The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday (January 21) announced the schedule for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022.
The showpiece tournament is slated to be held in Australia between October 16- November 13 and it will be played across seven venues – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Geelong, Hobart and Perth.
Team India will open their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 23 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
In the First Round, 2014 champions Sri Lanka and Namibia will play the opening match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 at Kardinia Park, Geelong on October 16. They'll be joined by two qualifiers in Group A. Two-time champions West Indies will also start in the First Round, joined in Group B by Scotland, and two qualifiers in Hobart.
For the Super 12 stage, England, New Zealand, Australia and Afghanistan have been drawn together in Group 1 and they will be joined by the winner of Group A and the runner-up of Group B from the First Round. Group 2 features India, Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh, in addition to the winner of Group B and runner-up of Group A from the First Round.
Defending champions Australia will take on New Zealand in the opening match of the Super 12 stage at the SCG on October 22.
Two more fierce rivals, Australia and England, will have a showdown at MCG on October 28, five days after the blockbuster India-Pakistan contest at the same venue.
The Sydney Cricket Ground will host the first semi-final on November 9, with the second semi-final due to be held at the Adelaide Oval following day.
The final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 is scheduled for November 13 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
International Cricket Council CEO Geoff Allardice in an official release said: "T20 is the global growth format for cricket and the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 will play a huge role in inspiring our next generation of players and fans as the world's best players descend on Australia and showcase the very best of our sport. The release of fixtures is always a great moment in the delivery of a World Cup as fans start to get excited about opening games, head to heads, and knock-out stages."
"This schedule offers so much, from the 2014 Champions Sri Lanka opening the event, to our defending champions Australia starting with a rematch of the 2021 Men's T20 World Cup Final against New Zealand and of course India taking on Pakistan at the MCG. We know that hundreds of thousands of passionate cricket fans will turn out to support every single one of the 16 teams across all seven of our host cities which is what makes it so special for the players. You only need to cast your mind back to the brilliant ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia to know that this is going to be a wonderful event for players and fans alike," he added.
(With ICC inputs)
