The International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Twenty20 World Cup 2022 is going to start from today in Australia.
Pakistan’s national cricket team has reached Australia to participate in the world’s biggest cricket event. The men in green are heading towards the World Cup after winning the tri-series in New Zealand.
The 16-team mega cricket event will begin today (October 16) and will continue for about a month. The final of the tournament will be played on November 13 in Melbourne.
The teams are equally divided into two groups. The first round will start from today and continue till 21st. In this phase, eight teams will compete in the qualifier round to earn a place in the Super 12 round.
Group A includes Netherlands, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates and Namibia. Group B includes Ireland, West Indies, Scotland and Zimbabwe. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super 12 round.
Eight teams are already in the groups based on their rankings. Australia, England, New Zealand and Afghanistan are in Group 1 while Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and South Africa are in Group 2.
This is the eighth edition of T20 World Cup. Australia is hosting the world cricket tournament in seven cities: Melbourne, Geelong, Hobart, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
This is the first time that Australia has hosted a tournament in the shortest format of cricket. Earlier, the country hosted the ODI World Cup in 1992 and 2015.
The first T20 Cup was held in 2007 when India lifted the trophy. Two years later, Pakistan won the tournament in 2009. England became champions in 2010, followed by West Indies in 2012, Sri Lanka in 2014 and West Indies again in 2016.
Australia are the defending champions who will play their first match against New Zealand.
Officials including the ICC are happy with the public enthusiasm for the tournament. Tickets for most of the matches have already been sold.
The match between Pakistan and India is also booked. More than 90,000 fans will turn up at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch the high-octane cricket action. Additionally, officials provided standing room tickets, which sold out within ten minutes.
In a statement, the ICC said the mega event has a total prize pool of $5.6 million. The winners will receive a total of US$1.6 million, while the runners-up will be awarded $800,000. The losing teams in the semifinals will each be awarded $400,000.
SQUADS:
Group A
Namibia: Gerhard Erasmus (capt), JJ Smit, Divan la Cock, Stephan Baard, Nicol Loftie Eaton, Jan Frylinck, David Wiese, Ruben Trumpelmann, Zane Green, Bernard Scholtz, Tangeni Lungameni, Michael van Lingen, Ben Shikongo, Karl Birkenstock, Lohan Louwrens, Helao Ya France
Netherlands: Scott Edwards (capt), Colin Ackermann, Shariz Ahmad, Logan van Beek, Tom Cooper, Brandon Glover, Timm van der Gugten, Fred Klaassen, Bas de Leede, Paul van Meekeren, Roelof van der Merwe, Stephan Myburgh, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O´Dowd, Tim Pringle, Vikram Singh
Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (capt), Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka, Pramod Madushan
United Arab Emirates: C P Rizwan (capt), Vriitya Aravind, Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, Basil Hameed, Aryan Lakra, Zawar Farid, Kashif Daud, Karthik Meiyappan, Ahmed Raza, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Sabir Ali, Alishan Sharafu, Aayan Khan
Group B
Ireland: Andrew Balbirnie (capt), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Fionn Hand, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Conor Olphert, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young
Scotland: Richard Berrington (capt), George Munsey, Michael Leask, Bradley Wheal, Chris Sole, Chris Greaves, Safyaan Sharif, Josh Davey, Matthew Cross, Calum MacLeod, Hamza Tahir, Mark Watt, Brandon McMullen, Michael Jones, Craig Wallace
West Indies: Nicholas Pooran (capt), Rovman Powell, Yannic Cariah, Johnson Charles, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Kyle Mayers, Obed Mccoy, Raymon Reifer, Odean Smith, Shamarh Brooks
Zimbabwe: Craig Ervine (capt), Ryan Burl, Regis Chakabva, Tendai Chatara, Bradley Evans, Luke Jongwe, Clive Madande, Wessly Madhevere, Wellington Masakadza, Tony Munyonga, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Sikandar Raza, Milton Shumba, Sean Williams
