Published on: Jan 06, 2024
The schedule for 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was announced on Friday, January 5. The tournament will be played in the USA and the West Indies from June 1 to June 29. The World Cup will begin with a match between co-hosts USA and Canada at the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas. West Indies, the other co-hosts, will begin their campaign against Papua New Guinea at the Guyana National Stadium on June 2.
The marquee India vs Pakistan clash will be held at a 34,000-seater pop-up facility in New York on June 9. The T20 World Cup will be played across six venues in the West Indies and three in the USA. The semi-finals will be played in Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago on June 26 and 27 respectively, while the final will be held at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on June 29.
Twenty teams are taking part in the event and have been divided into four groups of five each. The groups are as follows:
Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, Canada and the USA
Group B: England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland and Oman
Group C: New Zealand, the West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda and Papua New Guinea
Group D: South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Netherlands and Nepal
The top two teams from each group will progress to the Super 8 round. In the Super 8, the teams will be divided into two groups and the top two sides from each group will progress to the semi-finals.
“Teams seeded first and second in their groups in the first round will retain that seeding in the Super Eight, provided they qualify,” the ICC clarified.
On the official release of the 2024 T20 World Cup schedule, ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said, “The release of the fixtures is made even more exciting for fans as we enter a new frontier, with the USA hosting a major ICC event for the first time. With 16 matches being played across three venues in the USA, it allows us to make a statement in the world’s biggest sports market.
“It will also be great to have an ICC event back in the West Indies, which has such a rich history of the game. It has hosted World Cups with great success in the past and this tournament will certainly provide a boost to the game there, especially with the final being played in Barbados,” he added.
England are the defending champions in the Men’s T20 World Cup. They beat Pakistan by five wickets in the 2022 T20 World Cup final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
–By A Cricket Correspondent