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On Friday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the groups for the upcoming Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. The global showpiece event will be hosted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from October 17 to November 14.
The most exciting news for fans is that arch-rivals India and Pakistan have been placed in Group 2. Other teams in this group are New Zealand and Afghanistan. Two more teams will also feature in this category i,e the runner-up of Group A and winner of Group B from Round 1.
Similarly, Group 1 comprises of England, Australia, South Africa, and West Indies. The other two teams to be placed in this group will be the winner of Group A and runner-up of Group B.
The groups were formed according to T20I rankings as on March 20, 2021. Six teams – Ireland, Netherlands, Namibia, Oman, PNG and Scotland – sealed their place in the Qualifiers through the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in 2019, whereas the top eight ranked teams earned direct qualification for the tournament.
“We are delighted to announce the groups for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. There are some great matchups 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,” said ICC Acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice in a statement.
“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,” he added.
Here is the complete breakup of Groups:
- Group 1 – England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, Winner Group A, Runner-up Group B
- Group 2 – India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Runner-up Group A, Winner Group B
- Group A – Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands, Namibia
- Group B – Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, Oman
