2024 T20 World Cup top runscorer and top wicket-taker predictions and cricket betting tips

Where to watch

Tournament starts 1.30am Sunday
Sky Sports Cricket, Main Event, Action & Mix

Best bets

Virat Kohli top tournament runscorer
2pts 13-2 general

Finn Allen top tournament runscorer
1pt each-way 33-1 general

Matheesha Pathirana top tournament wicket-taker
1pt each-way 33-1 Hills

Wanindu Hasaranga top tournament wicket-taker
0.5pt each-way 50-1 bet365, Betfair, Paddy Power

2024 T20 World Cup predictions

India's depth of T20 batting talent means IPL stars Shubman Gill and KL Rahul only made the reserve list for the World Cup but veteran Virat Kohli nailed down his place thanks to a couple of impressive campaigns for Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Kohli had been under scrutiny for his modest pace of scoring in T20 cricket. His strike-rates in the 2020, 2021 and 2022 IPL seasons were 121, 119 and 116 runs per 100 balls but in 2023 he scored two centuries and six fifties in 14 innings at a rate of 140.

The RCB opener upped the tempo again this term, racking up 741 runs at a strike-rate of 155 and hitting 38 sixes – just six fewer than his total over the previous four seasons.

Kohli amassed 158 more runs than any other player in the 2024 IPL and is a worthy favourite to top-score at the T20 World Cup. He has an astonishing record at the tournament, scoring 14 half-centuries in only 25 innings, and was the leading batsman in 2022 with 296 runs in six games.

All 25 of Kohli's T20 World Cup innings have come at number three but his IPL success as an opener may earn him a promotion with India and another prolific tournament is expected.

While Kohli's consistency makes him an appealing bet, backers of New Zealand's Finn Allen should brace themselves for a bumpy ride.

The opener's T20 international career began with a first-ball duck against Bangladesh but two games later he walloped 71 off just 29 balls against the Tigers in Auckland.

Allen's aggressive approach means low scores are inevitable but he is a destructive hitter once he gets a start. He smashed 42 off 16 balls against Australia's Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins to set up a huge opening win for the Black Caps at the 2022 World Cup and scored 83 off 53 against England at Edgbaston last summer.

His 137 from 62 deliveries against Pakistan in January included a record-equalling 16 sixes and he looks a nice each-way play in the top-runscorer market.

Sri Lanka's Dilshan Madushanka was the third-highest wicket-taker at last year's 50-over World Cup and two of his compatriots are worth backing to make the frame at big prices.

Lankan legend Lasith Malinga claims that his nation have the world's best T20 bowling attack and paceman Matheesha Pathirana, nicknamed 'Baby Malinga', is a potential superstar.

A brilliant death-overs bowler, Pathirana took 13 wickets in six IPL appearances for Chennai this season and Sri Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga also merits a small bet. 

The leg-spinning all-rounder was the leading bowler at the 2022 tournament – massively helped by playing against Namibia, the UAE and the Netherlands in the first group stage – and has taken 13 scalps in seven T20 internationals this year. 

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