(Web Desk) - USA and Canada teams are playing their first T20 World Cup in Dallas on Sunday (today).
In a way, it is fitting that cricket's oldest international rivalry will kick off its biggest World Cup, comprising 20 teams.
Long before Australia and England played the first-ever Test in 1877, USA and Canada locked horns in a three-day game in 1844. In that match in New York, Canada came out on top by 23 runs.
One-hundred-and-eighty years later, the same two teams will come face to face in the T20 World Cup 2024 opener in Dallas.
Coincidentally, it is the first T20 World Cup for both sides. USA qualified by virtue of being the co-hosts and Canada by winning the Americas Qualifier.
The game will be the first T20 match at the Grand Prairie Stadium. But there is hardly any buzz in Dallas, which means the 7,000-seater may not be packed to capacity.
Moreover, a thunderstorm could play spoilsport, as it did during the warm-ups for both sides at this very venue.
Nevertheless, USA will be the favourite. While they have played only seven T20Is since the 2022 T20 World Cup - all in the last two months - that was enough to show their pedigree.
They first beat Canada 4-0 before stunning Bangladesh 2-1, both times playing at home.
TEAM NEWS
In Steven Taylor, Monank Patel and Andries Gous, USA have a solid top order. Ali Khan and Saurabh Netravalkar will lead the pace unit. Harmeet, their main spinner, can also provide late-order hitting.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (PROBABLE XI): 1 Steven Taylor, 2 Monank Patel (capt, wk), 3 Andries Gous, 4 Aaron Jones, 5 Nitish Kumar, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Harmeet Singh, 8 Shadley van Schalkwyk, 9 Jasdeep Singh, 10 Ali Khan, 11 Saurabh Netravalkar
Canada will rely a lot on their bowlers. Apart from Gordon and Sana, they have Dilon Heyliger in the pace attack. Captain Saad Bin Zafar and Nikhil Dutta know how to keep batters quiet with their spin variations.
CANADA (PROBABLE XI): 1 Aaron Johnson, 2 Navneet Dhaliwal, 3 Rayyan Pathan, 4 Nicholas Kirton, 5 Pargat Singh, 6 Shreyas Movva (wk), 7 Saad Bin Zafar (capt), 8 Nikhil Dutta, 9 Dilon Heyliger, 10 Jeremy Gordon, 11 Kaleem Sana