T20WC: Which teams could benefit the most from CPL experience?

South Africa - David Miller, Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, Tabraiz Shamsi

The Proteas squad features four players who, among them, have made a total of 69 appearances in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) overall. Tabraiz Shamsi (32) has made the most appearances among the four, but David Miller also has plenty of CPL experience, having played 25 CPL games since the start of 2016. 

Miller — 502 runs at 41.83 / 149.8 — has an enviable record in the competition, as does Shamsi, who has taken 41 wickets at an E.R of 6.9. 

Both de Kock and Klaasen, meanwhile, played as recently as 2022, where they did well for their respective franchises: de Kock scored 221 runs at 44.2 / 128.5, while Klaasen scored 118 runs at 39.33 / 137.2.

This experience might come in handy in the Super 8s rather than the group stages, because South Africa play three of their four group games in New York.

New Zealand - Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham, Kane Williamson, Mitch Santner, Ish Sodhi, Mark Chapman

New Zealand will walk into the T20WC with enviable CPL experience. Their current squad features a total of six players who have made a whopping 100 appearances between them in the CPL. Conditions-wise, their biggest trump card is none other than Phillips. 

Since 2015, no non-West Indian player who will feature in the upcoming T20WC has made as many CPL appearances as Phillips (49), who has an outstanding record, having scored 1,577 runs in the competition at an average of 35.04 and strike rate of 134.8. 

The only thing to be noted here is that no New Zealand player, including Phillips, has played in the CPL since the start of 2022. But this experience will still come in handy for the Kiwis, who play all their group games across Guyana and Trinidad. 

Pakistan - Azam Khan, Imad Wasim, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Naseem Shah

Pakistan will enter the T20WC as the non-host team with the most CPL experience. They have as many as seven members in their squad who have played in the CPL and have combinedly made a staggering 152 appearances in the competition.

Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir and Azam Khan have all made 25+ appearances in the tournament but the best part for Pakistan is how recently some of these players have featured in the competition. CPL 2023 saw Ayub, Azam Khan, Imad and Amir play. And young Ayub (478 runs @ 43.5 / 142.3) was one of the standout performers in the entire competition. Both Ayub and Azam Khan were part of the Guyana Amazon Warriors side that won the competition. 

Pakistan play all their group games in USA, but some of these players will know the Super 8 conditions inside out.

Afghanistan - Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran, Naveen-Ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

The globetrotting nature of Afghanistan’s T20 squad could benefit the side big time come the T20WC. The Afghanistan players in the T20WC squad have a total of 116 games of experience when it comes to the CPL.

Crucially, all their big guns — be it Rashid, Nabi, Mujeeb or Naveen —  have all played plenty of CPL games, that too as recently as 2022. 

Rashid (6.00), Nabi (5.9) and Mujeeb (5.6) all have an economy of 6.00 or under in the competition, so that should put the rest of the teams on red alert.

Worryingly for New Zealand and West Indies, Afghanistan play all their group games in the Caribbean; none in the US.

Bangladesh - Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Das, Mahmudullah

Bangladesh have three players in their T20WC squad who have CPL experience, and it’s three big guns. Shakib himself, however, has 21 more appearances than the other two combined.

The Bangladesh captain has played 36 CPL games overall, the last of which came in 2022, and has an enviable record with the ball, having taken 37 wickets at an E.R of 6.8. His batting (avg 16 / SR 109), however, has been sub-par.

But there’s no question that his experience will come in handy, especially if Bangladesh make it to the Super 8s. They also play two of their group games in the Caribbean.

Australia - Adam Zampa, David Warner, Tim David

Only three members of this current Australian squad have played in the CPL before, and Warner and Zampa haven’t played in the CPL since 2018. So really, it’s only Tim David who has solid CPL experience in this Aussie squad.

David has played 17 CPL games, all coming for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, and has a solid record, averaging 30.58 and striking at 143.9 predominantly operating as a finisher. 

David last played in CPL 2022, where he made five appearances. 

England -  Chris Jordan & Phil Salt

For a team filled with T20 specialists, England surprisingly have only two players who have prior CPL experience: Phil Salt and Chris Jordan.

And they only have a total of six CPL appearances between them, so there’s nothing much to speak about.

A good thing from an England perspective is that their players anyway have plenty of experience playing in the Caribbean. It was only four months ago that the Three Lions played a full-fledged five-match T20I series in West Indies.

The lack of CPL experience shouldn’t be too much of a concern for the defending champions.

Among the Top 15 ranked teams in the forthcoming T20 World Cup, India and Sri Lanka are the only sides who have zero players with CPL experience.

As far as teams ranked 11-15 (and below, excluding USA) are concerned, 

Ireland - 3 (Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker)

Scotland - 1 (Chris Sole)

Namibia - 1 (David Wiese)

Netherlands - 1 (Paul van Meekeren)

Canada - 2 (Nicholas Kirton, Saad Bin Zafar)

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