The seventh edition of ICC Men's T20 World Cup starts with an Oman vs Papua New Guinea, Group B fixture in the qualifying round in Al Amerat, Oman on October 17 (Sunday), 2021. (More Cricket News)
A total of 16 teams are competing in the tournament with 12 taking part in the second stage, the Super 12. Zimbabwe are the notable absentees, having been suspended by the ICC for 'government interference'.
Afghanistan's participation was also in doubt after the Taliban's takeover, but the International Cricket Council (ICC) said there's no issue.
After the qualifying round, featuring two groups of four teams each, the tournament proper will kick off with a Super 12 fixture between Group 1 rivals Australia and South Africa.
But the biggest fixture before the knock-outs will be an India vs Pakistan, Group 2 clash in Dubai, UAE on October 24.
The ICC has also ensured that all teams get at least one warm-up game each, with 16 matches divided into two sets, from October 12 to 20.
Past Winners
Defending champions West Indies are the most successful team, having won it twice. In the previous edition's final, they defeated England in the Kolkata final by four wickets. They first won the tournament in 2012 by defeating hosts Sri Lanka in the final.
India (2007, def Pakistan in the final), Pakistan (2009, def Sri Lanka), England (2010, vs def Australia ) and Sri Lanka (2014, def India) have also won the title.
How to watch
TV Channels: Star Sports Network
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar
ICC awarded Star Sports the global broadcast rights for all ICC Events 2015-2023. This included exclusive live and highlights rights across all platforms for ICC major events.
Check complete global telecast details HERE.
Teams, Squads And Fixtures
Round 1
Group A: Ireland, Namibia, Netherlands, Sri Lanka;
Group B: Bangladesh, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Scotland.
Squads And Fixtures
BANGLADESH
Mahmudullah (captain), Naim Sheikh, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Shaif Uddin, Shamim Hossain
Reserves: Rubel Hossain, Aminul Islam Biplob
Matches: 17 Oct – vs Scotland; 19 Oct – vs Oman; 21 Oct – vs Papua New Guinea
IRELAND
Andy Balbirnie (captain), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Shane Getkate, Graham Kennedy, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O'Brien, Neil Rock, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young
18 Oct – vs Netherlands; 20 Oct – vs Sri Lanka; 22 Oct – vs Namibia
NAMIBIA
Gerhard Erasmus (captain), Stephan Baard, Karl Birkenstock, Michau du Preez, Jan Frylinck, Zane Green, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo, JJ Smit, Ruben Trumpelmann, Michael van Lingen, David Wiese, Craig Williams, Pikky Ya France
Reserve: Mauritius Ngupita
Matches: 18 Oct – vs Sri Lanka; 20 Oct – vs Netherlands; 22 Oct – vs Ireland
NETHERLANDS
Pieter Seelaar (captain), Colin Ackermann (vice-captain), Philippe Boissevain, Bas de Leede, Paul van Meekeren, Ben Cooper, Max O'Dowd, Scott Edwards, Ryan ten Doeschate, Timm van der Gugten, Roelof van der Merwe, Brandon Glover, Fred Klaassen, Logan van Beek, Stephan Myburgh
Reserves: Shane Snater, Tobias Visee
Matches: 18 Oct – vs Ireland; 20 Oct – vs Namibia; 23 Oct – vs Sri Lanka
SRI LANKA
Dasun Shanaka (capt), Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Janith Perera, Dinesh Chandimal, Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Charith Asalanka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Kamindu Mendis, Chamika Karunaratne, Nuwan Pradeep, Dushmantha Chameera, Praveen Jayawickrama, Maheesh Theekshana, Pathum Nissanka, Minod Bhanuka, Ashen Bandara, Lakshan Sandakan, Ramesh Mendis
Reserves: Lahiru Kumara, Binura Fernando, Akila Dananjaya, Pulina Tharanga
Matches: 18 Oct - vs Namibia; 20 Oct - vs Ireland; 22 Oct - vs Netherlands
OMAN
Zeeshan Maqsood (captain), Aqib Ilyas (vice-captain), Jatinder Singh, Khawar Ali, Mohammad Nadeem, Ayan Khan, Suraj Kumar, Sandeep Goud, Nestor Dhamba, Kaleemullah, Bilal Khan, Naseem Khushi, Sufyan Mehmood, Fayyaz Butt, Khurram Khan
Matches: 17 Oct – vs Papua New Guinea; 19 Oct – vs Bangladesh; 21 Oct – vs Scotland
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Assad Vala (captain), Charles Amini, Lega Siaka, Norman Vanua, Nosaina Pokana, Kiplin Doriga (wk), Tony Ura, Hiri Hiri, Gaudi Toka, Sese Bau, Damien Ravu, Kabua Vagi-Morea, Simon Atai, Jason Kila, Chad Soper, Jack Gardner
Matches: 17 Oct – vs Oman; 19 Oct – vs Scotland; 21 Oct – vs Bangladesh
SCOTLAND
Kyle Coetzer (captain), Richard Berrington (vice-captain), Dylan Budge, Matthew Cross (wk), Josh Davey, Alasdair Evans, Chris Greaves, Oli Hairs, Michael Leask, Calum Macleod, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Chris Sole, Hamza Tahir, Craig Wallace (wk), Mark Watt, Brad Wheal
Matches: 17 Oct – vs Bangladesh; 19 Oct - vs Papua New Guinea; 21 Oct - vs Oman
Group A round completes on October 22.
Super 12
Group 1: Australia, England, South Africa, West Indies, Group A winners, Group B runners-up;
Group 2: Afghanistan, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Group A runners-up, Group B winners.
Squads and Fixtures
AFGHANISTAN
Mohammad Nabi (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Hazratullah Zazai, Usman Ghani, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Hamid Hassan, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen Ul Haq
Reserves: Sharafuddin Ashraf, Samiullah Shinwari, Dawlat Zadran, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Matches: 26 Oct – vs B1; 30 Oct – vs Pakistan; 31 Oct – vs A2; 4 Nov – vs India; 7 Nov – vs New Zealand.
AUSTRALIA
Aaron Finch (captain), David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade (wk), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (vice-captain), Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Josh Inglis
Reserves: Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams
Matches: 23 Oct – vs South Africa; 28 Oct – vs A1; 30 Oct – vs England; 4 Nov – vs B2; 6 Nov – vs West Indies
ENGLAND
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonathan Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Tymal Mills, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Tom Curran
Reserves: Liam Dawson, James Vince
Matches: 23 Oct – vs West Indies; 27 Oct – vs B2; 30 Oct – vs Australia; 1 Nov – vs A1; 6 Nov – vs South Africa
INDIA
Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami
Reserves: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Axar Patel
Matches: 24 Oct – vs Pakistan; 31 Oct – vs New Zealand; 3 Nov – vs Afghanistan; 5 Nov – vs B1; 8 Nov – vs A2
NEW ZEALAND
Kane Williamson (captain), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee
Reserve: Adam Milne
Matches: 26 Oct – vs Pakistan; 31 Oct – vs India; 3 Nov – vs B1; 5 Nov – vs A2; 7 Nov – vs Afghanistan
PAKISTAN
Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Asif Ali, Sohaib Maqsood, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Junior, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Haider Ali, Fakhar Zaman
Reserves: Usman Qadir, Shanawaz Dahani, Khushdil Shah
Matches: 24 Oct – vs India; 26 Oct – vs New Zealand; 29 Oct – vs Afghanistan; 2 Nov – vs A2; 7 Nov – vs B1
SOUTH AFRICA
Temba Bavuma (captain), Keshav Maharaj, Quinton de Kock (wk), Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen
Reserves: George Linde, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lizaad Williams
Matches: 23 Oct – vs Australia; 26 Oct – vs West Indies; 30 Oct – vs A1; 2 Nov – vs B2; 6 Nov – vs England
WEST INDIES
Kieron Pollard (capt), Nicholas Pooran (vice-captain & wk), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Roston Chase, Andre Fletcher (wk), Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr
Reserves: Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Sheldon Cottrell, Darren Bravo
Matches: 24 Oct – vs England; 26 Oct – vs South Africa; 29 Oct – vs B2; 5 Nov – vs A1; 6 Nov – vs Australia.
Super 12 round completes on November 8.
Knock-outs
The top two teams from each group in Super 12 make the semis. The first semi-final is scheduled for November 10 and the second the next day. Final is on November 14.
Venues
The tournament was moved from India to the United Arab Emirates and Oman due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Group A fixtures will take place in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, while all games in Group B will be played in the Omani capital of Muscat.
All the Super 12 matches will be played in the UAE, at three venues in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai. Abu Dhabi and Dubai will host the semifinals. Dubai will host the final on November 14.
Stadiums
Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai, UAE
Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah, UAE
Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Al Amerat Cricket Stadium, Muscat, Oman
ICC T20 rankings
1) England, 2) India, 3) Pakistan, 4) New Zealand, 5) South Africa, 6) Bangladesh, 7) Australia, 8) Afghanistan, 9) West Indies, 10) Sri Lanka, 11) Zimbabwe*, 12) Ireland, 13) Nepal*, 14) Scotland, 15) Papua New Guinea, 16) UAE*, 17) Netherlands, 18) Oman, 19) Namibia, 20) Singapore*.
* did not qualify.
