West Indies - New Zealand Predictions & Betting tips - ICC Men's T20 World Cup

Prediction published on 11/06/2024, 11:30  by Devesh Jaganath | Modified on 11/06/2024 at 11:34

The West Indies and New Zealand will face off in match 26 of the 2024 T20 World Cup at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Thursday morning. The hosts are currently in second place in Group C, while the visitors are bottom of the standings. West Indies have made the perfect start to their home World Cup campaign and a win here will all but guarantee their place in the Super Eight. They kicked off the competition with a five-wicket victory over Papua New Guinea where Roston Chase blasted a quickfire 42* off 27 balls to win the match with an over to spare. The Windies then ruthlessly took down Uganda in match two, bowling them out for just 39 runs, which is the joint-lowest total in T20 World Cup history. However, they now face their toughest opponent to date and will know they are in for a stern test having lost to them 2-1 in their last T20 series matchup back in 2022. 

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s T20 World Cup campaign got off to the worst possible start as they capitulated against group leaders Afghanistan. Batting first, Rahmanullah Gurbaz steered the Afghans to a defendable 159/6 in their 20 overs. However, while the batting was impressive, it paled in comparison to the bowling effort they managed with Fazahal Farooqi and Rashid Khan both taking four wickets for 17 runs, bowling out the Black Caps for a mere 75 in 15.2 overs. No New Zealand batsman managed to score over 20 runs in the match, though Trent Boult and Matt Hendry managed to take two wickets apiece. While that was just New Zealand’s first match of the competition, it would have taken a massive knock on their confidence, and they will need to bounce back here or they could find themselves on the verge of being eliminated.