India are in Group 2 of the Super 12s for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 alongside Afghanistan, Pakistan and New Zealand. The other group features Australia, England, South Africa and defending champions West Indies. The groups have been selected on the basis of team rankings as of 20 March 2021.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the groups for the tournament to be hosted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Oman and the United Arab Emirates from 17 October to 14 November.
Two teams will be added to both groups from the qualifying round. 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.
“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,” said ICC Acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice.
“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.
The matches will take place at Dubai International Stadium, the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi; the Sharjah Stadium, and the Oman Cricket Academy Ground.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly welcomed the move to play matches in Oman. “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.”
Qualifying groups
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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