T20 World Cup set to start on October 17 in UAE; final on November 14

The 2021 men’s T20 World Cup will begin from October 17 in the UAE, with the final scheduled for November 14. The 16-team tournament will start a few days after the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. The final of the cash-rich league is expected to be held on October 15. The remaining matches of IPL 2021 which was suspended due to COVID-19 cases, will start on September 19.

This information is according to a report in Cricinfo, with the BCCI yet to write to the ICC officially about shifting the T20 World Cup to the UAE. As per the current plan, the first round of the T20 World Cup will be split across two groups. The games will be played in the UAE and Oman. Round 1 will include 12 matches, comprising of eight teams from (which four top two of each group) would qualify for the Super 12s. Four teams from this group of eight teams: Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Namibia, Oman, Papua New Guinea will progress to the Super 12s. This will see them join the top eight ranked T20I teams.

The Super 12s phase expected to start from October 24, will comprise 30 matches. The teams will be split across two groups of six each, with matches played at three venues in the UAE. Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah are those venues. The same will be followed by three playoff games: the two semi-finals and the final.

Finch urges players to secure T20 WC spot

Teams are looking to finalise their ICC T20 World Cup squads as soon as possible, with Australia captain Aaron Finch recently urging the young players to secure a spot through good performances in the upcoming West Indies and Bangladesh tours.

The Australian team will battle it out against West Indies in five T20Is and three ODIs starting 10 July. This will be followed by a five-match T20I series against Bangladesh in August.

“It’ll give the guys on this tour an opportunity to almost take their [World Cup] spots. I think the great thing about Australian cricket at the moment is that the guys that are performing really well in BBL and domestic cricket, are the ones that are getting the opportunities,” said Finch as quoted by ICC.

“Playing cricket for Australia and doing well is the ultimate, in my opinion. So for guys to be on this tour to get the first opportunity to put their hand up and take that spot is what it’s about. It’s tough to ignore really good international performances. You have to go on current form. These conditions will be very similar to what we face in the T20 World Cup I imagine – especially St Lucia being used quite a lot and then Bangladesh being quite similar to India or UAE, wherever that lands,” he added.

“It [team combinations] could change a lot. That was based on the World Cup being in Australia and I thought our side in the lead-up to the original World Cup meant to be held here was really settled. You have to keep restructuring your side to gather more information. The more the wickets change and the more they go away from our traditional Australian wickets, the more we have to keep learning,” concluded the Australian skipper.