The ninth edition of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 is being co-hosted by West Indies and USA.
Due to the playing conditions, big teams are struggling in the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup edition.

Introduction

There are mixed reactions to the overall arrangement of the tournament and this has raised a lot of eyebrows and former cricketers have started voicing their opinion.

USA co-hosting the mega tournament as an ICC initiative to promote cricket in the United States, had to make-shift stadiums for the mega event.

While the T20 format is known for scores ranging from 175- 200 runs, this edition especially in the USA leg has seen very low scores.

Matches hosted by West Indies also saw a similar low-scoring making this edition of the World Cup, a bowler’s tournament rather than a batsman’s tournament that we are used to seeing in T20.

The current T20 World Cup edition is throwing surprise results and many big teams have struggled to come to terms with the playing conditions.

Why are big teams struggling this edition?

USA- The host

With ICC desperately trying to promote cricket in the USA, gave co-hosting rights to the USA.
This on the hind side seems to have backfired with under-prepared pitches and outfield.
While they had drop-in pitches, it still did not help the pitches to be similar to most cricket-playing countries. The average score in the US games has been under 120 runs.

Due to the spongy nature of the pitch and a substandard outfield, runs are not freely scored and wickets have fallen like 9 pins.
This is not an ideal scenario for the biggest tournament in the ICC T20 calendar.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has come under criticism over the quality of the pitch at its Twenty20 World Cup venue in New York, with fans and experts calling for the organizers to move the remaining fixtures to another venue.

Outfield
The outfield has been sluggish. Ground shots hardly reach the boundary making teams able to defend small totals.
Former Australia, Pakistan, and South Africa coach Micky Arthur said the pitch was “very poor” in a post on X.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan agreed, terming it “shocking”.

“For players to have to play on this substandard surface in New York is unacceptable,” Vaughan went on to say in his post.

West Indies
Pitches in the Caribbean have always been slow and low-turning pitches.
With a weak financial board, the grounds are poorly maintained. Pitches too look to be underdone with only a few grounds of international standards.

Some of the big upsets
The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 has thrown in many surprises in the first two weeks and top teams like finalists, winners, and defending champions struggling to make it to the Super 8 stage.

The favorable conditions for bowlers in the ongoing T20 World Cup have ensured a level playing field because of a balance between bat and ball.

• USA beat Asian giants Pakistan
• Canada beat the ever-present Ireland.
• Afghanistan Beat New Zealand
• Australia beat defending champions England
• West Indies beat New Zealand pushing the last edition’s finalist Kiwis out of the tournament.