MELBOURNE, 6 January: Cricket fever is likely to rise to new heights in June 2024, with the International Cricket Council (ICC) announcing the schedule of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup cohosted by the West Indies and the USA with the first opener between the USA and Canada on Saturday June 1, 2024. The ninth edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will take place from 1 to 24 June 2024.
The greatest match of the tournament is likely to be between traditional cricket rivals India and Pakistan on Sunday 9, June, 2024. The match will be played in New York’s 34,000-seat modular stadium 30 miles east of downtown Manhattan in Nassau County. Another eight matches will be played at the venue.
ICC Chief Executive, Geoff Allardice said, “The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 marks an exciting expansion of our sport with more teams than ever before set to compete in this event. It’s going to be an incredible spectacle bringing together 20 international teams from Africa, the Americas, Asia, East-Asia Pacific and Europe.
“The release of the fixtures is made even more exciting for fans as we enter a new frontier, with the USA hosting a major ICC event for the first time. With 16 matches being played across three venues in the USA, it allows us to make a statement in the world’s biggest sports market.
The two subcontinent countries matches are blockbusters, and the last one in Melbourne (October 23, 2022), they clashed at the the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, attracted more than 90,000 fans and the recent October 14, 2023 match in Ahmedabad attracted an estimated 100,000 people (Forbes India).
Twenty teams including the main cricket playing countries are part of the tournament. The teams have been divided into four groups competing across 55 games. co-hosts The West Indies and the USA, together with the other qualifiers: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, England, India, Ireland, Namibia, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Uganda will be participating.
The four groups with the 20 teams have been divided as A, B, C, and D of five each, with the top two teams progressing to the Super Eight phase. ICC Media release on 6 January, 2024 gives the four groups constitution as follows:
Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, Canada and the USA
Group B: England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland and Oman
Group C: New Zealand, the West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda and Papua New Guinea
Group D: South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Netherlands and Nepal
“Upon completion of the group stage, the top two teams from each of the four groups will move into the Super Eight stage of the competition. Teams seeded first and second in their groups in the first round will retain that seeding in the Super Eight, provided they qualify. Super Eight matches are scheduled to be played in popular Caribbean tourist destinations Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The two top teams from each group in the Super Eight will progress to the semi-finals, which will be held in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 June respectively. The final will be held at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Saturday 29 June, ” says the ICC media release.
