New Delhi. ‘Giant Killer’ Afghanistan’s resounding victory over Australia has made the race for Super 8 of Group 1 of T20 World Cup 2024 interesting. With this victory, the Afghan team has maintained its claim to enter the semi-finals while the path for Australia has become difficult. Australia team has to face Team India in its next match today at Grass Island while Afghanistan will face Bangladesh on 25th June.
If Australia loses to the Indian team and Afghanistan beats Bangladesh, then the Afghan team will make it to the last four. If Australia wins against India and Afghanistan wins against Bangladesh, the top three teams will have 4 points each and the two teams making it to the semi-finals will be decided on the basis of net run rate. By the way, Team India’s entry into the last 4 is almost certain. In case of India winning the match and Afghanistan losing to Bangladesh, all three teams except India will have two points each and the other team reaching the semi-finals will then be decided on the basis of net run rate.
Amidst the victory of Rashid Khan’s team and the dazzle of Pat Cummins’ second consecutive hat-trick in Sunday’s match between Afghanistan and Australia (Australia vs Afghanistan), a big record of David Warner could not come into discussion. This record is not of batting or bowling, but of taking the most catches in the T20 World Cup. In cricket, fielding generally does not get more importance than batting and bowling, but it is also an important aspect of the game. An excellent catch or runout in a match sometimes changes the outcome of the match in favor of one team over the other.
In the match, Warner took the catch of Rahmanullah Gurbaz off the ball of Stoinis during Afghanistan’s innings and became the fielder with the most catches in the T20 World Cup. This was Warner’s 24th catch in his 40th match. With this, he left behind South Africa’s AB de Villiers’ record of 23 catches as a fielder. As a fielder, De Villiers took 23 catches in 30 matches of the T20 World Cup.
Warner competes with Maxwell in the race of catches, Rohit is at fourth place
Now Warner is competing with his own countryman Glenn Maxwell in the race for most catches. In Sunday’s match, Maxwell also took the catch of Gulbadin Naib, which was his 23rd catch in the T20 World Cup. With this catch, ‘Maxi’ is now equal to De Villiers’ 23 catches. In the upcoming matches of the Australian team, it will be decided who becomes the ‘winner’ in this match of catches between Warner and Maxwell. This is Warner’s last cricket tournament and after this he has announced his complete retirement from international cricket.
Warner can touch a big ‘landmark’ in the match against India
Warner, who has taken the most catches in the T20 World Cup, can achieve another achievement in the match against Team India. So far, Warner has scored 978 runs in 40 matches of this tournament while remaining unbeaten thrice. By scoring 22 runs in the match against Team India, he will become the fourth batsman to touch the figure of 1000 runs in the T20 World Cup. So far in the T20 World Cup, only India’s Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene have scored more than one thousand runs. Warner will be desperate to achieve this feat before retirement.
Maxwell and Markram have taken the most catches in this World Cup.
Talking about the current T20 World Cup, Australia’s Maxwell and South Africa’s Aiden Markram are the fielders who jointly take the most catches (7-7 catches), while England’s Harry Brook is at second place with 6 catches. Logan Van Beek of Netherlands, Johnson Charles and Ricardo Powell of West Indies, Gulbadin Naib of Afghanistan and Tanzim Hasan Saqib of Bangladesh have taken 5-5 catches so far and they are jointly third in the list. The Netherlands team is out of the tournament in the group round itself.
Maxwell took 4 catches in the match against Namibia
Maxwell and Markram have taken 4 catches each as fielders in a match of the current T20 World Cup. Markram took 4 catches each in the match against Bangladesh on 10 June and Maxwell took 4 catches against Namibia on 11 June. Both of them had equaled West Indies’ Darrell Sammy’s record of taking 4 catches in a match in T20 World Cup 2010. In this World Cup held in West Indies, Sammy took 4 catches in the match against Ireland.
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Will Maxwell, Markram break the record of most catches in one edition?
Maxwell and Markram also have a chance to break the record of most catches as fielders in a T20 World Cup. Both Australia and South Africa teams are in Super 8. The record for taking the most catches in any edition of the T20 World Cup is in the name of Dasun Shanaka of Sri Lanka, who took 9 catches in the 2022 T20 World Cup. Both of them have a chance to equal or break Shanaka’s record. Australia’s Michael Hussey and David Warner (2010) and Scotland’s Callum McLeod and Australia’s Steve Smith (2021) have taken eight catches each.
Tags: AB De Villiers, Aiden Markram, Australia Cricket Team, david warner, Glenn Maxwell, ICC T20 World Cup, IND vs AUS, India vs Australia, T20 World Cup
FIRST PUBLISHED: June 24, 2024, 07:53 IST