The United States of America, a first-world country, leader in at least two sports, making their T20 World Cup debut in 2024 at home, have started to ruffle some feathers of the other Associate nations with a super showing in the group stage to make it to the Super 8. USA have also confirmed their qualification in the 2026 edition of the T20 World Cup and their first match in the big league will be against South Africa, who have a title contender squad.
The USA were probably a bit lucky, more than the others, as the washout against Ireland aided them but not to discount their performances, especially against Pakistan, which is a big reason they find themselves in the Super 8. South Africa, on the other hand, would feel that they haven't gotten much from their batters yet and still they have won all four matches so far and would take confidence from the fact that if that batting line-up performs up to the potential, it can damage a lot of the sides.
With the USA leg done and dusted, South Africa will hope for much better conditions with the bat in the Caribbean and aim for a winning start against the USA before they take on the big guns, the West Indies and England.
My Dream11 team for T20 World Cup 2024 Match No 41, USA vs SA
Quinton de Kock, Andries Gous, Tristan Stubbs, Aaron Jones, Heinrich Klaasen (vc), Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Saurabh Netravalkar, Anrich Nortje (c), Ali Khan, Ottneil Baartman
Squads
United States: Monank Patel (w/c), Shayan Jahangir, Steven Taylor, Andries Gous, Aaron Jones, Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Jasdeep Singh, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan, Nosthush Kenjige, Nisarg Patel, Milind Kumar
South Africa: Reeza Hendricks, Quinton de Kock(w), Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Ottneil Baartman, Tabraiz Shamsi, Keshav Maharaj, Bjorn Fortuin, Ryan Rickelton, Gerald Coetzee
