While Shamsi’s wicket-taking ability has never been in doubt, he once struggled to limit the runs and was considered a risky selection. But Shamsi, a left-arm wrist spinner with plenty of variation, is now crucial to the South Africa team and reflects a trend in the short format where slow bowlers are proving to be invaluable. The spinner is the top-ranked bowler in T20 internationals, which may come as a surprise to some considering the Proteas’ long-established reliance on fast bowling to get the job done. Australia captain Aaron Finch has said Warner, one of the world’s most explosive batters on his day, will start in the T20 World Cup but is under pressure as his country looks to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2012 and win it for the first time.
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Warner also hasn’t played for Australia in the T20 format since September last year, missing recent series against the West Indies and Bangladesh so he could be fresh for the IPL and the World Cup. He was dropped as captain by Sunrisers Hyderabad before this year’s Indian Premier League was paused for coronavirus-related reasons in April, then dropped from the team entirely after a three-ball duck and a three-ball 2 upon the competition’s resumption last month.
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Once the best all-format opener in the game, Warner comes into the World Cup with no form and is perhaps emblematic of Australia’s preparations for the competition. But he is clearly a potential game-changer and match-winner and, in that way, an ideal replacement for the absent Ben Stokes in the England team. Livingstone has struggled for runs in the IPL for Rajasthan Royals over the past month, an indication he might not be suited to the slower wickets in the United Arab Emirates. He was also the top scorer in the inaugural season of The Hundred, the new English domestic competition, in which he hit more sixes than anyone. He's also one of the biggest hitters, as shown in smashing a 42-ball hundred against Pakistan in July - the quickest ever scored by an England player. He is now a regular in England’s T20 team and one of the most thrilling batters in the world. In a bid to get into England’s squad for this World Cup, he decided in 2019 to do a global tour of the T20 franchises so he could experience a variety of conditions and broaden his experience. Livingstone’s two-year plan has paid off.
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Having helped the Black Caps to become world test champions, Conway could be the player to lead the team to a first ICC white-ball world title. Born and raised in South Africa, Conway moved to New Zealand in 2017 and - at the age of 30 - has had to be patient for his chance at international level. Conway averages 59.12 in T20s and stands out in a way because he is not the kind of explosive power-hitter typically synonymous with the shorter format, rather a thinker and a gap-finder with a clean shot-making ability either as an opener or in the middle order. There was the double-hundred against England at Lord’s on his test debut in June, the 126 against Bangladesh in his third and most recent ODI in March, and then an unbeaten 99 off 59 balls against Australia in one of his 11 innings for New Zealand in Twenty20s. The left-handed batter has taken international cricket by storm in all formats, underlining not just his talent but his versatility and ability to thrive in different conditions.