Here’s Everything You Need to Know About the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup!
`2020 was not a great year for cricket as the coronavirus pandemic caused several cricket tournaments including the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. But the good news is that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup tournament is happening this year!
Earlier, the venue for the tournament was India, but now, the venue has been shifted to the United Arab Emirates given the Covid-19 pandemic situation in India. The tournament is scheduled to start on 17 October, 2021 and the final match of the tournament is expected to be played on 14 November 2021.
The teams that have qualified for participating in the tournament are – India (qualified as Host nation), Pakistan, England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh (qualified because they were ranked as the top 9 teams in the last T20 tournament), Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Ireland, Namibia, Scotland and Oman (these teams qualified for the tournament via the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier).
The T20 World Cup will have 2 rounds in which 42 matches will be played in all. In the first round, there will be twelve matches between the eight teams of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Netherlands and Oman. The top performing 4 teams will then make it to the Super 12s. The Super 12s will start on 24th October 2021 and will consist of 30 matches that will be played between the four teams from Round 1 and the top eight T20I teams. These teams will be divided into 2 groups of 6 each that will play three knockout games, two semi-finals and a final.
The venues for the matches are – Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium and Oman Cricket Academy Ground.
In the First Round, Group A will comprise of Ireland, Namibia, Netherlands and Sri Lanka, whereas Group B will be made up of Bangladesh, Oman, Papua New Guinea and Scotland.
In the Super 12s, India, England, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan and Australia have already been selected and the remaining four teams will be decided based on the performance of the teams in Round 1.
For the knockout stage, England, Australia, South Africa and West Indies have been put in Group 1, and two remaining teams are yet to be decided. In Group 2 are India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Afghanistan with the remaining two teams yet to be decided.
All in all, it is going to be a very exciting tournament and we can’t just wait for it. May the best team win!
