you look back on the tournament,

what are the thoughts that you have from another T20 World Cup?

Yeah, well, I think India dominated the whole tournament and they always look like they were

the side that we're going to win, fairly convincingly, which they did. They only lost one game.

It was in the middle of the tournament to probably to team, I think it was probably the most likely

to be them in the final. But yeah, I think this was India's tournament. In terms of conditions,

pitches, I thought some of the early pitches in Sri Lanka were poor, but for the most part,

most of the pitches were really good. High scoring venues, and that's what you want in T20 cricket,

you want all coming on to the bat. That's been being able to play their shots and being able to

score freely. So yeah, I think apart from those initial few games, I thought it was good conditions

and a good conditions for the tournament for a T20 tournament. And I think India just pushed

T20 cricket to another level now at the international level. T20 cricket is not a format that's

easy to be consistent in no matter how good you are as a team, but they're being able to do that.

I think that just shows that they've taken it to another level. All the other teams have

a bit of catching up to do. Yeah, definitely. I couldn't agree more there, Jihun.

Some final thoughts from me were obviously India clearly the best team in the tournament.

Obviously in T20 cricket over the last two years. It was a tournament full of ups and downs. We

saw some good individual performances, some close games, some high scoring games as well as we

did in the semi finals and obviously the final. I thought the associate nations performed well.

Some of them did to push the full member nations. We saw that throughout this tournament, which

is good for cricket, good for the development of those associate nations. And really,

yeah, just pretty much a straightforward victory for India in the end, Jihun.

Obviously from an Australian point of view, as we've already discussed in our preview, pretty

disappointing. But that's just why it goes. Nothing you can do about that. But besides from that,

a very good T20 World Cup in terms of it had a bit of a mixture of everything, really.

From close games, exciting games, individual performances, teams that surprised us, the associates,

doing well, some of them. So it had a mixture of everything. And we look forward to the next one in

2028. They come along pretty quickly now these days. So another tournament in two years time,

which will be in Australia and New Zealand. And hopefully different results for those countries

unlike in 2026. Well, thanks everyone for listening to our review of this ICCC T20 World Cup

for 2026. It was a bit of a marathon, but we've got there in the end. If you're watching or listening

to this episode of the podcast on our YouTube channel, let us know your thoughts on this ICCCT

20 World Cup for 2026. In the comments, we would love to hear what you have to say.

Thanks, Tree Han, for joining me today to review the ICCC T20 World Cup for 2026. It's always

great to have you on and always great to hear your thoughts on the game of cricket. And good

to get your frustrations out there when we talked about Australia in that round. I know you were

meaning to try and get that off your chest once they lost to Simbaabway. So you've finally got

it out. So you feel good. Obviously, look forward to better things for Australia going forward,

because there's a lot of things that we want to get done in the next year or so. But obviously,

once again, thanks for joining me. It's always great to have you on. And thanks for watching and

listening. Until next time, keep safe and bye for now.