Former T20 World Cup Champions and three-time finalists Sri Lanka, along with Bangladesh will be competing with the likes of Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Namibia, Papua New Guinea and Oman, who advanced from the T20 World Cup global qualifiers held in 2019 in UAE, in the group stage of the 2021 T20 World Cup tournament for four spots into the main Super 12’s, which will be held during Oct/Nov 2021 in United Arab Emirates and Oman.
The 2020 edition of the T20 World Cup, to be hosted by Australia, was postponed for 2022 due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and the logistical issues of having 15 teams from various regions travel to Australia and be in a bio-secure quarantine bubble before the start of the tournament. Also, the prospect of having a World Cup staged in empty stadiums was not a feasible solution for revenue generation for both the organizers and broadcasters.
This meant that instead of playing in Australia, the six qualifiers will be playing their first round of matches now in Oman, as BCCI confirmed hosting the event out of India due to COVID-19 pandemic concerns and safety situation, something not too unfamiliar for Ireland and Netherlands, who have played in Oman before. The host’s themselves will fancy themselves using their home conditions at the ICC Test status venue in Al Amerat.
Scotland and Oman were able to register their first wins in an ICC T20 World Cup event in the 2016 edition, and the 2021 edition will be a lot tougher for the likes of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, as the Associate member countries have improved on their performances in a big manner in the past 3-4 years in the T20 format.
As per the qualification criteria set for the tournament, India and the other nine top-ranked sides in the T20I team rankings as on 31st Dec 2018 have ensured direct qualification. However, the top eight make it straight to the Super 12’s stage while the remaining two will play in the group stage along with six other teams who qualified from the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifiers in 2019. Four teams from the group stage will advance to the Super 12’s along with the eight direct entrants, so in a way, the Associate member countries have opportunity to claim all four spots (a minimum of one member will qualify for the Super 12 stage, considering the remaining three spots are taken by Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Ireland).
Pakistan, India, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies and Afghanistan will start their T20 World Cup campaign directly from the Super 12’s stage of the tournament. The global qualifiers were held from Oct 18th – Nov 02nd, 2019 in UAE, from which Papua New Guinea, Ireland and Oman have now joined Sri Lanka in Group A, while Group B will see the Netherlands, Namibia and Scotland joining Bangladesh. The schedule will be announced shortly by ICC, after the World Cup groups were announced in Oman on 16th July 2021.
Ireland, Netherlands and Namibia join Sri Lanka in Group A, whilst Oman, PNG and Scotland will face Bangladesh in Group B. Winner and Runners-up of Group A and B will join England, Australia, South Africa and West Indies in Super 12 group 1, while Winner and Runners-up of Group B and A will join India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Afghanistan in Super 12 group 2.
