The draws for the men’s and women’s 2020 ICC T20 World Cups were announced on Tuesday with hosts Australia set to take on Pakistan men’s team and India women’s team respectively to kick off the two tournaments.
The two tournaments will be held separately with the women’s edition set to get take place between February 21 and March 8 while the men’s edition will run from October 18 to November 15.
The final of both editions will be held at iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
The top 10 teams will participate in the Women’s T20 World Cup with defending champions Australia kicking off the tournament with a clash against India at Sydney.
In the men’s edition, the tournament will start off with a week-long qualifying stage following which the Super 12 group stage will get underway on October 24.
For the Super 12, hosts Australia, Pakistan, West Indies, New Zealand and two qualifiers will make the first group. The second group will be composed of India, South Africa, England, Afghanistan and two qualifiers.
Here's how the teams will be grouped for the @ICC Women's #T20WorldCup 2020 in Australia! What will the key match-ups be? pic.twitter.com/EOt8MC8NP4
— ICC T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) January 28, 2019
ICC chief executive David Richardson expressed his confidence in Australia putting up a great show in hosting the two events.
“Whenever we host an event in Australia we know we can guarantee the one billion cricket fans around the world a great show. The world’s best players. Outstanding venues. Noisy, passionate, knowledgeable fans. Exciting cricket. This is the perfect combination for a T20 World Cup and in 2020 we go one step further with two T20 World Cups in one year,” he stated.
“To hold two T20 World Cup finals at the world’s largest cricket stadium in front of 92,000 people with hundreds of millions more watching around the world is a particularly exciting prospect as we look to grow the fans around the world and make 2020 the year of cricket,” he added.
It's now over to the men's! Here are the groups for the first round and Super 12 of the @ICC Men's #T20WorldCup 2020! pic.twitter.com/JBhCkXkUmx
— ICC T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) January 28, 2019
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup
Group A: Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Qualifier 1
Group B: England, West Indies, South Africa, Pakistan, Qualifier 2
Group Stage: February 21 to March 3
Semi-finals: March 5
Final: March 8 (Melbourne Cricket Ground)
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
Super 12 Group 1: Pakistan, Australia, West Indies, New Zealand, Qualifier 1, Qualifier 2
Super 12 Group 2: India, England, South Africa, Afghanistan, Qualifier 3, Qualifier 4
Qualifiers: October 18 to October 23
Super 12 group stage: October 24 to November 8
Semi-finals: November 11 and 12
Final: November 15 (Melbourne Cricket Ground)