The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 is set to begin on June 1 with co-hosts United States taking on Canada at Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas. This is the first T20 World Cup where 20 teams will be participating. These 20 teams are separated into four groups of five. They will play each other in round-robin format and top two from each group will progress into Super 8. However, the ICC has made it clear which teams will take on each other in the Super 8 until and unless there is an upset.
Here are the four groups -
Group A - India, Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, USA
Group B - England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland, Oman
Group C - New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda, Papua New Guinea
Group D - South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Nepal
In order to make scheduling easier, there are eight seeded sides. If the top eight ranked teams qualify for Super 8, the two groups could look like this –
Group 1: India (A1), Australia (B2), New Zealand (C1), Sri Lanka (D2)
Group 2: Pakistan (A2), England (B1), West Indies (C2), South Africa (D1)
However, if an unseeded team qualifies for the Super 8s, they will take the place of the team they knocked out. For example - if Afghanistan finish in top two of Group C instead of West Indies, they will replace the Windies side in Group 2.
Also, if both seeded teams from a group fail to advance to Super 8s, they will replace the team as per league position. For example, if Bangladesh and Netherlands qualify for Super 8s instead of South Africa and Sri Lanka, the D1 and D2 teams will be decided by how they finished at the group stage.
How the semifinal will look like –
In Super 8s, the teams will take on each other once. The two teams finishing on top of both groups will qualify for the semifinal. The top side from Group 1 will play the second-placed in Group 2 and Group 2’s top team will play the second-placed team in Group 2.
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