Topping off what is expected to be an exciting T20 season in the second half 2021, Indian fans get to see Virat Kohli and co take on arch-rivals Pakistan in the World Cup scheduled later this year.
The T20 World Cup will be played in UAE and Oman, hosted by BCCI, is scheduled to go on from 17 October to 14 November. The event was shifted out of India due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Just a few days before the World Cup, the IPL 2021's remainder will be completed in UAE.
The last time India played Pakistan was in the 2019 ODI World Cup when Kohli's side won comprehensively with Rohit Sharma scoring a century at Old Trafford.
Along with India and Pakistan, New Zealand and Afghanistan are part of the same group, Group 2, with two spots for qualifiers.
In the other group are England, Australia, South Africa and defending champions West Indies.
Eight teams will contest the first round including automatic qualifiers Sri Lanka and Bangladesh with the remaining six who booked their spot through the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019. Ireland, Netherlands and Namibia join Sri Lanka in Group A, whilst Oman, PNG and Scotland will face Bangladesh in Group B.
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said, “It is good to get Oman in the frame of world cricket with the hosting of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. It will help a lot of young players take an interest in the game. We know it will be a world class event in this part of the world.”
This is the first white-ball major tournament the ICC is hosting since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in 2020. The only other event they have hosted was the World Test Championship final in Southampton where New Zealand beat India.
“We are delighted to announce the groups for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. There are some great match ups offered by the groups and it starts to bring the event to life for our fans as our first multi-team event since the onset of the global pandemic draws closer. Given the disruption caused by COVID-19, we selected the cutoff date as close as possible to the event to ensure we were able to include the maximum amount of cricket in the rankings which determine the groups. There is no doubt we will witness some highly competitive cricket when the event gets underway in just three months,” ICC Acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said on the occasion.
Round 1
Group A: Sri Lanka, Ireland, the Netherlands and Namibia
Group B: Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea and Oman
Super 12s
Group 1: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, A1 and B2.
Group 2: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, A2 and B1.
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