Such is the frenetic nature of the cricket calendar that even before the Indian Premier League 2024 season ended, 10 India squad members, including captain Rohit Sharma, had landed in New York for the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup. The others, including senior statesman Virat Kohli and vice-captain Hardik Pandya, will join the team later. (Full IPL Coverage | More Cricket News)
The ninth edition of the T20 World Cup, which will be jointly held in the USA and West Indies, is set to kick off on June 2 (as per Indian time zone), with hosts United States of America facing Canada in Texas.
Before the tournament kicks off, here is everything you need to know about the biggest global 20-over showpiece.
Schedule And Timings
The ICC T20 World Cup 2024 group stage will take place between June 2 and 18, with at least one match every day, and two or three games on some. Post that, the Super 8s will begin on June 19 - with most days being double-headers - and end on June 25. The two semi-finals will follow on June 27, and the final at Kensington Oval, Barbados on June 29.
As the tournament will be organized across multiple venues with differing time zones, the match timings will differ accordingly. Some games will begin as early as 6am IST (including the opener between USA and Canada), while others will be played 8pm IST onwards. All of India's group-stage matches will be played at 8pm IST.
Format
As many as 20 nations will compete for the prize, which makes it the biggest T20 World Cup yet in terms of number of teams. The teams have been divided into four groups, and will play four games each in the preliminary stage. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Super 8s.
The Super 8s will comprise two pools of four sides, and the top two from these pools will progress to the semi-finals. The winner of each group will face the runner-up in the other one.
In the group stage as well as Super 8s, teams will be awarded two points for a win, one for a no result and zero for a loss. In case of a tie, a Super Over will be played to decide the winner. If the Super Over, too, ends in a tie, there will be another Super Over and so on until a result is achieved.
Teams
Among the 20 teams, all Test-playing nations except Zimbabwe (who could not qualify) feature. Below are all the 20 competing teams, group-wise.
Group A: Canada, India, Ireland, Pakistan, USA
Group B: Australia, England, Namibia, Oman, Scotland
Group C: Afghanistan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, West Indies
Group D: Bangladesh, Nepal, Netherlands, South Africa, Sri Lanka
Venues
As a first-time (joint) organizer of a major global cricket event, the United States will host 16 of the 55 matches to be played. USA's games will be held across three venues - New York (Nassau County International Cricket Stadium), Florida (Central Broward Park and Broward County Stadium) and Texas (Grand Prairie Stadium). The blockbuster India vs Pakistan match will be played at the newly constructed Nassau County Stadium in New York on June 9.
As for the Caribbean, Barbados (Kensington Oval), Antigua and Barbuda (Sir Vivian Richards Stadium), Saint Lucia (Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium), Guyana (Guyana National Stadium), St Vincent and the Grenadines (Arnos Vale Playing Field) and Trinidad & Tobago (Brian Lara Cricket Academy) will play hosts for the remaining 39 games.
While the group stage will feature matches in both, the USA and West Indies, all the matches from Super 8s onwards will be played in the Caribbean.
Rules, Playing Conditions
In addition to the standard T20 international rules, the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 will be the first tournament to implement the 'stop-clock' rule. Essentially, the rule mandates that the fielding team must be ready to bowl every over within 60 seconds of the previous one finishing.
In the group stage and Super 8s, each side must bat for at least five overs to constitute a result, but that increases to 10 overs in the two semi-finals and final.
To account for rain or other weather-induced delays, the first semi-final and final have a reserve day, but the second semi-final does not have one, as there is just one day's gap between that game and the final. The first semi-final and the final both have 190 minutes of additional time in the playing conditions (for delays), but the second semi-final will have 250 minutes of additional time to try and ensure a result.
It has already been decided that if India reach the semi-finals, they will play the second one on June 27 in Providence, Guyana. This has likely been done because of the match timing of the other semi-final. While the first semi-final in Tarouba, Trinidad will begin at 6am IST, the one in Guyana will start at 8pm, and the latter is a more viewer-friendly time in India.
Previous Winners
In the eight men's T20 World Cups played so far, there have been six winners. India won the inaugural edition in 2007 under the captaincy of MS Dhoni but have since been searching for their second title. England are the defending champions, having lifted the trophy in 2022. Below are the edition-wise champions:
2007: India
2009: Pakistan
2010: England
2012: West Indies
2014: Sri Lanka
2016: West Indies
2021: Australia
2022: England
TV Telecast, Live Streaming Details
All the matches of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 will be telecast live on the Star Sports Network TV channels in India. The matches will also be live streamed on the Hotstar app and website in India.
